Volleyball Heads East For Harvard Invitational

9/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Sept. 1, 2015

Long Beach, Calif. -

Complete LBSU Women's Volleyball Game Notes

QUICK HITTERS
• Long Beach State is 1-0 against ranked teams in 2015 after defeating No. 25 Duke last Saturday, and heads to Boston still one spot out of the Top 25, the top team amongst those receiving votes.

• The Beach opened the season with two big wins, defeating Alabama and Duke before taking a 3-1 loss to St. Mary's. The 49ers had four different players post double-digit kills over the three matches, and three players are averaging over two kills per set in OH Nele Barber, MB Ashley Murray and freshman OH Carly Beddingfield.

• All three of those set career highs in kills over the weekend as well. Barber led the Beach with 19 kills against Duke, while Murray hit .342 with 16 kills in the losing effort against St. Mary's. Beddingfield had 11 kills in back-to-back matches against both the Blue Devils and the Gaels.

TRIO OF AWARD WINNERS
• Long Beach State enters the 2015 season with just two returning starters, but returns two good ones in S Jenelle Hudson and MB Ashley Murray.

• Hudson is the defending Big West Player of the Year, after guiding the 49ers to an unbeaten 16-0 mark on the way to winning the Big West championship. Hudson averaged 10.22 assists per set and led the team to .261 hitting while hitting .309 herself, averaging over a kill per set.

• Murray was named Big West Freshman of the Year after averaging 1.88 kills per set and hitting .342, while leading the team in blocking, averaging 1.21 blocks per set.

• Hudson was the eighth LBSU player to be named Big West Player of the year, joining Tara Cross, Alexis Crimes, Nichelle Burton, Cheryl Weaver, Antoinette White, Danielle Scott, and three-time Gold Medalist Misty May. She also joined May as just the second Beach setter to earn the conference's top honor.

• Head Coach Brian Gimmillaro also earned Big West Coach of the Year honors for the 2014 season. Recording 27 wins and leading the Beach to the NCAA Tournament for the 27th time, Gimmillaro has been named the Big West Coach of the Year nine times in his career.

• Gimmillaro is also 9 wins away from a significant career milestone, as the 31st year skipper will likely reach 800 career Division I wins this season. Gimmillaro would become just the sixth active coach to reach that total all within Division I, and fourth to record each win at the same institution.

TRANSFER TALENT
• Long Beach State welcomes two Division I transfers who should make an immediate impact with the team in MB Hayley Benson and OH Nele Barber.

• A first-team All-MAC selection as a junior Benson hit over .300 in each of the last two seasons at Ball State, and averaged over 2.50 killls per set for Ball State.

• Barber spent the last two seasons at Marquette, averaging a consistent 2.70 kills per set over both seasons with the Golden Eagles, while playing all the way around as a sophomore and averaging 2.38 digs per set.

NEWS & NOTES FROM THE FRONT ROW
• Nele Barber had a tremendous first week for the 49ers, and leads the Beach in kills with 2.92 per set. Her best effort came against Duke, where she led the team with 19 kills, and carried the team over the finish line for the upset, making five kills with no errors and an ace in the fifth set., hitting .555.

• Carly Beddingfield impressed in her first weekend with the 49ers. A freshman from Albuquerque, N.M., Beddingfield tied for the team lead with seven kills against Alabama in her debut, and then posted 11 kills in each of the next two matches for the Beach.

• The 49ers will have two front row players out for the season with injury, as Sherridan Atkinson and Anete Brinke were each hurt prior to the beginning of the year.

NEWS & NOTES FROM THE BACK ROW
• Freshman Mykah Wilson was named the Big West Defensive Player of the Week for her efforts on the backline during the opening weekend. Wilson started at libero in all three matches for the Beach, and totalled 58 digs, averaging 4.46 per set for the Beach. Her highest total came against St. Mary's, where she had 21 digs, but the Sugarlake, Texas native added 18 digs against Alabama and 19 digs against Duke, leading the 49ers in all three matches.

• Jenelle Hudson also spent plenty of time on defense as well. The senior setter averaged 2.82 digs per set in 2014, second on the team behind libero Tyler Jackson. She was also second on the team in aces, finishing the season with 21.

• Two other freshman joined Mykah Wilson and Carly Beddingfield in playing every set so far this season, as Sarah Miller and Megan Kruidhof also featured prominently for the 49ers. Miller is tied for the team lead with three aces while making 32 digs, while Kruidhof made 22 digs while joining Wilson and Miller in the back row.

THIS AND THAT
• The Big West Conference announced this week that the Beach was selected for a national TV match this season. Long Beach State's contest against CSUN on Saturday, Oct. 17 in the Walter Pyramid will be broadcast live on Fox Sports Prime Ticket.