Chidester Leads Long Beach State to Victory
Chidester's Career High 21 kills Lifts Beach in Season Opener
August 29, 2003
LONG BEACH, CA--Junior Erika Chidester (Covina, CA) had a career-high 21 kills to lead the #16-ranked Long Beach State (1-0) women's volleyball team to a 30-26, 31-29, 30-17 win over Texas-Arlington (0-1) on Friday night in the season opener for both squads at The Pyramid. The victory was the 11th consecutive season-opening win for the 49ers.
Redshirt freshman Robin Miramontes (Upland, CA) chipped in with 11 kills and a .381 hitting percentage and senior transfer Liz Hudson (Fountain Valley, CA) had 10 kills and 11 digs. Setter Jillian Mazarella (Bonita, CA) had 47 assists and eight digs while running a 49er offense which hit .312 for the match. Libero Heather Laudato (Buena Park, CA) had a career-high 17 digs as well.
The Mavericks were led by Caley Smith who had 13 kills and eight digs while Melissa Robinett had nine kills. UTA hit just .140 for the evening and recorded only 3.0 blocks, compared to 8.0 for The Beach.
UTA held leads late in the game in both game one and game two, only to see the 49ers come back and post victories in each. In game two, the Mavericks had game point at 29-28, but the 49ers scored the final three points to secure the 31-29 win. In game three the 49ers led from the start and hit an impressive .366 (20-5-41) in the game. UTA hit just .091 (8-5-33) in game number three.
The 49ers broke in two true freshman on friday night in middle blockers Natalie Uhart (Lansing, KS) and Mariko Crum (Phoenix, AZ). Crum had eight kills, hit .615 (8-0-13) and led The Beach with four blocks. Uhart had two kills and three blocks.
The 49ers will continue play in the Mizuno Invitational as they take on the University of Texas on Saturday at 7:30 pm in The Pyramid. Texas-Arlington will tangle with UC Santa Barbara in the opening match on Saturday at 5 pm.
Box Score
Box Score (UT v. SMC) |
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