Wednesday, December 4
Long Beach, Calif.
7:00 PM
Long Beach State University
vs
Santa Clara
Photo by: John Fajardo
Long Beach State Set to Host Santa Clara in First Round of NIVC
12/3/2019 1:23:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
The Beach and the Broncos will face off on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
NIVC Tournament Schedule of Events
Wednesday, Dec. 4
Tulsa vs. UC Davis - 5:00 p.m..
Santa Clara at Long Beach State - 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 5
Round 2 - 7:00 p.m.
Location: Long Beach, Calif.
Arena: Walter Pyramid
Live Stats: BeachLiveStats.com
Listen: 22WestMedia.com
Watch: Big West TV
Twitter: @LBSU_WVB
Complete LBSU Notes (PDF)
Long Beach State Set to Host Santa Clara in First Round of NIVC
Long Beach State earned an automatic berth to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) marking the first time the Beach have made the postseason under head coach Joy McKienzie-Fuerbringer. The Beach host Rounds 1 and 2 of the NIVC and will face Santa Clara on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid.
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 closed out the regular season winning four of its last five matches to finish with a 12-16 overall record.
• The Beach posted a 9-7 mark in Big West action as they picked up key wins over UC Santa Barbara (3-0) and al Poly (3-1) late in the season.
• As a team, LBSU is hitting .232, while averaging 13.52 kills per set on 12.49 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 logged 14.07 digs per set and have put up 2.04 blocks per set.
• Long Beach State boasted four Big West All-Conference selections as the Beach garnered three First Team honorees in Hailey Harward, Kashauna Williams, and YiZhi Xue. Katie Kennedy rounded out LBSU's all-conference selections as she was named to the All-Freshman Team.
• Senior libero Hailey Harward continues to pace the Long Beach State defense. She averages 4.10 digs per set. Her career total is at 1575 as she is just three digs away from taking third all-time at LBSU.
• Also moving up in the Long Beach State annals is senior middle blocker YiZhi Xue. Xue has now amassed 390 block assists in her collegiate career which is good for sixth place at LBSU. She is now six block assists away of moving into the top five.
• In four years at the Beach, Xue has posted a total of 443 blocks to rank ninth all-time at Long Beach State. She is just three total blocks away from finishing her collegiate career seventh all-time.
• Harward and Xue are also tops on the squad in aces as Harward leads the team with 23 and Xue is right behind her with 22. Harward tallied a season-high four aces against Cal Poly on Nov. 16 to bring her career total to 114. She is just one ace shy of moving into the top 10 in career aces and tying current assistant coach Sabrina Hernandez who sits in ninth place, along with Christine Romero, with 115 service aces.
• Offensively, sophomore Kashauna Williams leads the Beach with 4.09 kills per set. Williams has collected 24 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 9.90 assists per set, to lead the Big West, while Chavira averages 6.76.
• Despite being listed as a setter on the roster, Chavira has been playing at outside hitter and has been on point. In the last five matches, the freshman has averaged 3.73 kills per set on a .315 attack percentage, while adding 1.82 digs per set and 0.55 blocks per set. She took home both Big West Conference Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week honors on Nov. 18.
• At the net, Kjersti Norveel and Xue lead the way with 1.14 and 0.94 blocks per set, respectively. Xue owns a team-leading 99 total blocks, while Norveel is second on the squad with 56 blocks in just 49 sets played.
• Norveel made the most of her senior night as she tied her career-high with eight blocks to lead the Beach, along with freshman outside hitter Katie Kennedy, who added eight blocks of her own. The duo helped LBSU finish with 13.0 total team blocks, marking a season-high for the Beach.
Scouting Santa Clara
Santa Clara brings a 20-11 overall record into the NIVC Tournament after having closed the regular season winning five of its last six matches.
The Broncos are hitting .228 as a team while averaging 12.61 kills per set on 11.60 assists per set. Defensively, Santa Clara has registered 14.57 digs per set and is averaging 2.67 blocks per set at the net.
Julia San Giacomo is the team's leading scorer with 3.38 kills per set, while hitting .206. She also adds 2.29 digs per set and 0.63 blocks per set.
Michelle Shaffer and Liliana Light split setter duties as Shaffer sets the tone with 6.08 assists per set, while Light distributes 5.16 assists per set. Shaffer also leads the team with 49 aces to average 0.43 per set.
Libero Gretchen Reinert paces the back row with 3.64 digs per set, while Taylor Odom secures the net with 1.63 blocks per set.
