Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
27-5
UCLA
22-11
NCAA Run Ends In Second Round At UCLA
12/6/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Long Beach State's tournament run came to an end with a 27-25, 25-15, 25-14 loss to UCLA on Saturday. The 15th-ranked Beach ends the season with a 27-5 overall record and as the Big West champions.
Chisom Okpala led the Beach with nine kills on .500 hitting in her last match as a 49er. Big West Player of the Year Jenelle Hudson was just shy of a triple-double with 25 assists, 10 digs and seven kills.
A close first set needed extra points to be decided but 12th-seeded UCLA took control early in the second and third sets to secure the sweep and advance to the Louisville, Ky. Regional. Karsta Lowe's 24 kills on .365 hitting led the host Bruins.
In the first set, the Beach found itself down 24-22 but Hudson slammed down a kill and Karsta Lowe's hit went wide to send the set in to extra points. UCLA jumped out in front but Sophie Bukovec and Alex Reid combined for a block to tie the set at 25-25. Lowe came up with another kill and a Beach overpass was sent down by Claire Felix to end the set.
The second set was close early on but an 8-7 Beach deficit quickly expanded to 15-8 and UCLA was in control the rest of the way. The Bruins hit .483 in the middle set to take the 2-0 lead into the break. Four straight blocks in the third gave UCLA a 5-1 lead right from the start and the Beach never came closer than four points the rest of the way.
The Beach hit just .028 in the third and .152 in the match while UCLA hit .369 in the match. When the Beach lost the first set, it was the first set loss since Nov. 7 at Hawaii. The match loss also snapped a 17-match win streak, which was the longest win streak for the Beach since 2001.
Seniors Chisom Okpala, Bre Mackie, Chelsea Cabrajac and Tyler Jackson all played in their final match for the Beach. They led LBSU to its 13th Big West championship this season and its first tournament win since 2008.
