Gauchos
go the distance, top LBSU
By Karl Peterson
On-line Forty-Niner
 The
49er women’s volleyball team was back in
action last weekend at the Pyramid, playing
Big West competitors UC Santa Barbara and
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.
In the clash of two undefeated, top 10-ranked
teams, UCSB beat the 49ers, 30-27, 30-26,
30-32, 15-30, 15-11, in front of over 3,100
fans on Friday night.
However, LBSU was back on track Saturday
night soundly defeating the Cal Poly Mustangs,
30-22, 30-23, 27-30, 30-20.
UCSB improved to 12-0 and 3-0 in conference
with strong play from Danielle Bower, who
posted 21 kills and 11 digs, and Erica Menzel,
who tallied 16 kills and 12 digs. Meanwhile,
The Beach had strong games from Brittany
Hochevar, Kessie Doering and Elisha Thomas.
The match, which lasted for five games,
featured two significant momentum shifts.
The Gauchos won the first two games 30-27
and 30-26, putting the 49ers in a tough
situation.
Long Beach State held off UCSB 32-30 in
the third game, gaining momentum from a
late service ace from Hochevar. The 49ers
used that momentum to blow past UCSB in
the fourth game 30-15.
But the momentum once again shifted to the
visitor’s corner in the deciding game when
UCSB won the match with a 15-11 game.
“When you come back in a match, then you
become tentative because now you don’t want
to blow it,” LBSU Coach Brian Gimmillaro
said about the loss of momentum in the final
game. “We made four mistakes in that game
that were unusual mistakes for us to make.
That was the difference in that game.”
On Saturday night the 49ers improved their
record 11-1, 3-1 in conference beating the
Mustangs with a good match from sophomore
Kessie Doering, who hammered 21 kills and
had 12 digs.
Cal Poly seemed overmatched in the first
two games losing 30-22 and 30-23. The Mustangs
came back to win the third game 30-27, helped
by strong blocking at the net.
“In the third game we didn’t pass very well
and the block knew were we going. So they
got to form the block very well,” Gimmillaro
said.
Long Beach regained form in the fourth game,
winning 30-20 to take the match from San
Luis Obispo.
The 49ers will resume Big West play next
at 7 p.m. Friday against UC Riverside and
then face Cal State Fullerton at 7 p.m.
on Saturday.
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