Long Beach State University Athletics
Beach Closes Regular Season vs. North Texas, Denver
11/22/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 22, 2016
LAST TIME OUT
• Long Beach State closed out Big West action with a pair of sweeps over the weekend. LBSU finished second in conference play for the second straight season, and was the only Big West team to defeat conference champion Hawai'i.
• The Beach put it on Cal State Fullerton with a dominant sweep, setting a new season high in hitting percentage at .474. The 49ers also had a season-best 10 aces in the match.
• The next night, Long Beach State swept UC Riverside at Walter Pyramid, celebrating lone senior Nele Barber on Senior Night. The outside hitter delivered a great performance with 15 kills and 17 digs, logging her 20th double-double of the season.
• Freshman Hailey Harward had a strong week for the Beach, recording 6.17 digs/set in the two wins, with 18 at CSF and 19 vs. UCR. Harward was rewarded for her strong play with Big West Defensive Player of the Week honors. That is her second DPOW win this season.
SCOUTING THE MEAN GREEN
• North Texas faces Long Beach State for the first time since 1999, back when the Mean Green were members of the Big West Conference. LBSU leads the all-time series 5-0.
• Junior Holly Milam leads UNT with 3.19 kills per set this season, and is coming off a 22-kill, 11-dig performance in a Conference USA Tournament quarterfinal loss to Southern Miss. Aman Chamberlain is hitting .372 on the year for the Mean Green, averaging 2.85 kills per set.
• UNT has one common opponent with the Beach, losing to San Jose State in four sets back on Sept. 3. LBSU defeated the Spartans in five sets later in the month.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
• Denver will use this weekend as preparation for the NCAA Tournament after winning its third straight Summit League Tournament Championship. The Pioneers defeated South Dakota, 3-1, in the championship match last Sunday.
• The Pioneers are led by junior opposite Kayla Principato, who averages 2.96 kills/set. Senior middle Ruth Okoye has also had a strong season, hitting .363 while averaging 1.09 blocks/set. Denver is a solid blocking team, led by sophomore Emma Willis' 1.14 blocks/set, and recorded 17.5 blocks in the tournament final win over South Dakota.
• These teams met to conclude last season as well, with the Beach winning 25-20, 25-15, 25-20 at Walter Pyramid. LBSU leads the all-time series 3-0 with the previous two meetings happening in Denver.
BARBER'S RARE AIR
• Senior outside hitter Nele Barber has won three Big West Player of the Week honors this season, giving her a total of seven in her less-than-two-year career at Long Beach State. That is tied for the second-most in program history, behind only Danielle Scott.
• Barber leads the Beach in both kills per set (4.13) and digs per set (3.50) and is leading the conference with 4.47 kills/set during Big West play.
• In last Saturday's home match against UC Riverside, Barber celebrated her Senior Night with her 43rd career double-double. The Berlin native has also recorded 10 or more kills in 54 of her 60 career matches at Long Beach State.
MURRAY & HARWARD CLAIM BIG WEST HONORS
• Following wins over UC Riverside and No. 12 Hawai'i, the Beach had two players earn Big West weekly awards on Oct. 10, with junior Ashley Murray winning Big West Player of the Week and freshman Hailey Harward picking up Defensive Player of the Week.
• This was Murray's first career Player of the Week honor, after winning Defensive POW once and Freshman POW three times in 2014. Murray hit .385 in both matches last week, recording 13 kills at UCR and then a career-high 17 against Hawai'i. The middle blocker also led the team with seven total blocks on the week.
• Harward, meanwhile, had the best week of her young career, setting career highs in digs in both matches. She recorded 23 ups against the Highlanders, then topped that with 27 digs against Hawai'i, delivering a rare show-stopping performance from a libero. This is the first Big West award for Harward, who is the third straight LBSU freshman to win a Big West Defensive Player of the Week award, following Murray in 2014 and Mykah Wilson last season.
ARE YOU SAYING POW?
• For the second time this season, Nele Barber and YiZhi Xue earned weekly Big West awards on the same day. On Oct. 3, the conference announced that Barber was the Big West Player of the Week and Xue was the Big West Freshman of the Week.
