Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
21-10
Denver
23-8
LBSU Closes Season With 3-1 Win Over Denver
11/26/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 26, 2016
LONG BEACH, Calif. - The Beach took care of business in its final match of the 2016 season, defeating Denver 25-20, 25-19, 21-25, 25-16 on Saturday afternoon at Walter Pyramid. The 49ers improved to 21-10 with the victory while Denver sits at 23-8 awaiting their NCAA Tournament draw as champions of the Summit League.
Nele Barber led the match in kills and digs with 18 and 15, respectively. The senior from Berlin, Germany was playing her final match indoors for Long Beach State, going out on her 45th career double-double in two seasons at the Beach.
Missy Owens did a nice job orchestrating the offense, with seven kills (.700 hitting), 49 assists, seven digs and a pair of aces. Ashley Murray added 12 kills on .500 hitting and YiZhi Xue also had 11 kills in the middle. Seeing the most action she's gotten all year, Kobi Pekich recorded 14 digs to finish second on the team. LBSU had six blocks as a team but five of them were of the solo variety, led by two from Barber.
Long Beach came out strong, hitting .452 in the opening game. Barber had six kills in the set, and a service error ended the frame to put LBSU up 1-0. Anete Brinke came off the bench during the opening set and had kills on her first three swings to help the 49ers to a win.
LBSU started the second set on a 6-2 spurt, but Denver took the lead at 11-10. The Beach bounced back immediately and took control of the set, pulling away for a 25-19 win on a spike from Xue.
Denver came out of the locker room and had their best set offensively, hitting. 321. The Pioneers led 11-4 to put the Beach in an early hole. LBSU closed the gap to 23-21 to force a Denver timeout, but the visitors took the final two points to win the set.
A 10-0 run was the key moment in the fourth game, helping LBSU put the finishing touches on the victory. An Owens dump capped off the run, putting the 49ers up for good at 15-6. Barber fittingly put away the final kill to end the match and give Long Beach State the win.
LBSU finishes the year with 20 or more wins for the 27th time in the Brian Gimmillaro era.
