Who is the Best in the Big West?
After capturing four consecutive Big West titles (2002-05), the Gaucho’s reign as defending champions ended as No. 15 Cal Poly captured the conference title for the first time in 22 years two weeks ago. Last season’s co-champion Long Beach State sealed up second place with a 12-2 mark and the Gauchos captured third place outright with their 8-6 record with Northridge and UC Irvine both splitting a pair of games last weekend to end the conference season with 7-7 records and a fourth place tie. The last time UCSB finished third in conference was in 2001 and the last time the Gauchos tallied eight or fewer conference victories was in 1984, which was their first season as a member of the Big West. Playing the Waiting Game With Cal Poly capturing the Big West’s automatic bid into the 2006 NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament, the Gauchos will now have to wait until the tournament selection show on Sunday, November 26 to see if they have received an at-large bid into the first round of the 64-
