Long Beach State Returns Home, Hosts Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine

Friday, October 18

Long Beach, Calif.

7:00 PM

Long Beach State University

Cal State Fullerton

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Photo by: John Fajardo

Long Beach State Returns Home, Hosts Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine

10/17/2019 4:36:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

The Beach play the Titans on Friday, before taking on the Anteaters in an ESPN3 broadcast at the Pyramid

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Match #18
Long Beach State vs. Cal State Fullerton
Date: Friday, Oct. 18
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Arena: Walter Pyramid
Location: Long Beach, Calif.
Live Stats: BeachLiveStats.com
Listen: 22WestMedia.com
Watch: BigWest.org
Twitter: @LBSU_WVB

Match #19
Long Beach State vs. UC Irvine
Date: Saturday, Oct. 19
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Arena: Walter Pyramid
Location: Long Beach, Calif.
Live Stats: BeachLiveStats.com
Listen: 22WestMedia.com
Watch: ESPN3
Talent: Trent Rush & Brian Gimmillaro
Twitter: @LBSU_WVB

Complete LBSU Match Notes (PDF)

Long Beach State Returns Home, Hosts Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine
The Long Beach State women's volleyball returns home to the Walter Pyramid this weekend as the Beach host Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine. The Beach and the Titans will face off on Friday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m., before welcoming the Anteaters to the Pyramid on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. Saturday's match between LBSU and UCI will be broadcast on ESPN3.

Fans are encouraged to wear pink to Friday's match against Cal State Fullerton in support of Breast Cancer Awareness. On Saturday, Beach fans are encouraged to black out the Pyramid in the Black and Blue Rivalry game against UCI.

Getting Social
Follow Long Beach State women's volleyball on Twitter at @LBSU_WVB and on Instagram at @LBSU_womensvb. You can also stay up-to-date on all things Long Beach State by following @LBSUAthletics on Twitter. Be sure to "like" us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram at @LBSU. And don't forget our hashtags #GoBeach and #LBNation.

About The Beach
• Long Beach State improved to 5-12 overall and 2-3 in Big West Conference action after splitting a pair of road matches last week. The Beach dropped a tough five-set match at UC Davis, before sweeping UC Riverside.
• With a 2-3 record in league play, Long Beach State is in fifth place in Big West standings.
• Senior libero Hailey Harward finished the week with 33 total digs to bring her career total to 1,407 as she is just five digs shy of moving into fourth place all-time at LBSU.
• Offensively, sophomore Kashauna Williams leads the Beach with 4.08 kills per set. Williams has collected 15 double-figure performances this season including four in which she tallied 20 or more kills.
• Setters Tia Chavira and Carly Aigner-Swesey have both seen action on the court this season as Aigner-Swesey leads the way with 8.76 assists per set, while Chavira averages 8.65
• At the net, Kjersti Norveel and YiZhi Xue led the way with 1.08 and 0.91 blocks per set, respectively.
• Xue has amassed 357 career block assists and sits in ninth in the Long Beach State career record book. She is just two shy of taking eighth place all-time at the Beach.
• The Beach were chosen to finish fifth in the Big West Preseason Coaches Poll behind Cal Poly, Hawaii, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Irvine, respectively.

Scouting The Titans
Cal State Fullerton brings a 9-7 overall record into the Walter Pyramid for Friday's contest against Long Beach State. The Titans are 1-4 in Big West Conference action after picking up a four-set win at UC Irvine last weekend which snapped a four-match losing streak.

Freshman Julia Crawford leads the Titans with 3.95 kills per set, while hitting .207 on the year. She also adds 3.09 digs per set and 0.38 blocks per set to contribute on both sides of the ball.
Elizabeth Schuster and Makenzi Abelman split setter duties as Schuster leads the way with 9.18 and Abelman adds 8.40 assists per set. The pair also contribute on the defensive end as Schuster averages 3.36 digs per set, while Abelman averages 2.00.

Defensively for the Titans, Savahna Costello anchors the back row with 5.52 digs per set, while Nicole Shuhandler leads the squad at the net with 0.90 blocks per set.

The Series: LBSU vs. Cal State Fullerton
Long Beach State leads the all-time series against Cal State Fulleton 94-5. The Beach are 48-1 at home when hosting the Titans. Last season, the two teams split the series as LBSU swept Cal State Fullerton at the Pyramid, before the Titans won in four over the Beach in Fullerton.

Scouting The Anteaters
UC Irvine is 4-13 this season and 1-4 in Big West Conference play. The Anteaters are looking to bounce back after dropping a four-set match to Cal State Fullerton last weekend. The Anteaters' lone conference win was a big one as it came at No. 11 Hawaii as UCI knocked off the Rainbow Wahine in five.

Sophomore Abby Marjama leads the team with 2.73 kills per set, while adding 2.51 digs per set.

Kelly Negron is the squad's setter as she has dished out 480 assists to average 7.74 per set. Negron also contributes 2.48 digs per set.

On defense, the Anteaters are paced by Chloe Owens' 2.66 digs per set, while Makayla Wolfe leads the team at the net with 0.85 blocks per set.

The Series: LBSU vs. UC Irvine
Long Beach State and UC Irvine will face off for the 85th time in program history on Saturday. The Beach lead the all-time series 71-13 and own a 38-4 record against the Anteaters when playing in Long Beach. UC Irvine, however, has won the last two contests against LBSU and have taken five of the last six matches over the Beach.

LBSU in the BWC
Sophomore outside hitter Kashauna Williams ranks second among all Big West players in kills per set with 4.08. She has amassed four 20-plus kill contests this season and 15 double-figure kill performances, while leading the Beach in kills 12 times.On the defensive end, senior libero Hailey Harward ranks third in the Big West with 3.99 digs per set. Harward has racked up double-figure dig performances 14 times and has led the squad in digs on 16 occasions.

Player of the Week
Senior libero Hailey Harward was named Big West Conference Defensive Player of the Week (10/7) for the first time this season and for the fifth time in her career.

Harward picked up the honors after posting a 22-dig performance in a four-set road win over CSUN on Saturday night. She was just three digs shy of her season-high as her defensive effort kept the Matadors off balance late in the match allowing the Beach to come back and win the final three sets.

The Phoenix, Ariz., native also contributed three assists and a pair of aces to help Long Beach State snap a six-match losing streak and earn its first conference win of the season.

Harward has now amassed five 20-plus dig performances this season.

Killin' It
Sophomore outside hitter Kashauna Williams leads the Beach offense with 4.08 kills per set. She is the only LBSU player to average more than four kills per set. Additionally, she has led Long Beach State in kills in 12 of the team's 17 matches thus far.

Can You Dig It?
Hailey Harward has amassed 263 digs this season to average 3.98 digs per set. She sits in fifth place all-time at Long Beach State with 1,407 career digs and is just five digs shy of moving into fourth place at the Beach.

Block Party
Senior middle blocker YiZhi Xue is in ninth place all-time at the Beach with 357 block assists. She is just one block assist away from moving into eighth place all-time. Xue leads the team with 60 total blocks and is second on the squad with 0.91 blocks per set.

Up Next
Long Beach State hosts CSUN at the Walter Pyramid on Saturday, Oct. 26 at 7:00 p.m., to wrap up a three-match homestand.