Volleyball Hosts UC Davis, Pacific
The home conference schedule comes to a close this weekend with two matches
Nov. 8, 2007 Click Here For Full Release THIS WEEK:
UC Davis Aggies (3-22, 0-13 Big West) at
Long Beach State 49ers (18-6, 11-2 Big West)
Date: Friday, Nov. 9
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Walter Pyramid Pacific Tigers (14-8, 7-6 Big West) at
Long Beach State 49ers (18-6, 11-2 Big West)
Date: Saturday, Nov. 10
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Walter Pyramid NEXT WEEK
Fri., Nov. 16 at Cal State Fullerton 7 p.m. End Of The Home
Long Beach State finishes its home conference schedule this week when volleyball hosts UC Davis and Pacific in the Walter Pyramid. The 49ers start with the Aggies on Friday night before taking on the Tigers on Saturday, November 10. Both matches will start at 7 p.m. Following those matches, Long Beach State will close out their conference season with a road trip to Cal State Fullerton next week. Unstoppable Crimes
Senior middle blocker Alexis Crimes was named the AVCA National Player of the Week as well as the Big West Player of the Week following three 3-0 victories. Crimes hit .621 over the three matches and finished with over twenty kills twice. Crimes was dominant in all three matches this week. She began the week with a .548 hitting mark and 21 kills in a home conference win against Cal State Fullerton. On Friday, in a non-conference matchup with Cal State Bakersfield, the 6-3 senior hit an outstanding .696 with 17 kills with just one error. Closing out the week, in Saturday's win over Cal State Northridge Crimes was perfect, with 21 kills and no attack errors for a .636 hitting percentage. The senior also made seven digs in that match on the way to recording 15 overall in the three matches. During the week, the Rancho Cucamonga native averaged 6.44 kills and 1.67 digs per game as the 49ers improved to 18-6 overall and 11-2 in conference play. Awards History
The national honor is a first for the three-time All-American, and is just the seventh time that any member of the Long Beach State program has merited the selection, joining Nichelle Burton, Tracy Dahl, Benishe Dillard, Misty May, Jillian Mazzarella and Keri Nishimoto. Crimes was previously named the Big West Player of the Week following an MVP performance at the Pioneer Classic on September 14-15. She has now earned Big West Player of the Week honors seven times in her career, tying Cheryl Weaver and Tara Cross for the second-most in program history.
Bringing Out The Brooms
Long Beach State continued an impressive run with three big wins last week, extending their streak to 15 straight games won, taking five consecutive matches with a 3-0 score. Falling first last week were Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Bakersfield in the Walter Pyramid. Following those two matches the 49ers rallied to beat Cal State Northridge in three on the road on Saturday Night 30-24, 30-27, 30-28. Scouting UC Davis
UC Davis remains winless in conference play at 0-13, having dropped two homegames to UC Irvine and UC Riverside last weekend. However, the Aggies have had some close calls, losing in five three times during conference play. Renee Ibekwe leads the team with 3.35 kills per game, but is only hitting .145, part of a team hitting effort of .140 which is the worst in the conference. Long Beach State vs. the Aggies
The 49ers have still never lost to UC Davis, putting together a perfect 6-0 record against the Aggies, but had their biggest scare earlier this year in a 28-30, 30-22, 30-23, 23-30, 18-16 win on the road in Davis on October 13. The 49ers had to rally late to pick up the victory, marking the only time in the series that UC Davis has won a game. Scouting Pacific
The fourth place Tigers have tended to be two very different teams between home and away matches during conference play this season. Pacific is 5-2 at home, beating first-place Cal Poly and taking both the 49ers and UC Irvine to five games, but is 2-4 on the raod with losses to Cal State Fullerton and UCSB. The team has five hitters with over 200 kills this season, led by Alexa Anderson with 302, averaging 3.68 kills per game. Long Beach State vs. the Tigers
The 49ers needed a career night from junior Quincy Verdin to escape from Stockton with a win earlier this season. After falling in the first two games, Long Beach State rallied to win 28-30, 26-30, 32-30, 30-22, 15-13 behind a career-high 21 kills from Verdin. With that win, the all-time series stands in favor of the Beach, 30-24. Record Watch
Alexis Crimes continues to rocket up the career lists in her final season with the 49ers. With a huge week last week, she passed Cheryl Weaver for 4th in kills, and remains just one solo block away from becoming just the fourth player to reach 100 solo blocks. She also sits in second in both block assists and total blocks, and might reach the top spot before the end of the season. Among the setters, Nicole Vargas passed both Brittany Hochevar and Jillian Mazzarella in assists, and currently ranks fifth all-time as a junior. During this week, she'll also become just the fifth setter to pass 3,000 assists in her career. Rank This!
The 49ers continue to hang onto the outside of the poll moving up a spot to a psuedo-29th, receiving 37 votes in this week's poll following a tough week for the top 25. The 49ers have not lost to a team outside the Top 25, and own a win over No. 15 Ohio coming in September. The team has one more crack at a ranked opponent in the regular season, hosting No. 8 Florida as part of the Baden Thanksgiving Classic on Saturday, November 24. One More For Four
Success for the Beach in 2007 will rely heavily on senior middle blocker Alexis Crimes, who has the opportunity to a very exclusive group of 49ers who have earned All-America status four times over the course of their careers. Previously, only Tara Cross has been selected for the honor all four seasons. Additionally, Crimes returns as the defending Big West Co-Player of the Year, joining six 49ers who have won the honor. Having earned the award as a junior Crimes can join Tara Cross, Misty May, Cheryl Weaver and Danielle Scott as the only 49ers to have won conference player of the year honors twice during their careers. |
