LBSU Hosts UC Riverside, UC Davis This Weekend

Friday, November 1

Long Beach, Calif.

7:00 PM

Long Beach State University

UC Riverside

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Photo by: John Fajardo

10/31/2019 4:05:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

The Beach take on the Highlanders on Friday, before closing out the weekend against the Aggies on Saturday on ESPN3

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Match #22
Long Beach State vs. UC Riverside
Date: Friday, Nov. 1
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

Match #23
Long Beach State vs. UC Davis
Date: Saturday, Nov. 2
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Arena: Walter Pyramid
Location: Long Beach, Calif.
Live Stats: BeachLiveStats.com
Listen: 22WestMedia.com
Watch: ESPN3
Talent: David Gascon & Brian Gimmillaro
Twitter: @LBSU_WVB

Complete LBSU Notes (PDF)

LBSU Hosts UC Riverside, UC Davis This Weekend
The Long Beach State women's volleyball team welcomes Big West Conference foes UC Riverside and UC Davis to the Walter Pyramid this weekend. The Beach host the Highlanders on Friday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m., before taking on the Aggies on Satuday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. The LBSU-UCD match will be broadcast on ESPN3 with David Gascon and Brian Gimmillaro on the call.

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 hashtag #GoBeach.

About The Beach
• Long Beach State is 7-14 on the year after defeating CSUN in a back-and-forth five-set contest and falling to UC Santa Barbara 3-1.
• The Beach are 4-5 in Big West action as they sit in fifth in league standings.
• As a team, LBSU is hitting .223, while averaging 13.36 kills per set on 12.47 assists per set, which is good for second in the conference.
• Defensively, the Beach have collected 13.81 digs per set and 1.98 blocks per set.
• Senior libero Hailey Harward registered her sixth 20-plus dig performance of the season with 21 against CSUN as she now brings her career total to 1,467 which puts her fourth all-time at Long Beach State.
• Also moving up in the Long Beach State annals is senior middle blocker YiZhi Xue. Xue has now amassed 371 block assists in her collegiate career to move into seventh place at LBSU. She is just four block assists shy of taking sixth.
• Offensively, sophomore Kashauna Williams leads the Beach with 4.06 kills per set. Williams has collected 18 double-figure performances this season including five 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 Carly Aigner-Swesey and Tia Chavira have both seen action on the court this season as Aigner-Swesey leads the way with 9.32 assists per set, while Chavira averages 8.20.
• At the net, Kjersti Norveel and Xue lead the way with 1.00 and 0.94 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 Highlanders
UC Riverside comes into the Walter Pyramid with a 5-15 overall record and a 1-8 Big West Conference mark. The struggling Highlanders are looking to snap an eight-match losing streak which dates back to Sept. 29. UCR's lone conference win came at the hands of Cal State Fullerton in a four-set victory.

Osuji Amarachi is the Highlanders' leading scorer with 2.77 kills per set to go along with 1.66 digs per set.

UCR utilizes two setters in Morgan Kline (7.84 assists per set) and Dejah Dade (6.41 assists per set). Kline also leads the squad in digs per set with 2.52.

At the net, Kat Lowry has posted 39 total blocks for an average of 0.71 per set to pace the Highlanders' blocking defense.

The Series: LBSU vs. UCR
Long Beach State and UC Riverside will meet for the 54th time in program history. The Beach own a 49-4 overall record in the series that dates back to 1964. LBSU has won the last 16 matches, including a three-set sweep earlier this season, as UCR is looking for its first win over Long Beach State since 2011.

Scouting The Aggies
UC Davis enters the week with a 12-10 overall record and a 4-5 mark in Big West Conference play. The Aggies are looking to snap a three-match losing skid after having dropped contests to then-No. 22 Hawaii (3-2), UC Santa Barbara (3-0), and Cal Poly (3-0).

Laura Matias leas the Aggies with 3.61 kills per set while adding 2.35 digs per set.

At setter, Jane Seslar paces the UC Davis offense with 9.87 assists per set as the Aggies are hitting .242 as a team.

Defensively, libero Shira Lahav runs the backrown with 3.01 digs per set, while middle blocker Josephine Ough averages 1.14 blocks per set.

The Series: LBSU vs. UCD
Long Beach State leads the all-time series against UC Davis, 26-4. However, the Aggies came out on top in the match up earlier this season as they held off the Beach, in five sets.

Killin' It
Sophomore outside hitter Kashauna Williams leads the Beach offense with 4.06 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 15 of the team's 21 matches thus far. Williams has notched 18 double-figure kill performances this season and has recorded at least 20 kills on five occasions.

Can You Dig It?
Hailey Harward has amassed 323 digs this season to average 3.99 digs per set. After another solid outing last week, Harward has now amassed 1,467 career digs which is good for fourth all-time at Long Beach State. The Phoenix, Ariz., native is 111 digs away from third with seven regular season matches remaining.

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 371 blocks assists in her four-year collegiate career to jump from ninth all-time at the Beach to seventh. Xue is just three 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 hits the road for a pair of Big West Conference contests at UC Irvine on Friday, Nov. 8 and at Cal State Fullerton on Saturday, Nov. 9. Both matches are slated to start at 7 p.m.