Long Beach State’s Rally Falls Short in Season Opener

Friday, August 24

Portland, Ore.

12:00 PM

Long Beach State University

0-1

Boise State

1-0

Boise State

Long Beach State

8/24/2018 6:04:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

The Beach drop a five-set contest to Boise State

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

@LBSU_WVB head coach Joy McKienzie-Fuerbringer talks about the team's performance in the season opener against Boise State #GoBeach #LBNation pic.twitter.com/yb5nAcoK02
— LBSU W. Volleyball (@LBSU_WVB) August 24, 2018

Box Score

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Long Beach State women's volleyball team opened the 2018 season against Boise State in a neutral site contest at the Portland State Tournament on Friday afternoon and came up just short as the Beach dropped a 3-2 [25-12, 22-25, 14-25, 25-20, 14-16] decision.

The match was the first-ever official contest to be played inside newly minted Viking Pavilion and the Beach (0-1) started things off strong. LBSU hit .345 in the opening set and limited the Broncos (1-0) to just .192 hitting. However, Boise State would take sets two and three, before Long Beach State would force a fifth set by winning set four.

In the fifth and final set, the Broncos took a 8-3 lead, but the Beach would not go away quietly. Long Beach State chipped away at Boise State's lead and whittled it down to three (14-11) as the Broncos were at match point.

From there, LBSU rattled off three straight points on a block by Emma Kirst and Kashauna Williams, followed by back-to-back kills by Williams and Hailey Harward to even the score at 14-all. However, the Broncos would quiet the Beach with a kill of their own followed by an ace to win the match, 16-14.

The Beach were led offensively by Williams and Harward who each tallied 15 kills. Harward finished with a double-double as she added 10 digs. Also notching a double-double for the Beach was Mina Andjelkovic who finished the match with 44 assists and 11 digs.

Freshman Carly Hill was outstanding in the backrow dishing out 26 digs to pace the defense.

Long Beach State also received a solid effort from freshman Allison Martinez who came off the bench and recorded four service aces – all in the first set. Martinez also contributed seven digs and a pair of kills in her collegiate debut.

Kirst would finish the match with a team-best four blocks (one solo and three block assists), while adding four kills and two digs.

???????YiZhi Xue led Long Beach State with a .308 attack percentage as she knocked down five kills on 13 attempts with just one error. She also posted three blocks in the contest.

Long Beach State will be back at Viking Pavilion tonight at 7 p.m. when it takes on Portland State.