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sports
Sweet 16 on horizon
for 49ers
By Marten Lewerth
On-line Forty-Niner
It was business
as usual for the top-ranked and undefeated Long Beach State
women's volleyball team this weekend in the opening rounds
of the NCAA Tournament at The Pyramid.
The top-seeded
49ers (30-0) steamrolled past San Diego State (16-13) Friday
and the University of San Diego (22-9) Saturday, advancing
to the Sweet 16 for a showdown against Northern Iowa (30-1)
later this week.
"They have
one of the best records over the last few seasons," said
49er Head Coach Brian Gimmillaro of Northern Iowa. "It's
a team that's used to winning."
Also in the bracket
will be UCLA (20-8) and Hawai'i (28-5), which downed the 49ers
last year in the third round. At press time the dates and
venue for the third and fourth-round matches was not available.
The lone survivor
of the regionals will advance to the Final Four Dec. 13-15
at Cox Arena in San Diego .
LBSU advanced to
the Sweet 16 by dominating its first and second-round opponents,
winning both matches easily in three-game sweeps. The Beach
capped Friday's 30-21, 30-16, 30-24 victory over the Aztecs
with a 30-28, 30-16, 30-13 decision over USD on Saturday.
The second-round
match-up against USD was unexpected. The Toreros had advanced
by pulling out a stunning 26-30, 26-30, 30-28, 30-27, 15-10
upset over UC Santa Barbara Friday after losing the first
two games and trailing by eight points in Game 3.
"It was a
great comeback and it was a disappointing loss for us,"
said UCSB Head Coach Kathy Gregory. "Winning is about
making plays and playing well together and USD did that."
But any momentum
the Toreros may have built by handing the Gauchos its first
opening-round loss since 1993 dissipated early against the
49ers.
"Long Beach
State is a phenomenal team," said USD Coach Jennifer
Petrie. "I know they're on a mission and we were in their
way."
Tayyiba Haneef
led the floor with 18 kills as the 49ers outhit the Toreros
by a margin of .403 to .125. The home team also outblocked
its opponent 11.5 to 3.0 before a Pyramid crowd of 2,372.
"We played
a pretty dominating type match," Gimmillaro said.
The Toreros kept
pace with the 49ers in Game 1, scratching back from deficits
of as many as five points to tie the score at 25-25. But two-time
All-American Cheryl Weaver sealed the 49er win with a bullet
at 29-28.
From there the
home team ran away with the match, steadily increasing its
offensive effectiveness while limiting the Toreros' attack
to only 20 kills in the final two games.
"We came out
as strong as we could," Petrie said. "But they just
took over. There wasn't much we could do to stop them."
Long Beach hit
.424 in the second game and .594 in the third as setter Keri
Nishimoto dished passes to a variety of hitters to finish
with 46 assists and 10 digs.
"They were
difficult to defend," said USD freshman Jocclyne Roy,
who had 10 kills and 12 digs against the 49ers. "We had
nothing to lose and we gave it all we had."
Junior Elisha Thomas
tallied 14 kills and five blocks on .480 hitting and Weaver
ended the night with 12 kills and 10 digs for The Beach.
Freshman outside
hitter Devon Forster led USD with 13 kills and 11 digs.
In Friday's opener
against SDSU, Thomas led the home team's charge with 14 kills
on .632 hitting as four 49ers finished with double-digit kills.
Haneef had 13 kills
while Weaver finished with 12. Junior Brittany Hochevar tallied
11 kills on .471 hitting along with three aces and 18 digs.
Although SDSU faired
well on the block -- ending with 10.0 as opposed to LBSU's
6.0 -- they struggled offensively, managing to connect for
only 34 kills while the 49ers had 60.
"We played
a really good team," said Aztec Coach Mark Warner. "We
tried to play loose and go as hard as we could and it wasn't
good enough. Give them credit."
The 49ers hit .367
in the match and tallied 62 digs while limiting SDSU to an
attack percentage of .132.
"Overall,
I thought our team played pretty well," Gimmillaro said.
"I would have liked to have blocked more balls, but when
your opponent hits .132, you're doing a pretty good job."
The Aztecs had
four players finish with six kills, led by sophomore Aspen
McPartland, who finished hitting .211 with nine digs and six
blocks.
"It was a
good experience to play against them," McPartland said.
"I thought it was fun."
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