Long Beach State Hosts CSUN in Saturday Evening Match-Up

Saturday, October 26

Long Beach, Calif.

7:00 PM

Long Beach State University

CSUN

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Photo by: John Fajardo

10/25/2019 12:55:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

The Beach and the Matadors meet Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Match #20
Long Beach State vs. CSUN
Date: Saturday, Oct. 26
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Arena: Walter Pyramid
Location: Long Beach, Calif.
Live Stats: BeachLiveStats.com
Listen: 22WestMedia.com
Watch: Beach Vision
Twitter: @LBSU_WVB

Complete LBSU Notes (PDF)

Long Beach State Hosts CSUN in Saturday Evening Match-Up
The Long Beach State women's volleyball team welcomes CSUN to the Walter Pyramid for a Saturday evening contest on Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. This is the lone match of the week for the Beach and the last home contest for the women's volleyball team of the month.

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 6-13 overall and 3-4 in Big West Conference action after splitting a pair of home matches last week. The Beach suffered a sweep against Cal State Fullerton last Friday, before picking up a sweep of their own over UC Irvine on Saturday.
• With a 3-4 record in league play, Long Beach State is in sixth place in Big West standings.
• LBSU's 3-0 sweep over UC Irvine at the Pyramid last week marked the Beach's first win at home this season. Long Beach State is now 1-5 when playing inside the Walter Pyramid in 2019.
• Senior libero Hailey Harward finished the week with 27 total digs to bring her career total to 1,434 as she moved into fourth place all-time at Long Beach State, surpassing Tyler Jackson.
• Also moving up in the Long Beach State annals is senior middle blocker YiZhi Xue. Xue has now amassed 363 block assists in her collegiate career to move into seventh place at LBSU. She is just nine block assists shy of taking sixth.
• Offensively, sophomore Kashauna Williams leads the Beach with 4.01 kills per set. Williams has collected 16 double-figure performances this season including four in which she tallied 20 or more kills. She is the only LBSU player to average more than four kills per set this season.
• Setters Tia Chavira and Carly Aigner-Swesey have both seen action on the court this season as Aigner-Swesey leads the way with 9.14 assists per set, while Chavira averages 8.57.
• At the net, Kjersti Norveel and Xue lead the way with 1.05 and 0.93 blocks per set, respectively.
• 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 Matadors
CSUN brings an 8-11 record into the Walter Pyramid and is 3-4 in Big West Conference action as the Matadors sit in fifth place in the league standings.

Seyvion Waggoner is the team's leading scorer as she averages 3.55 kills per set on .217 hitting. Waggoner also contributes 0.64 digs per set and 0.33 blocks per set.

Kamalu Makekau-Whitaker and Hannah Merjil share setter duties for the Matadors. Makekau-Whitaker has dished out 550 assists for an average of 9.02 assists per set, while Merjil adds 7.25 assists per set.

Defensively for the Matadors, libero Makayla Bradford paces the backrow with 3.61 digs per set, while Morgan Salone leads the squad at the net with 55 total blocks for an average of 0.80 per set.

The Series: LBSU vs. CSUN
Saturday's contest marks the 82nd meeting between Long Beach State and CSUN, and the second match between the conference foes this season. LBSU leads the all-time series 57-24 and picked up a four-set win over the Matadors on Oct. 5 at the Matadome. The Beach have now won 10 of the last 11 mataches agianst the Matadors. CSUN's lone win during that stretch came in 2017 when the Matadors defeated the Beach in four in Northridge, Calif.

LBSU in the BWC
Long Beach State is second in the Big West Conference in assists per set with 12.44. Underclassmen Carly Aigner-Swesey and Tia Chavira share setter duties as Aigner-Swesey averages 9.14 assists per set, while Chavira adds 8.57.

The Beach are also in the top three in kills per set with 13.29 as sophomore Kashauna Williams leads the way in that category with 4.01 kills per set to rank second in the conference individual rankings.

Also ranked second in conference statistics is senior libero Hailey Harward who is averaging 4.03 digs per set to pace the Beach defense.

Killin' It
Sophomore outside hitter Kashauna Williams leads the Beach offense with 4.01 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 13 of the team's 19 matches thus far. Williams has notched 16 double-figure kill performances this season and has recorded at least 20 kills on four occasions.

Can You Dig It?
Hailey Harward has amassed 290 digs this season to average 4.03 digs per set. After another solid outing last week, Harward moved herself into fourth place all-time at Long Beach State with 1,434 career digs. Harward surpassed former LBSU standout Tyler Jackson and is 144 digs away from tying AVCA All-American and two-time AVCA National Player of the Year Tara Cross for third at LBSU.

Block Party
Senior middle blocker YiZhi Xue has also moved up in the Long Beach State career record book as the product out of Nanjing, China has now collected 363 blocks assists in her four-year collegiate career to jump from ninth all-time at the Beach to seventh. Xue is just 11 block assists shy of tying All-American Elisha Thomas for sixth place with 374.

Aces Wild
Seniors YiZhi Xue and Hailey Harward also contribute at the service line as Xue leads the team with 19 aces, while Harward is second on the squad with 16. Earlier this season, Xue tallied a career-high four aces at Georgia Tech, meanwhile Harward owns a career-best seven aces after serving up a storm against Texas Tech last season. Harward now has tallied 107 aces in her career and is just eigth service aces shy of breaking into the top 10 at Long Beach State and tying Christine Romero and current LBSU assistant coach Sabrina Hernandez with 115.

Up Next
Long Beach State travels to UC Santa Barbara for a mid-week, conference contest on Tuesday, Oct. 29. First serve is set for 7 p.m. The match at UCSB will close out the month of October for the Beach.