Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
0-1
Portland State
1-0
LBSU Drops Season Opener at Portland State
8/26/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Portland, Ore. - The 2016 women's volleyball season got off to an undesired start for Long Beach State (0-1), as the Beach fell in four sets to Portland State (1-0) on Friday evening. LBSU dropped the first two sets to the host Vikings and could not fully recover, losing 25-18, 25-14, 18-25, 27-25 in the opening match of the Portland State Tournament.
Freshman YiZhi Xue had a solid debut match in the black and gold, tying for the team high with 10 kills while hitting a match-best .533. She was also in on five blocks to lead the 49ers. Nele Barber and Ashley Murray also had 10 kills apiece, with Barber adding a team-high 16 digs and three aces.
After winning the first point of the night, the Beach fell behind in the first set and never regained the lead in the opening frame, hitting just .086 as a team in each of the first two sets. Meanwhile, Portland State hit .194 and .375 in sets one and two, respectively.
LBSU got things turned around in the third set and looked in control on the way to a 25-18 win in the frame. The Beach outhit the Vikings .361-to-.135, committing just two hitting errors in the set. LBSU led wire-to-wire in the third, getting four kills each from Xue and Anete Brinke.
The fourth set was by far the most competitive of the match, with eight tie scores. LBSU rolled over the momentum from the third set by taking a 4-0 lead, but that was quickly taken away as the teams tied, 7-7. The Beach got some breathing room with a 16-11 lead thanks to a 5-0 run which started with a Barber kill and ended with a Barber ace. However, an immediate 10-2 run by Portland State put the Vikings up 21-18.
Long Beach State called timeout facing a 23-20 deficit in the fourth set, and responded by winning four straight. Barber started it with a monster kill, then chipped in a pair of blocks in the run to give the 49ers set point. Consecutive kills by PSU's Pati Anae swung the momentum back to the home team, however, and Anae's match-leading 19th kill ended the match in favor of the Vikings.
Four freshmen made their Long Beach State debuts in the match, led by Xue and Hailey Harward in the starting lineup as a middle and libero, respectively. Morgan Dewyer and Kjersti Norveel each subbed in during set two to make their first appearance as 49ers.
LBSU is back in action for two matches on Saturday. First, the Beach will face Texas Tech at 11:30 a.m., then take on Colorado at 6 p.m. to close out the weekend.
