The Beach clinches title

By Michelle Fithian, On-Line Forty-Niner

Monday, November 9, 1998

Grab some mittens, throw on the fuzzy red hats and dig the long underwear out of the dresser because it looks like The Beach might be heading to Madison, Wis., for a replay of the championship game played in 1993 against Penn State.

The Long Beach State women's volleyball team captured the Big West Western title Saturday night with a win over UC Santa Barbara and a victory over Cal Poly San Luis Obispo on Thursday in The Pyramid.

A record of 5,118 fans flocked to The Pyramid Saturday night to watch The Beach sweep No. 7 UC Santa Barbara in three straight 15-9, 15-5, 15-6. The team improved to 24-0 overall and 14-0 in the Big West with the win, while the Gauchos fell to 22-5 overall and 11-3 in Big West play.

Saturday marked the 34th consecutive victory at home, tying the previous record that ran from Oct. 8, 1988 to Sept. 21, 1990. The NCAA record is 58 consecutive home wins, set by Florida from Oct. 14, 1990 to Sept. 4, 1994. The Beach has five more home regular season matches and could move into the NCAA Top 10 by the end of the season.

Defense proved to be the key to victory for The Beach. UCSB hit a season low -.060 (27-34-117) on the night and committed 34 hitting errors. The Beach out blocked the Gauchos 10 to 5 and out dug them 50 to 39. Despite LBSU's season-low hitting percentage of .152 for the match, it was enough for The Beach to win its eighth consecutive match over the Gauchos.

Junior outside hitter Anja Grabovac led The Beach with eight kills and 10 digs while hitting .438 for the match, while senior middle blocker Benishe Dillard added seven kills, eight digs and two block assists to her season totals.

"Our goal tonight was to beat Santa Barbara in single digits and we did it," Grabovac said.

"We were pretty efficient out there tonight on the offensive end," said LBSU Head Coach Brian Gimmillaro. "We played a pretty high level of volleyball, I thought. Our offense, even though we didn't hit for a high percentage, was good and it was tough for them to determine who was going to get the ball."

UCSB was led by junior outside hitter Roberta Gehlke's seven kills and 11 digs. Senior middle blocker Katie Crawford returned for her first appearance Saturday night after having missed the last 10 matches due to a broken hand and hit -.105 (6-8-19) for the match while tallying six kills and six digs.

"They beat us defensively," said Gaucho Head Coach Kathy Gregory. "We hit too many errors. We couldn't keep the ball on the court."

"I thought we played really well tonight. That was enjoyable," said senior setter Misty May. "We played as a team. We've been working so hard in practice that it makes these victories mean so much more."

May finished the night with her fifth "double-double" of the season with a team-high 12 digs while dishing out 27 assists. Her tough jump serve kept the Gauchos off balance.

In the first game, with UCSB holding a 3-2 lead, May served up five unanswered points for The Beach propelling the lead to a 7-3 advantage. Santa Barbara followed May with a hitting error that gave Dillard a chance serve five more points to shoot the lead to 12-3. Emotions ran high as junior middle blocker Brandy Barratt proved to be a force to reckon with at the net, tallying six kills and five block assists. Barratt had three of her kills in Game 1 to lead the charge. May tipped one over the net into the back row to seal the win for The Beach.

Game 2 saw Dillard take control of the net as she pounded down two into the Gauchos defense and followed that with a block assist that pushed the score to 2-0.

Senior outside hitter Jessica Alvarado could not stop the smiles as she assisted in four blocks and stopped one by herself while adding five kills and seven digs to the team totals. Sophomore Melissa Ohta stepped to the service line and served the game point as Gaucho setter Brooke Rundle attempted a May-style tip over the net that Dillard intercepted and sent into the back row.

Game 3 was short and sweet for The Beach as it jumped to a 2-0 lead. Grabovac took advantage of three consecutive hitting errors by UCSB to push the score to 4-2. An Alvarado-May-Walls combo pushed the score to 6-3 and sent the already screaming fans into a frenzy. Grabovac sent one cross-court into the corner to win the game and the match for The Beach.

Cal Poly SLO was no match for The Beach, which shut down the Mustangs 15-10, 15-7, 15-2 Thursday night in The Pyramid.

May missed her fourth "triple-double" of the season by one kill, but still led The Beach with 27 assists, 10 digs and nine kills while hitting .400 for the match. Cal Poly, who was led by junior middle blocker Kari DeSoto's seven kills and four blocks, fell to 16-8 overall and 6-7 in Big West action.

The Beach jumped ahead in Game 1 leading 12-3 until Cal Poly inched its way to 14-10. Junior outside hitter Kristy Kierulff flew into the air and stuffed the Mustang defense with a kill to end the game. Kierulff hit .500 for the match and tallied six kills, with all of her kills coming from The Beach's potent back-row attack, and five digs.

While The Beach struggled to get into the groove early on, May knew what had to be done. She had four of her kills in the first game, along with four of her 10 digs. The double digit point total that Cal Poly accumulated that first game (10) was the first time in 27 games that The Beach had allowed a team to score 10 or more points in a single game. The last team to accomplish such a feat was Cal Poly on Oct. 3.

Game 2 saw a focused LBSU team, which quickly pounced on the Mustang offense allowing it to hit a mere .089. The Beach started the game with a 2-0 lead until Alvarado set the pace serving for five consecutive points to push the score 6-1. Big blocks by junior outside hitter Veronica Walls, Barratt, May and Dillard pushed the scored to 9-3. Grabovac served two aces in a row and it looked as though the victory was within reach. A Grabovac-Dillard combo ended the game.

The Mustangs brought in a new setter in Game 3, freshman Sarah Lowry, as The Beach took advantage of Mustang mistakes. Dillard continued to be a force at the net, while May showed a bit of her versatility by knocking down a few to start off the game with a 6-1 score. The score was pushed to 11-2 by the time Dillard got her chance at the service line, but a save by Alvarado followed by a kill by Walls and a series of hitting errors changed the score to 13-2. Walls tallied two kills in a row to keep The Beach undefeated.

LBSU, the second-best hitting team in the nation, hit .333 for the match, a pace set by May, Walls and Kierulff. Walls tallied nine kills on the night and hit .571. Grabovac, who is second on the team in kills, managed just five kills during the match but recorded a team-high 15 digs and four service aces.

With the victories over Cal Poly SLO and Santa Barbara, The Beach now holds a two-game lead over the University of the Pacific with two matches left to play in the 1998 regular season. The next home match for The Beach will be Nov. 12 as it hosts Nevada at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 14 against Pacific at 7 p.m. in The Pyramid.