Long Beach State University Athletics
Volleyball Off To Florida For Three Matches
9/3/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 3, 2008
Long Beach, Calif. -
Complete Volleyball Release in PDF Format 
Goin' South After a successful home opener to the season, the 49ers now will make the first of two extended road trips, first heading to Florida for three games. First up on the list is a trip to Tallahassee, where the 49ers will play Florida State on Thursday evening. The next day, the 49ers will play a neutral site game in Gainsville against 2007 NCAA Tournament participant Florida A&M before closing out the trip with a rematch against No. 8 Florida on the road. Both games in Gainsville will begin at 2 p.m.
THIS WEEK:
No. 23 Long Beach State 49ers (3-0, 0-0 Big West)
at Florida State Seminoles (3-0, 0-0 ACC)
Date: Thursday, September 4
Time: 4 p.m.
Location: Tallahassee, Fla.
No. 23 Long Beach State 49ers (3-0, 0-0 Big West)
at Florida A&M Rattlers (1-2, 0-0 MEAC)
Date: Friday, September 5
Time: 2 p.m.
Location: Gainesville, Fla.
No. 23 Long Beach State 49ers (3-0, 0-0 Big West)
at No. 8 Florida Gators (3-0, 0-0 SEC)
Date: Saturday, September 6
Time: 2 p.m.
Location: Gainesville, Fla.
Opening Success
Long Beach State opened up their regular season with their traditional success, winning three matches to begin the year with a 3-0 record. The first win for the Beach came in the first match of the Long Beach Invitational, where the 49ers defeated San Francisco 3-1. Quincy Verdin led the team with 13 kills, while freshmen Caitlin Ledoux and Cat Highmark each added 12 for the 49ers. Long Beach State continued their winning ways in the evening on Friday, as Highmark and Ledoux again teamed up to lead the team in kills, each scoring nine while Naomi Washington had 8 in the middle. In the final match for the 49ers in the tournament, Washington hada big match, hitting .324 with 14 kills to lead the way as the 49ers grabbed a 3-1 win over Missouri State. Nicole Vargas and Ledoux each had double doubles, as Vargas finished with 48 assists and 11 digs while Ledoux added 18 digs and 10 kills for the 49ers.
Climbing the Ranks
The three wins for the 49ers this weekend helped the Beach move up one spot in the AVCA Coaches poll, taking the No. 23 spot, where the team finished last season. Long Beach State will have the chance to make further inroads on the top of the poll this week, facing nationally recognized teams in Florida State and Florida A&M before taking on the Florida Gators, who ranked No. 8 in the nation in this week's poll.
Scouting Florida State
Florida State began the year in a manner similar to the 49ers, hosting their own tournament and posting a 3-0 record. The Seminoles started the season with a 3-0 win over Florida A&M before defeating Bowling Green and Stetson. Bowling Green was the only team able to take a set from the Seminoles, but also fell 3-1 in all. Brianna Berry leads the Seminoles with a .528 hitting percentage and 31 kills in just eight sets.
Long Beach State vs. the Seminoles
Long Beach State has defeated the Seminoles in all five occasions that the teams have met. Most recently, the teams met last year in Long Beach, where the 49ers beat Florida State in three sets 30-22, 30-29, 30-23. Alexis Crimes led the way with 14 kills on .542 hitting, while Cynthia Buuggs had 17 digs and Quincy Verdin added 9 kills. Nicole Vargas, another returning member, had 9 digs and made 32 assists.
Scouting Florida A&M
A 2007 NCAA Tournament team as the MEAC Champions, Florida A&M has gotten off to a slow start in 2008, beginning the year with a 1-2 record. The Rattlers started the season with a 0-3 loss to Florida State, and then falling to Bowling Green and Stetson at the Seminole Invitational. FAMU Head Coach Tony Trifonov has traditionally worked with a roster of transfer and international players, and this year is the same, with Jovana Blaveski leading the way for the Rattlers.
