Long Beach State University Athletics
49ers Defeat Titans In Three
3/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
March 17, 2008
Long Beach, Calif. - LONG BEACH - Putting together one of their most complete matches of the year, Long Beach State swept Cal State Fullerton 30-22, 30-23, 30-26. Alexis Crimes finished with 20 kills in the three game win, recording her third 20-kill match this season.
With the win, the 49ers improved to 16-6 overall and 10-2 in Big West play, and remain in second place behind Cal Poly with four matches to play in the league schedule.
Overall, Long Beach State closed out the game with .351 hitting, led by Crimes who hit .548, making twenty kills with just three errors on the game. Michaela Hasalikova also had 11 kills for the 49ers, and Quincy Verdin finished with 8 kills. The team never fell behind in game one, and never trailed by more than one point throughout the entire match. Defensively, the team held the Titans to .176 hitting and made 7.5 blocks over the course of the brief match.
Game one opened with a 5-0 start for Long Beach State following a triple block from the front row, as the 49ers came out very strong early. The 49ers carried that cushion through the middle of the game, with Alexis Crimes picking up three kills through the middle along with three kills from Nicole Vargas as the 49ers took an 18-12 lead. Long Beach State easily held onto the lead from there and took a 30-22 win in game one following an attack error by Jennifer Francisco.
The 49ers took an early lead in the second game as Cynthia Buggs picked up an ace for a 2-0 start. From there, the 49ers slowly extended their edge and moved out to an 12-5 lead behind the play of Crimes and Hasalikova. Cal State Fullerton pulled back into the game following their first timeout, cutting the lead from 16-10 to tie the game at 17-17, the first tie in the match to that point. Cal State Fullerton took their first lead of the game at 19-18, but Long Beach State rallied to take a 22-19 lead after a Hasalikova-Moore block. After regaining the lead, the 49ers continued to set Crimes and the 49ers won game two 30-23
Cal State Fullerton took a 1-0, lead, but Long Beach State recovered and moved ahead 8-5 in game three. The Titans would eventually move back to tie the game at 13-13 following a Brittany Moore kill, but the 49ers held onto the service edge through the game's midpoint. The game continued in that manner until Buggs put down her second ace of the match, and Crimes put away an overpass to take a 21-18 lead. Fullerton came to within one point of the 49ers at 27-26, but the 49ers finished out the match with three straight points.
Long Beach State makes a brief exit from conference play as the team hosts Cal State Bakersfield on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Walter Pyramid. The Roadrunners are currently in their first year of transitioning into Division I. Following that match, the team heads north to play Cal State Northridge
