Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
17-4, 7-0Big West
UC Riverside
2-17, 0-7Big West
Defense Limits UCR In A Beach Sweep
10/24/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
LONG BEACH, Calif. - A stingy Long Beach State defense was at its stingiest on Friday night as the women's volleyball team defeated visiting UC Riverside 25-13, 25-14, 25-15. The Beach (17-4, 7-0 Big West) remained undefeated in conference play with its seventh win in a row and 12th Big West win in a row, dating back to last year.
The Beach held the Highlanders (2-17, 0-7 Big West) to a -.066 hitting percentage, which was the lowest mark against the Beach this season. Chisom Okpala had five total blocks to lead a strong effort at the net for LBSU. As a team, the Beach put up 10 blocks in limiting UCR's opportunities. Tyler Jackson also had 13 digs in the back row while Alex Reid was one kill short of a double-double with 11 digs.
LBSU took advantage right from the start of the match as a UCR double-hit was followed by an Alex Reid kill and back-to-back UCR attacking errors. After UCR opened the match in the negatives, it was never able to recover and the Beach controlled most of the match.
After cruising to a 2-0 lead in the match, the Beach felt a bit of a push from the visitors. A Sarah Bruchet ace and a couple of Beach attacking errors put UC Riverside up 7-3 early in the third set but the Beach would recover. Reid later tied the set at 9-9 with one of her nine kills and Ashley Murray immediately put away an over pass to put Long Beach State back on top. The Beach never trailed again and continued to pull away for the sweep.
Okpala also led the Beach on the attack with nine kills on .500 hitting in the sweep. Six of her kills came on eight swings without an error in the second set to spur the Beach to a 2-0 lead in the match. The 49ers hit .343 as a team to quickly capture the set. Jenelle Hudson dished out 24 assists while coming up with six digs and two kills.
Ashley Cox and Alex Graham led the Highlanders with six kills apiece but Cox hit -.079 and Graham hit .111. UCR did manage to find the positives in the second set with a .086 hitting percentage in the set but finished hitting -.143 in the third.
Long Beach State is back in the Pyramid tomorrow with a 7 p.m. match against UC Davis.