• In the Cal Poly win, Barber was just one dig shy of a double-double with 15 kills and a .344 hitting percentage. All 15 of her kills came in the first two sets as she was hitting well over .500 heading to intermission.
• Xue had five blocks vs. Cal Poly, but it was her performance on Saturday against the Gauchos that really stood out. The freshman middle blocker recorded a career-high 12 kills against UCSB and hit a match-high .556.
• The duo also won weekly awards together on Sept. 12, with Xue winning Defensive Player of the Week instead. That was thanks to her 11-block performance against Duke, which still stands as the best blocking effort from any 49er this season. Barber, meanwhile, nearly had a triple-double in that match with Duke, finishing just one block shy of the rare feat.
THE AWARD GOES TO...
• Following her monster weekend Sept. 8-10, senior Nele Barber was named the Big West and AVCA Player of the Week. It's the fifth Big West POW honor in Barber's two-year career at the Beach so far, and her first national award from the AVCA. Barber became the 11th player in program history to earn AVCA Player of the Week recognition and first since Bre Mackie in 2014.
• Barber averaged 4.39 kills, 2.94 digs and 1.06 blocks per set on the week, hitting .299 across four matches. She posted a pair of 20+ kill, 15+ dig performances on that Saturday, and hit a season-best .567 against LMU with no errors on 30 swings. Her most complete performance came against Duke, however, when she was just one block shy of a triple-double, finishing with 19 kills, 14 digs and a career-high nine blocks.
WATCH & LISTEN
• All of Long Beach State's non-televised home matches will be streamed live online and free of charge on BigWest.TV.
• Every LBSU match, home and away, can be heard live on KBeach Radio. Listen in at KBeach.org or via the free KBeach Radio app.
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Friday, Nov. 25
Long Beach State vs. North Texas
Time: 12 p.m.
Location: Walter Pyramid
Listen | Live Stats | BigWest.TV | Tickets
Saturday, Nov. 26
Long Beach State vs. Denver
Time: 1 p.m.
Location: Walter Pyramid
Listen | Live Stats | BigWest.TV | Tickets
LAST TIME OUT
• Long Beach State closed out Big West action with a pair of sweeps over the weekend. LBSU finished second in conference play for the second straight season, and was the only Big West team to defeat conference champion Hawai'i.
• The Beach put it on Cal State Fullerton with a dominant sweep, setting a new season high in hitting percentage at .474. The 49ers also had a season-best 10 aces in the match.
• The next night, Long Beach State swept UC Riverside at Walter Pyramid, celebrating lone senior Nele Barber on Senior Night. The outside hitter delivered a great performance with 15 kills and 17 digs, logging her 20th double-double of the season.
• Freshman Hailey Harward had a strong week for the Beach, recording 6.17 digs/set in the two wins, with 18 at CSF and 19 vs. UCR. Harward was rewarded for her strong play with Big West Defensive Player of the Week honors. That is her second DPOW win this season.
SCOUTING THE MEAN GREEN
• North Texas faces Long Beach State for the first time since 1999, back when the Mean Green were members of the Big West Conference. LBSU leads the all-time series 5-0.
• Junior Holly Milam leads UNT with 3.19 kills per set this season, and is coming off a 22-kill, 11-dig performance in a Conference USA Tournament quarterfinal loss to Southern Miss. Aman Chamberlain is hitting .372 on the year for the Mean Green, averaging 2.85 kills per set.
• UNT has one common opponent with the Beach, losing to San Jose State in four sets back on Sept. 3. LBSU defeated the Spartans in five sets later in the month.
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
• Denver will use this weekend as preparation for the NCAA Tournament after winning its third straight Summit League Tournament Championship. The Pioneers defeated South Dakota, 3-1, in the championship match last Sunday.
• The Pioneers are led by junior opposite Kayla Principato, who averages 2.96 kills/set. Senior middle Ruth Okoye has also had a strong season, hitting .363 while averaging 1.09 blocks/set. Denver is a solid blocking team, led by sophomore Emma Willis' 1.14 blocks/set, and recorded 17.5 blocks in the tournament final win over South Dakota.
