Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
7-8,1-1
UC Irvine
6-10,1-1
Long Beach State Loses Replay at UC Irvine, 3-2
9/24/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Irvine, Calif. - In Tuesday night's replay of a protested match, Long Beach State suffered a 25-22, 25-23, 26-28, 17-25, 17-15 loss at UC Irvine. The Beach originally won 3-2 at UCI back on Sept. 24, but the match was protested by UC Irvine. The NCAA ruled the match to be replayed or ruled a no contest, based on an officiating error in the second set when a UCI substitution was improperly deemed illegal.
The Big West Conference ruled that the match must be replayed due to Long Beach State's position in the conference standings and potential bearing on the Big West Championship. The match was resumed during set two, with Irvine leading 1-0 in the match and leading 20-18 in set two.
With the loss, LBSU is now 17-10 overall and 11-3 in Big West play. UC Irvine improved to 11-17 and 6-8 in conference action.
Nele Barber established a new career high with 25 kills on the match, recording 16 of those kills on Tuesday night. She also had 13 digs to record her 19th double-double of the year, and she now has 50 matches with 10+ kills during her two seasons at Long Beach State.
YiZhi Xue also had a career performance, tallying a personal best 14 kills on a .400 hitting percentage. Ashley Murray and Peyton Grahovac each added 11 kills. Missy Owens finished with a career high 59 assists, plus had 19 digs and five kills. Libero Hailey Harward recorded 26 digs to finish just one shy of her career high.
LBSU started the match Tuesday in a quick 0-2 hole, based on the circumstances of the replay. The Beach and UCI split the first 10 points evenly, but that was enough for the Anteaters to win the abbreviated second set, 25-23.
The 49ers responded with their backs against the wall, surviving a match point in the third set and winning a heated battle, 28-26. LBSU had 27 digs in the third to hold UCI to .176 hitting, led by an impressive 12 from Harward alone. Barber registered her sixth and seventh kills of the frame to close it out and force the match to a fourth game.
Set four saw the Beach at its best, hitting .424 in the frame. Barber had seven kills on nine swings in the set and Grahovac added five kills and four digs. The Beach finished the set strong, closing on an 8-2 run. Barber started that run with three consecutive kills, scoring on four of five points. Perhaps fittingly, Barber ended the set with a tape ace to roll the Beach into the fifth set with momentum.
LBSU raced out to a 4-0 lead in the fifth, getting kills from every position across the net. The lead grew to 10-4 before UC Irvine worked back into the set, using a 7-1 run to tie the frame at 11-11. Long Beach had a pair of match points, but couldn't put the Anteaters away, and a 3-0 Irvine run gave the hosts the win.
The Beach returns to action on Friday with a trip to Cal State Fullerton, followed by Senior Night on Saturday against UC Riverside. Both matches are scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.
