Women’s
volleyball tops UOP, CSUN
By Kandace Hsu
On-line Forty-Niner
The
Long Beach State women’s volleyball team
earned two more victories on the road against
the University of the Pacific Tigers and
the Cal State Northridge Matadors.
LBSU improved to 22-3, 11-3 in the Big West
Conference, while UOP dropped 14-10, 9-5
Saturday night, as the 49ers brought down
the Tigers in three straight games, 30-27,
30-18, 30-24.
The Beach jumped out on top in game one
with a 15-8 lead, but the Tigers managed
to tie the game at 17-17. But LBSU held
a three-point lead through the rest of the
game behind eight kills from Elisha Thomas
for a .889 hitting percentage.
Megan Hauschild led the Tigers with five
kills.
Thomas led the 49ers once again in game
two with six more kills and improving her
hitting percentage to .933. The Beach also
received solid contribution from Lindsay
Phillips, who had five kills and helped
boost the team to a 20-12 lead.
LBSU gave up six more points before finishing
the game 30-18.
The 49ers finished off the Tigers in game
three with an 8-4 offensive outburst.
Thomas finished the night with a match-high
16 kills, while Phillips tallied 12 kills.
Brittany Hochevar recorded 37 assists and
12 digs, while the Tiger’s Jennifer Joines,
who averages over 5.00 kills per game for
the Tigers, recorded just eight kills in
the losing effort.
LBSU has now swept Pacific three out the
last four meetings.
Thursday night, The Beach conquered CSU,
30-21, 21-30, 30-20, 23-30, 15-6, after
a close match in The Matadome.
LBSU opened the match with the first four
points on three CSUN hitting errors.
However, The Matadors managed to make a
comeback to take the lead 16-15, but it
wasn’t enough to top The Beach. LBSU Kessie
Doering closed out game one with a kill
to win it 30-21.
Game two started once again with the 49ers
leading, 13-9, until CSUN tied the game
at 15-15.
The Matadors took the lead and won game
two behind Erica Aere, who served up eight
straight points, as well as Heather Kirby
and Becky Moores who had one kill and two
blocks a piece.
LBSU came out in game three determined to
silence the crowd and regain momentum. The
49ers did just that, opening the set with
a 12-3 lead. The Beach recorded seven total
blocks, forcing the Matadors to hit negative
for the game.
In game fur, the Matadors answered back
and battled the 49ers in the early going,
leading 13-12. CSUN extended its lead to
19-12 with six straight points.
Erika Chidester’s kill for LBSU cut the
lead to 22-20, but it wasn’t enough to take
the game. A kill by CSUN’s Jennifer McNees
ended the game in the Matadors’ favor.
The final game began with a 4-4 tie. The
Beach took the lead 8-5 and only gave up
one more point before taking the set behind
Thomas’ transition kill to end the match
15-6.
Chidester provided the 49ers their only
double-double with 11 kills and a match-high
10 total blocks (one solo). Thomas had 19
kills and seven total blocks ,while Doering
had a solid outing for The Beach with 12
kills, seven digs, five blocks (one solo)
and one ace.
Defensive specialist, Heather Laudato, had
a match-high 16 digs while Hochevar had
a match-high 45 assists to go along with
her seven digs and nine total blocks (one
solo).
McNees played extremely well for CSUN, posting
a double-double with a match-high 21 kills
and 11 digs. She also added four total blocks
(two solo) and two service aces.
Aere, also had a solid night with 17 kills
and eight digs while Nadine Nickel turned
in a double-double performance with 42 assists
and a team-high 13 digs for the Matadors.
Kirby tallied 11 kills and a team-high six
total blocks (one solo), while Jessika Hammerich
provided some steady play with eight digs
and tied the team-high two service aces.
LBSU resumes conference play facing UC Irvine
on the road on Friday at 7 p.m.
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