Former Long Beach City College men's volleyball standout Chris Austin will be playing in the NCAA Championship final on Saturday for UC Irvine. The Anteaters will take on USC for the NCAA Division I national title on Saturday at 7 pm at the Galen Center in Los Angeles.

Austin, now a junior at UC Irvine, took over the starting setter position midway through the season and has been a key to the Anteaters postseason run.

In the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Championship final last Saturday, Austin totaled 61 assists, 12 digs, and five blocks in UCI's five-set win over Stanford University.

In last night's NCAA Championship semifinal, Austin totaled 44 assists and two blocks to pace the Anteaters over Penn State University in four sets.

UC Irvine is 25-5 overall this season and seeks the program's third national title after winning championships in 2007 and 2009.

Austin was a first-team All-Western State Conference selection for LBCC in 2011 and helped lead the Vikings to a pair of conference championships and State Championship semifinals appearances.

Photo by Glenn Feingerts/UC Irvine Athletics