Notre Dame tops 49ers in finale

By Andrew De Lara
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer

The Long Beach State women's volleyball team hoped for a climactic finish to the regular season in the Baden Thanksgiving Classic tournament held in The Pyramid last weekend, but the 49ers found themselves upset by the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, 30-28, 22-30, 25-30, 30-22, 16-14, in a nail-biting five game battle.

Despite the loss, Long Beach State will make its 18th straight NCAA tournament appearance as it faces the University of Utah Utes (24-6) on Friday, Dec. 3 at 5:30 p.m. on the campus of UCLA. The Beach defeated the Utes on Sept. 4, 3-1.

Notre Dame (20-8), the Big East Conference champion, was led by senior outside hitter Emily Loomis with 25 kills, three blocks, and a .444 attack percentage. Alexis Crimes, who was named Big West Conference Freshman of the Year last week, paced the Beach (23-6) with a career-high 27 kills and a .469 attack percentage.

Junior Libero Heather Laudato recorded a career-high and school single-match record 40 digs, edging the previous single-match record of 39 digs held by Long Beach State graduate and U.S. Olympic team star Tara Cross-Battle (Oct. 3, 1986).

In her final collegiate match in The Pyramid, senior setter Jillian Mazzarella hoped to push the 49ers to a win on her senior night with an impressive effort. Mazzarella recorded her16th double-double of the season with 64 assists and 10 digs, in addition to a career-high five blocks.

Mazzarella was also named to the Big West All-Conference team this past week, finishing the season strong and leading the 49ers to dominating performances over American University and the University of Kentucky on Friday.

The Fighting Irish began the match with a bold statement, going on to win game one, 30-28. The 49ers rallied back in game two with a dominating 30-22 performance lead by eight kills from Crimes, and capped off with a kill by Makini Thompson as the team hit .333 for the set.

The Beach kept pace winning game three, building a 20-11 lead sealed by a detonating kill by Crimes in the middle, and finalized by a Notre Dame service error.

The Fighting Irish responded with a little fire of their own, taking game four with a blistering .450 hitting percentage, and a lead that never changed during the duration of the set.

Game five proved to be intense as the Beach came out of the gates with a 6-3 lead, but the Irish crawled back into the game with a kill from Loomis, moving the score to 10-9.

The 49ers attempted to pull away with a big block by Crimes off a free ball by Notre Dame, making the score12-9, but Loomis and the Irish refused to let down, as they later tied the score at 14 (match point) off of a big block.

A big kill from Lauren Kelbey of Notre Dame saw the Irish's miraculous first lead of the set at 15-14 beyond regulation. Long Beach attempted to respond, but came up short, as Notre Dame took game five and the match.