Long Beach State University Athletics
LBSU Opens Mizuno Invitational vs. No. 13 UCLA
9/14/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Friday, Sept. 15
Long Beach State vs. No. 13 UCLA
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Walter Pyramid
Live Stats | Listen | BigWest.TV | Tickets
Saturday, Sept. 16
Long Beach State vs. San Francisco
Time: 11 a.m.
Location: Walter Pyramid
Live Stats | Listen | BigWest.TV | Tickets
Saturday, Sept. 16
Long Beach State vs. Montana State
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Walter Pyramid
Live Stats | Listen | BigWest.TV | Tickets
LAST TIME OUT
• The Beach had a busy run of matches to conclude a seven-match road trip. LBSU played four times in six days, all away from home, and dropped all four contests. Long Beach State fared better in its final two contests, pushing San Diego State to five sets on the road before taking a set at Pepperdine on Tuesday night.
• Freshman Radi Marinova got her first career start against the Waves and performed well, collecting a personal-best nine kills on 24 swings. For the first time all season, someone other than Megan Kruidhof led the Beach in kills as YiZhi Xue had 11 with a .375 attack percentage in Tuesday night's match.
• Libero Hailey Harward had a standout performance against the Waves, collecting a season-best 25 digs. That's just two off her career high set last season against Hawai'i. The sophomore Harward now has two matches this season with 20 or more digs and five for her career.
• Fellow sophomore Kjersti Norveel has stepped up in the last two matches for Long Beach State, recording eight and nine kills, respectively, on at least .273 hitting. She matched her season high with six blocks against San Diego State and followed that up with five at Pepperdine.
THIS WEEKEND'S OPPONENTS
• LBSU opens this weekend's Mizuno Invitational against No. 13 UCLA. The Bruins are coming off a sweep win over LMU on Wednesday evening and have quality wins this season over No. 17 San Diego and then-No. 20 Hawai'i. UCLA's only losses came on Sept. 8 and 9 on the road against No. 10 Nebraska.
• Mac May leads the Bruins with 3.33 kills per set, one of four players averaging over 2.26 kills per frame. Madeleine Gates leads the team with 1.59 blocks per set and has 10 solo roofs on the season.
• The Bruins have won six consecutive meetings against Long Beach State, including a four-set victory last season at Walter Pyramid. LBSU's last win over UCLA came back in 2001 in an NCAA Tournament match.
• Next up is a match with the San Francisco Dons, who are led by first-year head coach Frank Lavrisha. Leading the Dons is Carly Lowry, who has 2.89 kills/set, followed closely by Erica Ronda's 2.81 kills/set. Marjolijn Oskam is the Dons' leading blocker at 0.91 per set.
• Long Beach State is 5-0 all-time against USF, with the previous meeting between the schools coming during the 2014 season.
• LBSU will finish the weekend against Montana State in the final preseason matchup of the season. Natalie Passeck averages 3.00 kills/set for the Bobcats, to go with 2.04 digs. Kelsie White has been a terrific blocker this season, averaging 1.62 blocks/set.
• This will be just the second meeting between Long Beach State and Montana State. The Beach won 15-11, 15-9 on Sept. 23, 1982.
A NEW ERA
• For the first time in over three decades, there is a new head coach of the Long Beach State women's volleyball program. Former LBSU setter Joy McKienzie-Fuerbringer has returned to the Beach as head coach, and is joined by her husband, associate head coach Matt Fuerbringer on the new coaching staff.
• McKienzie-Fuerbringer won a national championship with Long Beach State in 1993, then returned as an assistant coach following an overseas playing career. She has previous assistant coaching experience at UCLA, where she helped the Bruins to a national championship in 2011.
• Fuerbringer was a terrific player at Stanford, where he was a four-time All-American and the career kills leader for the Cardinal. He went on to a professional career indoors and on the beach before spending the last four years coaching with the US Men's National Team. Included in that stretch was a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
• Also new to the Beach is volunteer assistant coach Justine Wong-Orantes, who just completed a stellar career at Nebraska. Wong-Orantes was a two-time AVCA All-American libero for the Cornhuskers, starting all four years and winning a national championship in 2015.
• Mike Campbell remains on the coaching staff for his fourth season as assistant coach while remaining the head coach of LBSU's beach volleyball squad.
NEW TO THE BEACH
• There are 10 new players on the Long Beach State roster this season, including a handful of transfers and a crop of local and international freshman talent.
• Senior setter Alexis Patterson comes to Long Beach from UNLV and she will be an immediate contributor in charge of the LBSU attack. Utah transfer Emma Kirst is a redshirt junior who, at 6-foot-4, brings great size to either side of the net. Sophomore Kristyna Adamcikova transfers in from San Francisco and could be headed for a redshirt season as she recovers from injury. JUCO transfer Mary Jo McBride adds depth to the setting ranks after coming over from nearby Long Beach City College, where she played for LBSU great Misty May-Treanor. San Diego transfer Gigi Alex joins the indoor roster after playing beach volleyball at Long Beach State last season.
• Among the incoming freshmen, outside hitter Monika Simkova projects to see the most playing time. Hailing from Slovakia, she is one of three incoming freshman from Europe, along with setter Mina Andjelkovic (Serbia) and middle blocker Radi Marinova (Bulgaria).
• The other two incoming freshmen are local products: outside hitter Gina Lipscomb from Yorba Linda and defensive specialist Fayth Rascon-Ryn from Redondo Beach.
PRESEASON PREDICTION
• The Big West Preseason Coaches Poll had Long Beach State slated for a third-place finish in 2017, behind defending champion Hawai'i and Cal Poly.
• Each of the top three teams in the poll received a first-place vote, with Hawai'i leading the way with six, followed by two for Cal Poly and one for LBSU.
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.
