Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach Closes New York Trip With Loss
9/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Long Beach State Closes New York Trip With 3-1 Loss JAMAICA, N.Y. – Two matches in one day provided an interesting challenge, and host St. John's made the most of a favorable schedule, lightly using two players in a win against Fairfield to keep them fresh for the nightcap with Long Beach State, and the ploy paid off in a 28-30, 26-30, 30-27, 26-30. Hui Ping Huang and Wioleta Lesczcynska, the two players held back in the afternoon combined for 29 kills for the Red Storm. Alexis Crimes had 17 kills to lead the Beach. Long Beach State made two furious rallies in games one and two, coming back from three points down and six points down in the second game to take quick leads, but were unable to hold on in either game and fell behind two games to none. Game three marked a quick turning point for the 49ers, who got out to a quick lead and were in control throughout, making blocks and capitalizing on improved defense to get back into the match. Overall, the 49ers hit .359 in the third game, and held the Red Storm to .209 to keep control. However St. John's recovered after a slow start in game four to close out the match. St. John's got a tremendous lift from their defense, particularly libero Lena Yee and outside hitter Casie Brooks. Yee had 14 digs, and made plays throughout the night stopping good attacks from the 49ers from hitting pay dirt, part of 56 total digs for St. John's. Offensively, the Red Storm was led by Huang and Valeria Kovaleva, who had 8 first game kills on the way to a total of 16 on the match. For the Beach, Quincy Verdin and Ashley Lee had 16 and 15 kills respectively, and the team as a whole hit well, finishing the match at .358. St. John's, who was receiving votes in the AVCA Top 25 poll improves to 7-1, while Long Beach State falls to 2-3. St. John's came out strong early, but Long Beach State answered back and the teams moved through the first half of game one evenly. From the 15-15 tie, St. John's again grabbed a lead, moving out to 19-16 advantage. Long Beach State climbed back in to 22-22 after a Hasalikova kill, and a service ace from Ashley Lee gave the Beach their first lead since the early stages. St. John's answered once more to move ahead 25-24, but the Beach came back and took the lead at 26-25 after a Naomi Washington dump. St. John's took a timeout to stop the run, and answered with three straight points to regain the lead. Washington and Crimes answered for 28-28 tie. A side out offered St. John's their first game point, but a Kovaleva service error took away their first chance to win the game. Ultimately, after one side out, a Casey Brooks kill did the trick to take a 31-29 win. An early Long Beach State lead was surrendered, as St. John's scored four straight points after a contested call to move ahead 7-5. From that point, St. John's continuted to press their advantage, moving all the way out to 15-9 before the 49ers could fight back. However, a Crimes kill and two consecutive Buggs aces brought the score to 16-14, and the lead was cut to one at 17-16 after Hasalikova kill. Finally a Zuzana Buchlova ace helped the Beach to come all the way back at 21-21. St. John's recovered for four straight points at that point though, and closed out the game with a few side outs at 30-26. Improved blocking combined with a libero change to Buggs helped the 49ers open up a 6-2 lead early in the third game, as the 49ers grabbed three quick blocks. St. John's closed the gap, but couldn't get over the top through the first half. The Red Storm capitalized on two Brooks service aces to move ahead at 18-17, taking their first lead of the game. Long Beach State recovered, and took a 22-19 lead after two more blocks. The 49ers held on to that advantage, trading sideouts to get a 30-27 win in game three. Game four continued in much the same way at the start, as Long Beach State quickly took control with a 10-5 lead. However, the Red Storm climbed back and took a 13-12 lead for their first lead of the game. From there, St. John's extended their lead to 17-14 after a Huang ace. Long Beach State worked their way back to a tie at 20-20, but the Red Storm held onto the lead and finally closed out the match with a 30-26 game four victory. Michaela Hasalikova and Alexis Crimes were both named to the All-Tournament team for their work during the three matches. The 49ers went 2-1 overall, with two 3-0 victories over Fairfield and Virginia Tech in earlier action. Long Beach State returns home for two matches next week, playing their first matches in the Walter Pyramid. First up for the 49ers is No. 8 Washington on Thursday night, before hosting Florida State on Saturday night. Both matches will start at 7 p.m. |
