Long Beach State Comes up Short in Five-Set Battle at UC Davis

Thursday, October 10

Davis, Calif.

7:00 PM

Long Beach State University

4-12, 1-3

UC Davis

11-7, 3-2

Long Beach State

UC Davis

Photo by: John Fajardo

Long Beach State Comes up Short in Five-Set Battle at UC Davis

10/10/2019 11:15:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Kashauna Williams led all scorers with 21 kills in setback

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Box Score (PDF)

DAVIS, Calif. – A hard-fought contest between Long Beach State and UC Davis, saw the Beach come up just short as they dropped a 3-2 [25-17, 22-25, 22-25, 25-18, 12-15] decision to the Aggies on Thursday night at the Pavilion.

The Beach (4-12, 1-3 Big West) out-hit the Aggies (11-7, 3-2 Big West) .250 to .201, and posted more blocks (12.0 to 8.0), but could not overcome a 3-0 run by UC Davis in the fifth set to put the Aggies up for good over the Beach.

Sophomore outside hitter Kashauna Williams led all scorers with 21 kills to mark her fourth 20-plus kill performance of the season. She finished the match hitting .410 (21-5-39), while posting a pair of blocks.

Also reaching double-figures for LBSU was Avery Nelson who concluded the match with 10 kills to go along with four blocks, three digs, and an assist.

Tia Chavira and Carly Aigner-Swesey split setter duties as the duo combined for 44 of the team's 54 assists. Chavira was solid on both sides of the ball dishing out 24 assists, while knocking down seven kills, posting six digs, two blocks, and tallying a pair of aces.

Defensively, Hailey Harward and Nicole Hoff paced the back row as Harward collected 16 digs and Hoff added 12. At the net, senior middle blocker YiZhi Xue put up six total blocks as she registered five block assists and one solo stop.

With Long Beach State turned in several solid performances, so did UC Davis. The host Aggies had three double-figure scorers in Mahalia White (20 kills), Lauren Matias (17 kills), and Leonie Strehl (11 kills). Matias notched a double-double as Matias added 11 digs, second only to libero Shira Lahav's 12. Setter Jane Sesler distributed 49 assists to go along with eight digs, two blocks and as many kills.

Long Beach State started the match off hot as the Beach hit .538 in the first set knocking down 14 kills on 26 swings, while committing just one error. The Beach started the match knocking down three straight points on back-to-back kills by Williams and controlled the rest of the set. Davis managed to even the score, but the Beach jumped back out in front 14-9 after going on a 4-0 run. The Beach extended their lead up to seven (19-12) before cruising to a 25-17 win.

UC Davis came back and took the next two sets by identical set scores of 25-22 to take a 2-1 set lead over Long Beach State. In the second and third sets, the Beach were limited to .154 and .051 attack percentages, respectively, but managed to stay close as the Aggies also struggled on the offensive end.

The Beach kicked off the fourth set with three straight points highlighted by back-to-back aces from Chavira. Long Beach State never trailed in the fourth set as the Beach rolled to a 25-18 win to force a fifth and decisive set.

The fifth set was an offensive battle that saw both team hit over .400 in the frame. The conference foes battled through four early ties before the Aggies used a 3-0 run to break a 4-4 tie. From there, UC Davis led the rest of the way. LBSU stayed close and kept it competitive as the Beach cut the Aggies' lead down to one of several occasions. Long Beach State cut UC Davis' lead down to 13-12, but Davis would go on to win the set and match on a kill by Sesler followed by a block by Jackie Graves and Alexa Rockas.

Long Beach State will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 5 at UC Riverside. The Beach and the Highlanders will go head-to-head at 5 p.m. inside the SRC Arena.