The Beach stays undefeated

By Michelle Fithian, On-Line Forty-Niner

Monday, October 26, 1998

Women's volleyball team pushes record to 20-0 after wins over New Mexico State, North Texas over weekend

The Long Beach State women's volleyball team pushed its impressive season record to 20-0 this weekend after defeating New Mexico State on Thursday night in Las Cruces and North Texas in Denton on Saturday.

The Beach shut down North Texas 15-4, 15-5, 15-5 in The Snake Pit.

This season has been a turning point for the Eagles after losing star performer LaKeta Graham to a career-ending knee injury in their ninth match last season.

Junior middle blocker Jessica Folmar stepped up as the team leader in 1997. She led the team with an average of 2.43 kills and 2.62 digs a game. An all-around player, she also set the offense at times, finishing with 353 assists.

The Eagles also looked to junior middle blocker Aubrey Short to assume the leadership duties. The 6-foot-3-inch junior had 152 kills and 72 blocks, while playing in 92 of the team's 111 games.

Despite all efforts, The Mean Green was no match for The Beach, which hit .381 for the match. This week's Big West Player of the Week, senior middle blocker Benishe Dillard, pounded down 11 kills and blocked six at the net, while junior outside hitter Veronica Walls nailed down 10 kills.

Thursday, The Beach beat New Mexico State in front of a crowd of 788 at the Pan American Center in a match that lasted only 55 minutes.

The Beach shut down the Roadrunners 15-6, 15-1, 15-0 Thursday night, committing just eight hitting errors on the evening and hitting .462, its second-best performance of the year.

The Beach stopped the Roadrunners, which hit a minus .030 for the match, made 20 errors and had 18 kills.

This marks the second consecutive match and the third time this season that The Beach has limited an opponent to a negative hitting percentage. Boise State hit a minus .020 on Oct. 17 at The Pyramid.

Both senior setter Misty May and junior outside hitter Anja Grabovac hit .455 and pounded six kills. May added 25 assists, two service aces and four digs to her season totals. Junior middle blocker Brandy Barratt also nailed down six kills for The Beach and proved to be a force at the net with eight blocks.

The Beach had 10 total blocks on the night, with Walls adding four.

Making her first appearance on the court since Oct. 8 was senior outside hitter Jessica Alvarado, who has been nursing a stress fracture in her left leg and has only appeared in five of the last eight matches to rest the injury. Alvarado tallied three kills and six digs for the match.

Dillard, whose .429 hitting percentage is first in the Big West and is fourth in the nation, hit .769 and had 11 kills, making one hitting error in her 13 attempts.

The Beach continues its road trip this week swinging into Orange County to face UC Irvine on Friday at 7 p.m. and Cal State Fullerton on Saturday at 7 p.m.