Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
18-10, 12-3BWC
Cal State Fullerton
6-23, 1-14BWC
Balanced Beach Sweeps Cal State Fullerton
11/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
FULLERTON, Calif. - Long Beach State (18-10, 12-3 Big West) hit a season-best .474 as a team to take a commanding 25-12, 25-15, 25-15 sweep over Cal State Fullerton (6-23, 1-14 Big West) on Friday night at Titan Gym. LBSU had each of its attackers hit over .400 and the team collected a season-high 10 aces in the match. Senior Nele Barber led the match with 13 kills and three aces, but had plenty of help offensively. Megan Kruidhof nearly recorded a double-double with nine kills and nine digs, Peyton Grahovac had eight kills on 12 swings and Ashley Murray had seven kills on just 10 attempts. Defensively, libero Hailey Harward had 18 digs and the Beach put up 8.0 blocks.
Interestingly enough, the Beach lost the first point in every set, but that didn't deter the 49ers from imposing their will. Long Beach went on an 8-1 run early in the first to lead 8-2, and never looked back. The Beach had four aces in the first set, and held the Titans offense at .000 hitting.
In set two, Barber led the way with seven kills as the Beach hit .542 as a team. Fullerton was able to stay in the set for a while, keeping the score tied at 10-10. That's when Long Beach started to pull away, however, going on a 7-1 spurt and eventually closing the frame on a 15-5 run to win it with a Murray spike.
Set three was under the 49ers control, with the lead stretching to 20-8 at its largest margin. LBSU had four aces, 15 digs and four blocks in the third game to close out the emphatic sweep.
Long Beach State will play its final conference match of the season Saturday night at Walter Pyramid with UC Riverside in town. It will also be Senior Night and the Beach will be honoring Nele Barber prior to the match. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
