Beach closes Big West action with wins 

Long Beach held momentum for most of the match, and won easily by scores of 15-5, 15-10 and 15-6 despite brief struggles in the second game.

"We're playing really well at times, there's just some lapses that we need to get rid of," said setter Keri Nishimoto, who posted 30 assists and two service aces against UCI. "There are times where we're giving away a string of points and making mistakes that we shouldn't be making."

Junior Tayyiba Haneef paced the court in the low-scoring match with 10 kills, while Cheryl Weaver and Elisha Thomas each contributed nine. The 49ers as a team hit .282 in the match and UCI, led by sophomore Chanda McLeod' s seven kills, hit .068.

"We were pretty consistent tonight," Head Coach Brian Gimmillaro said. "We're pushing the level up now in terms of how we expect to play."

In Friday's game against Cal State Fullerton at Titan Gym, the 49ers took four games to come out on top, by scores of 15-12, 13-15, 15-8 and 15-5.

In the first game, the 49ers led by as many as seven points, and struggled to put the Titans (9-20, 3-13) away. In the second, Fullerton used its home-court advantage and strong defense to stay even with the 49ers, eventually stealing the game by two points.

"We struggled in the first couple of games, it took us awhile to get going," Nishimoto said. "The third and fourth games felt good though, we started playing as a team and started showing a little bit of what we can do."

After the break the tide turned, and LBSU never looked back, easily winning games three and four to seal the deal.

"As the match went on we got better and better and that's a sign of improvement," Gimmillaro said. "The last two games we looked like the Long Beach of old."

LBSU was led offensively by Weaver, who had 28 kills on the night, one shy of her career best.

"She's awesome," Nishimoto said of Weaver. "She took over and went crazy."
 
Nishimoto dished out 71 assists, while Haneef added 20 kills and a hitting percentage of .450. On the defensive end, outside hitter Brittany Hochevar recorded a career-best 17 digs.

For the Titans, Jamie Ivers tallied 20 kills and Megan Sabo racked up 16.

With the Big West season completed, the 49ers have only two matches remaining before the postseason. Seedings for the NCAA Tournament will be released Sunday.

After the turkey digests on Thanksgiving, the 49ers will host the LBSU Thanksgiving Tournament at The Pyramid this weekend. The team will play Oregon State Friday and Hawaii on Saturday.

"Oregon State and Hawaii are tough teams, so we have to be ready," Weaver said. "It's time to fight for every game."

Both contests begin at 7:30 p.m.

Marten Lewerth/Daily Forty-Niner

Junior Keri Nishimoto, pictured above at UCI's Crawford Hall, was recently named to the  2000 Verizon Academic All-District VIII women's volleyball team.