Beach top Anteaters

By Moria Khou
Online Forty-Niner
Staff Writer

Saturday's women's volleyball match pairing Long Beach State against UC Irvine at The Pyramid could be called the clash of the identical. Both teams entered the contest with three-match win streaks, a record of 9-4 in the Big West Conference, and most noticeably, both teams are out of the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top-25 Poll.

The 49ers stepped on the court and proved they were a nose better than the Anteaters, winning in four games, 30-18, 33-31, 30-32, 30-25. The 49ers (18-4, 10-4 Big West) sent UC Irvine (16-7, 9-5 Big West) down the 405-freeway with another hash on the loss column.

The 49ers' attack easily steamed rolled past UC Irvine in the opening game, hitting a match high .433 percent. Just as the offense was in stride, the 49ers' defense kept pace, forcing the Anteaters to make 10 errors, and to hit a match low .091 percent.

"We were predaceous and we played good defensively," Head Coach Brian Gimmillaro said. "This was one of the better intensity games and we were more in tune."

The 49ers began the second game just as well as they closed out the first to take a 21-14 lead. The Anteaters bit away at the advantage to tie the score at 24-24. Both teams exchanged blows as the score was tied seven times. Freshman Alexis Crimes raised the crowd off their seats as she smashed the ball for a kill that gave the 49ers a 30-29 lead. Redshirt freshman Dyanne Lawlor would eventually lay down the hammer, giving The Beach a 33-31 win.

The 49ers battled back from a 17-8 deficit in the third game behind Makini Thompson, Robin Miramontes, and Crimes' five kills in the game to take a 26-25 lead, as UC Irvine called a timeout to regroup. Once play resumed, outside hitter Kelly Wing took command of the Anteaters' attack, recording match-high 27 kills to give UC Irvine the win in game three.

Just as games two and three were highly contested, the fourth game started off the same way. Crimes scored the 49ers' first four points to even the score at 4-4. The 49ers began to drift away to lead 25-16. Jillian Mazzarella closed out the match for the 49ers with her signature dunk play.

"The win felt so good, this is one of my last chance ever to play," Mazzarella said. "All of our players played well. The (Anteaters') short serves threw us out of sync for a bit but we came back with our best coverage of the season."

Long Beach State will host Big West rival UC Santa Barbara on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Cal Poly on Saturday at 7 p.m. in The Pyramid.