• These teams met to conclude last season as well, with the Beach winning 25-20, 25-15, 25-20 at Walter Pyramid. LBSU leads the all-time series 3-0 with the previous two meetings happening in Denver.
BARBER'S RARE AIR
• Senior outside hitter Nele Barber has won three Big West Player of the Week honors this season, giving her a total of seven in her less-than-two-year career at Long Beach State. That is tied for the second-most in program history, behind only Danielle Scott.
• Barber leads the Beach in both kills per set (4.13) and digs per set (3.50) and is leading the conference with 4.47 kills/set during Big West play.
• In last Saturday's home match against UC Riverside, Barber celebrated her Senior Night with her 43rd career double-double. The Berlin native has also recorded 10 or more kills in 54 of her 60 career matches at Long Beach State.
MURRAY & HARWARD CLAIM BIG WEST HONORS
• Following wins over UC Riverside and No. 12 Hawai'i, the Beach had two players earn Big West weekly awards on Oct. 10, with junior Ashley Murray winning Big West Player of the Week and freshman Hailey Harward picking up Defensive Player of the Week.
• This was Murray's first career Player of the Week honor, after winning Defensive POW once and Freshman POW three times in 2014. Murray hit .385 in both matches last week, recording 13 kills at UCR and then a career-high 17 against Hawai'i. The middle blocker also led the team with seven total blocks on the week.
• Harward, meanwhile, had the best week of her young career, setting career highs in digs in both matches. She recorded 23 ups against the Highlanders, then topped that with 27 digs against Hawai'i, delivering a rare show-stopping performance from a libero. This is the first Big West award for Harward, who is the third straight LBSU freshman to win a Big West Defensive Player of the Week award, following Murray in 2014 and Mykah Wilson last season.
ARE YOU SAYING POW?
• For the second time this season, Nele Barber and YiZhi Xue earned weekly Big West awards on the same day. On Oct. 3, the conference announced that Barber was the Big West Player of the Week and Xue was the Big West Freshman of the Week.
• In the Cal Poly win, Barber was just one dig shy of a double-double with 15 kills and a .344 hitting percentage. All 15 of her kills came in the first two sets as she was hitting well over .500 heading to intermission.
• Xue had five blocks vs. Cal Poly, but it was her performance on Saturday against the Gauchos that really stood out. The freshman middle blocker recorded a career-high 12 kills against UCSB and hit a match-high .556.
• The duo also won weekly awards together on Sept. 12, with Xue winning Defensive Player of the Week instead. That was thanks to her 11-block performance against Duke, which still stands as the best blocking effort from any 49er this season. Barber, meanwhile, nearly had a triple-double in that match with Duke, finishing just one block shy of the rare feat.
THE AWARD GOES TO...
• Following her monster weekend Sept. 8-10, senior Nele Barber was named the Big West and AVCA Player of the Week. It's the fifth Big West POW honor in Barber's two-year career at the Beach so far, and her first national award from the AVCA. Barber became the 11th player in program history to earn AVCA Player of the Week recognition and first since Bre Mackie in 2014.
• Barber averaged 4.39 kills, 2.94 digs and 1.06 blocks per set on the week, hitting .299 across four matches. She posted a pair of 20+ kill, 15+ dig performances on that Saturday, and hit a season-best .567 against LMU with no errors on 30 swings. Her most complete performance came against Duke, however, when she was just one block shy of a triple-double, finishing with 19 kills, 14 digs and a career-high nine blocks.
WATCH & LISTEN
• All of Long Beach State's non-televised home matches will be streamed live online and free of charge on BigWest.TV.
• Every LBSU match, home and away, can be heard live on KBeach Radio. Listen in at KBeach.org or via the free KBeach Radio app.
Players Mentioned
OH
/ Women's Volleyball
DS/L
/ Women's Volleyball
OH
/ Women's Volleyball
MB
/ Women's Volleyball
DS/L
/ Women's Volleyball
Women's Volleyball Post Game Press Conference vs Pepperdine
Sunday, September 22
Women's Volleyball Game Highlights vs Pepperdine
Sunday, September 22
Women's Volleyball Post Game Press Conference Vs Washington State
Saturday, September 21
Women's Volleyball Game Highlights vs Washington State
Saturday, September 21