Long Beach State vs. the Rattlers
The Rattlers are one of the few teams that Long Beach State does not have a winning record against. The 49ers won the first meeting between the teams in the NCAA Tournament, beating the Rattlers 15-6, 15-10, 15-1 in the opening round of the 1999 tournament in Long Beach. The seond time the teams met was in 2005, when the Rattlers won the final match of the LBSU Thanksgiving Classic, evening the record between the teams at 1-1 with a 19-30, 30-25, 31-29, 30-23 win over the 49ers. The rubber match will be played on Friday.
Scouting Florida
Kristy Jaeckl has been the early star of a Florida team that is dealing with the losses of All-American seniors Angie McGinnis, Marcie Hampton and Amber McCray. Even with those losses, the team still holds a top 10 ranking this season, and has won their first two matches of the year. All-SEC blocker Kelsey Bowers returns for the Gators, but Jaeckyl has been the star of the early part of the season, earning tournament MVP status for her play in two wins over UAB and Pacific, where she averaged 3.86 kills per set while hitting .345 overall.
Long Beach State vs. the Gators
Long Beach State's most thrilling match of the season in 2007 came against Florida, part of a solid bi-coastal rivalry with the Gators in which the 49ers hold a 6-3 overall lead. Long Beach State has won both meetings in the NCAA tournament, winning in straight sets both in 1993 and 1998, Florida ending up in the way of two eventual NCAA champions. The Beach has had less success against the Gators in Gainesville, however, with two of the three losses the 49ers have suffered coming on the road. The 49ers have one win in Florida, a 15-9, 15-6, 15-12 win in 1997, one day before a five-set loss that same year. The match most in the minds of both teams will certainly be last year's five-set thriller at the end of the year last season. Long Beach State won the opening set 30-26 before dropping set two 22-30. A 38-36 gem in set three went to the Gators, before the 49ers responded before a large home crowd to take game four 30-22 and fighting off two match points to take a 20-18 set win and the match victory over the No. 8 Gators.
Setting Legacy
Starting setter Nicole Vargas will likely pass Keri Nishimoto for fourth-place in all-time assists at the Beach in the opening set against Florida State on Thursday night. After making 120 sets in the first three games of the season, Vargas' 3,556 assists are just seven behind Nishimoto in the career lists. Already just being in the top five puts Vargas in elite territory, joining Sheri Sanders, Misty May and Sabrina Hernandez along with Nishimoto among the program's top setters.
Fresh Faces
The 49ers new faces had a strong start to the 2008 season, as many were counted on early on in the year. Cat Highmark is currently tied with Naomi Washington with 33 kills to lead the team, just ahead of Caitlin Ledoux with 31. Ledoux also has 39 digs on the year, putting her second on the team behind only libero Iris Murray. Also seeing extended time has been a third true freshman, Lauren Minkel, who is averaging 1.91 digs per set in the back row. Junior transfers Ya Chen Wang and Brittney Herzog have also been splitting time in the middle alongside junior Naomi Washington.
1,000 Wins
Starting with a 4-4 season back in 1964 under Dr. Fran Schaafmsa to the 2007 tournament win over UNLV, Long Beach State has been extrodinarily successful, becoming just the fifth program to record 1,000 Division I wins. Brigham Young reached that mark in 2007, joining UCLA, Missouri State and Nebraska with that many, with the Bruins having the most at 1,060. Penn State and Hawai'i will be the next teams to reach that total, but may take one or two years to do so.
This and That
This week marks just the first long road trip for Long Beach State this season ... after the Florida trip, the 49ers will return to Long Beach briefly before heading to Boston for four matches in the Harvard Invitational at Cambridge, Mass. ... Long Beach State easily outpaces the rest of the conference defensively in the early part of the season ... the 49ers average almost four digs more per game than their next closest competitor, UC Davis ... the Beach averages 20.18 digs per set, led by Iris Murray at 5.45 dps while the Aggies check in at 16.45 digs per set.
