Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers Cruise Past Highlanders In Three
3/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
March 17, 2008
Long Beach, Calif. - LONG BEACH - Long Beach State improved to 2-1 in conference play with an easy 30-21, 30-17 30-25 win over UC Riverside on Friday night. The 49ers hit .377 and had 61 kills on the way to the three-game victory. Four players finished in double-figure kills for the 49ers and Talaya Whitfield had a season-high 25 digs.
While the Highlanders did not make many attack errors in the first game, they had much more trouble putting the ball down, as Talaya Whitfield had 13 digs in the first game alone as part of a 26-dig effort from the Beach in the initial game. That rate did not last for long however, as UC Riverside hit .000 in the second game with nine kills and nine errors, and the Beach continued to dig well, finishing the match with 61 total digs led by Whitfield, who finished with a season-high 25 digs in three games.
On the opposite side, Long Beach State had no trouble offensively, featuring a balanced attack with Michaela Hasalkikova finishing with a team-high 13 kills, and was joined by Alexis Crimes, Ashley Lee and Quincy Verdin with 12 kills.
Cynthia Buggs started out the game with a service error, one of the few mistakes for the 49ers in the game. Long Beach State got on the board with a Quincy Verdin kill, and moved out to an early 6-2 lead. From there the 49ers controlled the tempo of play, keeping that cushion and extending their lead out to 16-8 following an Ashley Lee kill. Following a timeout, UC Riverside brought back the score to 20-14, but a Verdin kill stopped the rally along with a Highlander service error. With that late advantage, the 49ers easily took game one with a 30-21 final score.
Long Beach State took a 6-2 lead as Alexis Crimes made two early kills in the second game. The Highlanders recovered to cut the lead to two before another Lee kill stopped the short rally for UC Riverside and sparked one for the Beach. The 49ers moved out to a 15-8 lead before a Sue Gozansky timeout, and continued in that vein out to an 18-9 advantage on the way to a 30-17 game two win.
UC Riverside started out game three taking their largest lead of the match, breaking out to a 5-1 lead before a Crimes kill could stop the Highlander attack. With a heavy dose of Crimes over the next few points, the 49ers came all the way back to tie the game at eight and quickly took a 10-8 lead before surrendering the serve. The Highlanders regained the lead at 14-12, but a quick rally by the 49ers and the Beach regained the lead once again at 16-15. The 49ers increased their lead to 19-15 before a UC Riverside timeout, but the Highlanders again recovered for 20-20 tie. Long Beach State held onto the lead, and closed out the match with a 30-25 win.
The 49ers will try to improve to 3-1 in conference play tomorrow as the team hosts the Anteaters of UC Irvine. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid.
