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sports
Hochevar powers
49ers past Idaho
By Marten Lewerth
On-line Forty-Niner
Brittany Hochevar
took the reins and powered the top-ranked Long Beach State
women's volleyball team past the University of Idaho in a
Big West Conference match Monday at The Pyramid.
The junior outside hitter tallied a match-high 16 kills on
.700 hitting along with eight digs and five blocks as The
Beach improved to 24-0 overall and 17-0 in conference with
the 30-15, 30-20, 30-23 sweep played before a crowd of 1,283.
Hochevar's offensive output was a season-high, and only one
shy of her career best of 17 kills tallied against Hawai'i
last December.
After watching his team hit .526 in its 20th sweep of the
season, 49er Head Coach Brian Gimmillaro joked that setter
Keri Nishimoto had been overlooking Hochevar lately.
"We told Keri if she didn't start setting Britt we were
going to kill her," said Gimmillaro, drawing a hearty
round of laughter and a quip from junior Lindsay Phillips.
"Nah," Phillips said, "Britt paid her $50."
The 49ers opened the match by running up leads of as many
as nine points before scoring the final seven in a row to
win Game 1 by a score of 30-15.
In the second game, Hochevar exploded with eight kills and
Tayyiba Haneef had five while the 49er blocking duo of Cheryl
Weaver and Elisha Thomas commanded the front row as the home
team took a two-game lead with a 30-20 win.
The Vandals (10-17, 5-12 BWC) put up a fight in the third
game and built a four-point lead. But the 49ers battled back
to a 20-20 deadlock powered by five kills from Haneef before
sealing the match with a 30-23 decision after scoring the
final six points in a row. The Beach got seven kills from
Hochevar and nine from Weaver in the frame.
Haneef and Weaver finished with 14 kills against Idaho, and
setter Nishimoto finished with 44 assists, four kills and
seven digs. Weaver added a match-high seven blocks and Thomas
had five as LBSU out-blocked Idaho 13.0 to 3.0.
In other team news, Haneef picked up her third Big West Player
of the Week award Monday after averaging 6.00 kills, 2.50
digs and 0.83 blocks while firing at .515 last week.
As there was no practice Monday afternoon, Haneef wasn't aware
of the news until after the match against Idaho. Although
pleased with the accolade, she quickly shifted the spotlight
to her teammates.
"It's nice," Haneef said, "but I think it's
more of an honor of the team's accomplishments."
With Weaver's four and Haneef's three, The Beach now has seven
BWC player awards on the season, which tied a school record
set by the 1992 squad.
The 49ers close the regular season at home this weekend hosting
the annual Long Beach State Thanksgiving Classic. LBSU will
play twice on Friday starting with Weber State at 2 p.m. followed
by Pittsburgh at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday the home team will
face No. 20 Brigham Young at 7:30 p.m., and also honor its
four seniors -- Haneef, Nishimoto, Weaver and Ashanti Taylor
-- with a pre-match ceremony.
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