Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
11-4,1-0
UC Irvine
10-5,0-1
The Beach Outlasts UCI For Big West Opening Win
9/26/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
IRVINE, Calif. - The Long Beach State women's volleyball team opened the Big West season with a dour-set win at rival Black & Blue rival UC Irvine on Friday. The Beach (11-4, 1-0 Big West) outlasted the Anteaters (10-5, 0-1 Big West) 25-21, 23-25, 26-24, 25-21 in the first conference match of the season for both teams.
The Beach and UCI split the first two sets but Long Beach State responded by taking the next two sets and turning back late UCI runs to get the win. Bre Mackie led the Beach with 15 kills on .316 hitting to go along with seven digs and five total blocks. Jenelle Hudson distributed 40 assists with 14 digs and a career-high of seven kills. Alex Reid added another double-double with 11 kills and 16 digs.
LBSU held UCI to .165 hitting in the first set to take the early match lead but the Anteaters caught fire behind Cassidy Pickrell and Allison Lee in the second. UCI hit .295 as a team while the pair combined for nine kills to tie the match at 1-1. Pickrell had a huge night for the hosts with 21 kills and 19 digs while Lee had 17 kills and 14 digs.
A tightly played third set began to open at the end as the Beach to a 20-16 lead on an attack error from UCI. The lead stayed at four and set up set point at 24-20 when UCI made another error. However, the hosts wouldn't go down easy. Two kills from Lee sandwiched a pair of Pickrell kills to pull UCI into a 24-24 tie. Mackie slammed down a kill to end the run and Long Beach State took the set when UCI's final attack went into the net.
The Beach limited UCI to its worst hitting set of the match at .105 in the fourth and jumped out to an 18-11 lead. UCI made another run back to get within two at 21-19 but the Beach used three emphatic kills from Ashley Murray to stay out in front and clinch the match.
Long Beach State hit .229 in the match and held UCI to .190 hitting. Tyler Jackson was back at libero and came up with 24 digs.
LBSU travels to Cal State Fullerton tomorrow to continue it Big West schedule.
