Get Ready for 2024!
Fans can get ready for the season in the 2024 Big West Women’s Volleyball Preview presented by The Hawaiian Islands, which debuted on ESPN+ this week.Marking the first preseason women’s volleyball show for the league, tune in to in-depth analysis from the tandem of Chloe Clark and Rob Espero, who take you through each team’s schedule and provide insights into each program through interviews with all 11 head coaches across the league. Watch the show on-demand on ESPN+ today, and catch extended interviews with each head coach at youtube.com/@bigwestsports.
What 2 Watch 4
First serve across The Big West is set for Friday, Aug. 30, with 10 of the league’s 11 teams hitting the court. Long Beach State joins the fray on Saturday, taking on No. 4 Pittsburgh in Eugene, followed on Saturday with a date with 10th-ranked host Oregon.
Also opening the season against ranked foes is UC Santa Barbara, traveling to take on No. 20 Florida State in the season opener before facing off against No. 25 Georgia in Tallahassee, Fla. Also taking on ranked competition in the first week of 2024 is UC Davis, meeting up with eighth-ranked Purdue on Sunday as part of a four-game road swing in Indiana. Finally, preseason favorite Cal Poly hosts a trio of matches at the Cal Poly Invitational, capping the event against No. 19 Arkansas.
Big West teams are road warriors, competing coast-to-coast in Utah, New Mexico, Indiana Florida, Washington, D.C, Idaho, Oregon, and Virginia along with the home states of California and Hawai’i.
Defending Big West champions, Hawai’i, host the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic and match up with SMU and San Diego in the three-team event. Cal State Fullerton welcomes Louisiana Tech and San Jose State to Titan Gym for the Fullerton Invitational and the UC San Diego Invitational sees the Tritons host Northern Arizona, Southern Utah and Gonzaga in a six-match event.
Various home and road contests will air on ESPN+ throughout the 2024 campaign.Check listingsfor specific match information.
Welcome to The Big West
Three new head coaches come into the fold, with Long Beach State being led by Natalie Reagan, UC San Diego tapping Melanie Greene to the first chair and CSUN bringing in Aquiles Montoya to lead the program.
On the Beach bench as assistant in 2023, Reagan previously led Harvard-Westlake to the California State Championship and has experience assisting at LMU, Nebraska and alma mater Oregon State.Before being tapped to head the Tritons, the San Diego native Greene had been involved in theSan Diego State program – both as a coach and as a student-athlete – since 2004. Montoya's path to CSUN came by way of the Pacific Northwest, with stints on the staff at Portland State, Pacific (DIII), and Portland.
Officially Official
After completing a four-year reclassification process from Division II, UC San Diego is now fully eligible for The Big West and national postseason in all sports, beginning in 2024-25.
Poll Position
Hawai’i opens the 2024 season receiving votes in the AVCA/Taraflex Division I Coaches’ Poll in Aug. 19’s preseason poll. With 20 points, UH lands in 38th nationally.
Beach vs. ’Bows on ESPNU
The Big West will be part of the robust women’s volleyball linear broadcasting coverage on the ESPN family networks, when Long Beach State hosts Hawai’i at Walter Pyramid on Saturday, Oct. 5. First serve on ESPNU is slated for 7:30 p.m. PT/4:30 p.m. HT.
The contest will be a rematch of the inaugural 2023 Big West Women’s Volleyball Championship finale, where No. 2 seed UH got the best of fourth-seeded host LBSU, 3-0. The crowd of 2,237 fans stood as the highest 2023 Division I women’s volleyball conference championship final match attendance.
2024 Preseason Prognostications
With a tight race to the top of the tally and four teams recording first-place votes, the Cal Poly Mustangs have been picked to claim the Big West crown, according to the league’s 11 head coaches.
The Mustangs recorded 94 total points and five first-place votes in the 2024 Big West Women’s Volleyball Preseason Coaches’ Poll to sail to the top of the standings, nine points clear of closest competitor and 2023 Big West Championship victor, Hawai’i.
Cal Poly retains five starters from the 2023 season and over 90 percent of their production in kills, sets, and blocks highlighted Big West Preseason Coaches’ Team selection Tommi Stockham. The redshirt senior outside hitter is attempting to become just the second Mustang and 14th player in Big West history to make the Four-Time First Team list in 2024. The Mustangs are seeking a first Big West title since 2018.
Second in the polling with 85 points and three first-place votes is the Rainbow Wahine, winners of the inaugural Big West Championship and NCAA participant in 30 consecutive seasons, since 1993. The ‘Bows have won four straight Big West titles, claiming the regular-season crown in 2019, ’21 and ’22 to go along with last season’s win as the No. 2 seed in The Big West bracket.
Hawai’i owns two spots on the Preseason All-Big West team in 2022 Big West Setter of the Year Kate Lang and junior outside hitter Caylen Alexander.
Long Beach State also boasts two preseason picks in 2023 Setter of the Year Zayna Meyer and senior outside hitter Natalie Glenn.
The Beach are just two points behind UH in the final tally after the 2023 runners-up clocked 83 points and two first-place votes.
Defending regular-season victor and NCAA participant UC Santa Barbara comes in fourth in the polling with 75 total points and the final first-place nod.
UC San Diego is slotted in fifth with 63 points and see senior Ava McInnes earn the preseason team nod. The final member of the Big West Preseason Coaches’ Team is UC Davis senior opposite hitter Olivia Utterback.
2023 Season Rewind
For the 35th time since the first bracket was unveiled in 1981, The Big West had multiple teams dancing in the 2023 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship Field.
Big West Champion Hawai’i earned the automatic qualifying berth after sweeping through Long Beach State to claim the inaugural crown at the 2023 Outrigger Big West Women’s Volleyball Championship. Regular-season Big West victors UC Santa Barbara earned an at-large bid into the field after compiling a 27-4 overall record on the year with a 17-1 mark in league action.
UH downed seventh-seeded Iowa State in the first round before falling to second-seeded quadrant host Oregon. The trip to Eugene marked is making an impressive 41st trip to the NCAA Championship, and 30th consecutive for the Rainbow Wahine.
UC Santa Barbara enjoyed a trip to the national postseason for the 30th time, the last since 2019 when The Big West saw a trio of teams in the bracket. The Gauchos dueled with No. 8 seed Houston in Stanford, Calif., falling to the Cougars in four.
