Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
Zhejiang
The Beach Wins An Exhibition Match With Zhejiang
10/30/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
LONG BEACH, Calif. - The Long Beach State women's volleyball team entertained the national champions from the Chinese Volleyball League, Zhejiang, on Thursday night in an exhibition match at Walter Pyramid. The Beach won the international exhibition match 25-14, 25-23, 21-25, 25-23.
Since the match was an exhibition, the outcome and individual statistics do not count toward season totals for 24th-ranked Long Beach State, who is 18-4 overall and 8-0 in the Big West.
The Beach easily took the first set behind four kills apiece from Chisom Okpala and freshman Anete Brinke. Zhejiang also committed eight attacking errors in the first set to help the Beach pad its lead. The second set was a much tougher battle as the lead changed hands multiple times.
LBSU had a comfortable cushion at set point, holding a 24-20 lead, but Zhejiang made a late run that put the decision in doubt. A couple of kills from Yang Zhou and Li Jing along with a service ace from Jin Yan brought the Chinese champs within one. Finally, Bre Mackie slammed down the final kill to clinch the set.
Zhejiang led start to finish in the third set and extended the match with a 25-21 win. Mackie took over for the Beach in the fourth set, taking 12 swings and putting down six kills to lead her team to the clinching win.
Both Mackie and Li Jing broke out in the last two sets. After tallying five kills on 12 swings without an error in the third, Li hit another eight kills on 16 swings and an error in the fourth. Mackie had a total of eight kills in the last two sets while committing just one error on 16 swings.
Li finished the night with a match-high 18 kills and had 16 digs. Mackie had 12 kills while Alex Reid led LBSU with 14 kills and Okpala added in 11. Brinke had eight.
Jenelle Hudson had another solid all-around night. She distributed 43 assists while hitting six kills and putting up 17 digs.
Zhejiang finished their American tour with a 3-3 record after falling to No. 5 Texas twice this week. It defeated Texas Tech, TCU and Wayland Baptist last week for its three wins.
Long Beach State jumps right back into the regular season on Saturday as the second half of Big West play begins. The Beach travels to CSUN for a 7 p.m. Saturday match.
