MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1998

The Beach advances past Arizona, Southern

By Michelle Fithian

On-Line Forty-Niner

The Long Beach State women's volleyball team advanced to the Regional round of the NCAA Championship tournament after defeating Arizona in three straight matches Friday night and Southern University Thursday in The Pyramid.

The Beach beat the Wildcats 15-11, 15-4, 15-6 in front of a screaming crowd of 2,014 in The Pyramid Friday.

Senior setter Misty May led The Beach to the victory adding 34 assists, seven digs, four block assists, four service aces and three kills to her season totals, while fellow senior and outside hitter Jessica Alvarado continued to put up solid numbers hitting .727 for the match tallying nine digs and eight kills.

Junior outside hitter Anja Grabovac nailed nine down in enemy territory and dug eight out of the ground hitting .400. Senior middle blocker Benishe Dillard, junior outside hitter Veronica Walls and junior middle blocker Brandy Barratt all had six kills as The Beach hit .344 for the evening.

Arizona jumped ahead early in the first game by scoring five straight to put the score 1-6. The Beach took advantage of two Wildcat hitting errors to push the score to 3-6.

A hitting error later followed with a cross-court smack by Grabovac ended the first game 15-11.

The Beach jumped ahead in Game 2, attacking early with back-row bombs by junior outside hitter Kristy Kierulff and a block by Grabovac and Dillard to start the scoring at 5-0.

A May service sealed the game at 15-4.

Again Arizona was ready to fight in Game 3, jumping ahead 3-0. The Beach answered back with a May serving ace, forcing the Wildcats to an error, which tied the score at 3.

"It was a pretty exciting match," said LBSU Head Coach Brian Gimmillaro. "That's a pretty good team to beat 11, 4 and 6."

The Beach sent Southern University down in three straight Thursday night 15-0, 15,0, 15-0 at The Pyramid.

This was the first time in NCAA Tournament history that a team failed to score a single point.

The Beach hit .615 for the match and served 15 aces - four of those from May and Alvarado, with three served by Kierulff. Sophomore defensive specialist Silvia Panak as well as freshman Keri Nishimoto, Tayyiba Haneef and Cheryl Weaver all saw action on Thursday, which showed the depth of the bench.