Women’s Volleyball Set for a Pair of Road Matches at UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton

Friday, November 8

Irvine, Calif.

7:00 PM

Long Beach State University

UC Irvine

Photo by: John Fajardo

Women’s Volleyball Set for a Pair of Road Matches at UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton

11/7/2019 4:11:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

The Beach take on the Anteaters in the Black & Blue Rivalry on Friday, before facing off against the Titans on Saturday

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Match #24
Long Beach State at UC Irvine
Date: Friday, Nov. 8
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Arena: Bren Events Center
Location: Irvine, Calif.
Live Stats: UCIrvineSports.com
Listen: 22WestMedia.com
Watch: Big West TV
Twitter: @LBSU_WVB

Match #25
Long Beach State at Cal State Fullerton
Date: Saturday, Nov. 9
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Arena: Titan Gym
Location: Fullerton, Calif.
Live Stats: FullertonTitans.com
Listen: 22WestMedia.com
Watch: Big West TV
Twitter: @LBSU_WVB

Complete LBSU Notes (PDF)

Women's Volleyball Set for a Pair of Road Matches at UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton
The Long Beach State women's volleyball team hits the road this weekend to take on UC Irvine on Friday, November 8 at 7 p.m. in the Black & Blue Rivalry, before going up against Cal State Fullerton on Saturday, November 9 at 7 p.m. at Titan Gym.

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 8-15 on the year after going 1-2 last week with a 3-0 sweep over UC Riverside sandwiched between a pair of losses at UC Santa Barbara (3-1) and to UC Davis (3-2).
• The Beach are 5-6 in Big West action as they sit in sixth palce in league standings.
• As a team, LBSU is hitting .224, while averaging 13.42 kills per set on 12.47 assists per set. Long Beach State's kills per set and assists per set average are both good for second in the conference.
• Defensively, the Beach have collected 14.04 digs per set and 1.92 blocks per set.
• Senior libero Hailey Harward tied her career-high with 27 digs against UC Davis last weekend. She became just the fourth player in LBSU women's volleyball history to amass 1500 or more career digs. Harward leads the Beach with 4.10 digs per set which ranks her second in the Big West.
• Also moving up in the Long Beach State annals is senior middle blocker YiZhi Xue. Xue has now amassed 377 block assists in her collegiate career to move into sixth place at LBSU. She is now 19 block assists away of moving into the top five.
• Offensively, sophomore Kashauna Williams leads the Beach with 4.12 kills per set. Williams has collected 20 double-figure performances this season including six 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 9.48 assists per set, while Chavira averages 8.05.
• At the net, Kjersti Norveel and Xue lead the way with 1.02 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 UC Irvine
UC Irvine is 4-18 overall and 1-9 in Big West Conference action as the Anteaters are looking to snap a six-match losing streak that dates back to Oct. 26 when they upset then-No. 11 Hawaii on the road in five sets.

Abby Marjama leads the 'Eaters offense with 2.80 kills per set, while adding 2.54 digs per set and 0.33 blocks per set. She also leads the squad with 20 aces on the year.

Kelly Negron is the team's setter as she averages 8.03 assists per set, while also contributing 2.49 digs per set.

Defensively, UC Irvine is led by Chloe Owens' 2.84 digs per set and Makayla Wolfe's 64 total blocks which are good for 0.84 per set.

The Series: Beach vs. Anteaters
Long Beach State and UC Irvine will meet for the 86th time in program history on Friday night. The Beach lead the all-time series 72-13 against the Anteaters, including a 3-0 sweep last month at the Walter Pyramid.

Scouting Cal State Fullerton
Cal State Fullerton comes into the week with an 11-10 overall record and a 3-7 mark in conference play. The Titans have lost three of their last four matches with their only victory coming at the hands of UC Irvine (3-1) last Saturday.

Julia Crawford leads the team with 3.81 kills per set on .201 hitting. She also adds 3.04 digs per set which is good for third on the squad.

The Titans utilize two setters in Elizabeth Schuster (9.18 assists per set) and Makenzi Ableman (8.53 assists per set). Schuster is second on the team with 3.36 digs per set.

Libero Savahna Costello paces the backrow with 5.38 digs per set to lead the conference, while Nicole Shuhandler leads the Titans at the net with 67 total blocks (0.87 per set).

The Series: Beach vs. Titans
Long Beach State leads the all-time series against Cal State Fullerton 94-6. However, the Titans collected a 3-0 sweep over the Beach in their last meeting on Oct. 18 as LBSU looks to get back on the winning track.

Killin' It
Sophomore outside hitter Kashauna Williams leads the Beach offense with 4.10 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 17 of the team's 23 matches thus far. Williams has notched 20 double-figure kill performances this season and has recorded at least 20 kills on six occasions.

Can You Dig It?
Hailey Harward has amassed 365 digs this season to average 4.10 digs per set. After another solid outing last week, Harward has now amassed 1,509 career digs which is good for fourth all-time at Long Beach State. The Phoenix, Ariz., native is 69 digs away from third with five 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 377 blocks assists in her four-year collegiate career to move into sixth all-time at the Beach. Xue is 19 block assists away from moving into the top five at Long Beach State.

Aces Wild
Seniors YiZhi Xue and Hailey Harward also contribute at the service line as the duo leads the team with 19 aces. 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 110 aces in her career and is just five 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.

Misty May-Treanor Inducted into U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame
Former Long Beach State women's volleyball player Misty May-Treanor, a two-time NCAA Player of the Year and four-time Olympian, was inducted into the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame during an awards dinner on Friday night at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.

May-Treanor was honored as part of the class of 2019, which was comprised of eight individuals, one team, two legends, one coach and one special contributor.
During her time at LBSU, May-Treanor lead the Beach to a perfect 36-0 record en route to winning the 1998 NCAA National Championship. She capped her phenomenal season by winning the 1998-99 Honda-Broderick Cup, an award which is presented annually to the nation's outstanding collegiate woman athlete and selected by a national vote involving more than 900 NCAA-member schools. She was just the second volleyball player to ever win the prestigious award and the first from Long Beach State.

A two-time AVCA National Player of the Year, two-time Volleyball Magazine Player of the Year, and a three-time Big West Conference Player of the Year selection, May-Treanor piloted a talented Long Beach State squad to the first perfect record in NCAA history as the Beach defeated Penn State (15-3, 15-10, 13-15, 14-16, 15-12) in five sets to win the national title and bring home the program's third NCAA Women's Volleyball championship.

May-Treanor went on to earn numerous awards and accomplishments as she, along with teammate Kerri Walsh-Jennings, went on an unprecedented 90-match winning streak from 2003-04, winning 15 major international titles. She was inducted into the Long Beach State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004, and that same year, won the Gold Medal in Beach Volleyball at the Summer Olympics in Athens. She repeated as a Gold Medalist in the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and in the London Olympics in 2012.

The inductees were determined by a voting process that includes Olympians and Paralympians, members of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic family, and an online vote open to fans. This will be the 16th class inducted into the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame, bringing the total to 154 inductees (individuals and teams).

Up Next
Long Beach State hosts its last two regular-season home matches of the season as the Beach welcome UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly to the Walter Pyramid on Friday, Nov. 15 and Saturday, Nov. 16, respectively. Both matches are set for 7 p.m.