The Series: The Beach vs. The Broncos
Long Beach State and Santa Clara will meet for the ninth time in program history and for the first time since 2008. The Beach hold the edge in the all-time series owning a 5-3 record over the Broncos.
Scouting Tulsa
Tulsa finished the regular season with a 15-15 overall record and are currently looking to snap a four-match losing streak.
The Golden Hurricane is hitting .177 on 12.98 kills per set. The defensively strong team averages 17.06 digs per set and 2.19 blocks per set.
Dilara Gedikoglu leads the team with 4.23 kills per set, while adding 2.75 digs per set.
Tulsa utilizes a two-setter offense with Roosa Rautio (5.79 assists per set) and Mariah Prado (4.61 assists per set).
In the back row, Taylor Horsfall has racked up 704 digs per set to average an impressive 6.12 digs per set.
At the net, Callie Cook leads the team with 1.06 blocks per set, while also boasting a .316 attack percentage (258-72-588).
The Series: The Beach vs. The Golden Hurricane
Should Long Beach State and Tulsa face off in the second round, it will be the first meeting between the two teams.
Scouting UC Davis
UC Davis concluded the regular season with a 17-12 overall record. The Aggies were 9-7 in the Big West to finish with an identical record as the Beach.
As a team, the Aggies average 12.80 kills per set and are hitting .246 on the year. The team is averaging 11.81 assists per set, while adding 12.62 digs per set, and 1.99 blocks per set.
Lauren Matias leads the team with 3.78 kills per set, while Mahailia White is the second leading scorer with 3.09 kills per set. The duo are the only two Aggies who average more than three kills per set.
Jane Seslar is the squad's setter as she averages 9.91 assists per set after having dished out 1,070 assists this season.
Defensively, UC Davis is paced by libero Shira Lahav's 3.38 digs per set and middle blocker Josephine Ough's 1.09 blocks per set.
The Series: The Beach vs. The Aggies
Long Beach State and UC Davis are familiar foes from the Big West Conference. Should the two teams meet in the second round, it will be the 32nd time in program history the two teams would face off. The Beach lead the all-time series 28-3, but the Aggies have been victorious over LBSU in the last three meetings, including two earlier this season.
Killin' It
Sophomore outside hitter Kashauna Williams leads the Beach offense with 4.09 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 20 of the team's 28 matches thus far. Williams has notched 23 double-figure kill performances this season and has recorded at least 20 kills on six occasions.
Can You Dig It?
Hailey Harward has amassed 431 digs this season to average 4.10 digs per set. After another solid outing last week, Harward has now collected 1,575 career digs which is good for fourth all-time at Long Beach State. The Phoenix, Ariz., native is just three digs away from finishing her collegiate career ranked third.
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 390 blocks assists in her four-year collegiate career as she sits in sixth all-time at the Beach. Xue is six block assists away from moving into the top five at Long Beach State. Additionally, Xue has posted a total of 443 blocks to rank ninth all-time at Long Beach State. She is just three total blocks away from finishing her collegiate career seventh all-time.
Aces Wild
Seniors Hailey Harward and YiZhi Xue also contribute at the service line as Harward leads the team with 23 aces, while Xue is close behind with 22. Both players tallied four aces in a single match earlier this season. Harward has racked up 114 service aces in her career and she is just one away from cracking the top 10 and tying current assistant coach Sabrina Hernandez. Hernandez, along with Christine Romero are tied for ninth with 115.
Big West All-Conference Honors
Long Beach State boasted four Big West All-Conference selections as Hailey Harward, Kashauna Williams, and YiZhi Xue were named to the First Team, while Katie Kennedy was selected to the All-Freshman Team.
Harward collected her second First Team selection after a stellar senior season in which the libero finished the regular-season averaging 4.10 digs per set to rank second in the Big West Conference. She also led the team with 23 aces on the year. Harward tallied 24 double-figure dig matches and led the Beach in digs in 27 of the team's 28 matches. In her four-year LBSU career, Harward amassed 1,575 career digs to rank fourth all-time at Long Beach State.
Williams earned her first-ever First Team honor after having been named to the All-Freshman Team a year ago. The outside hitter from Los Angeles, Calif., led the Beach with 4.09 kills per set while hitting .250. Williams also added 0.98 digs per set and 0.41 blocks per set. Her kills per set average ranked her third in the Big West. She led Long Beach State in kills on 19 occasions, recorded double-figure kills 24 times, and tallied half a dozen 20-plus kill performances this season.
Xue is a three-time All-Big West First Team selection as the 6-foot-4 middle blocker led Long Beach State with 99 total blocks for an average of 0.94 blocks per set in her senior season. Xue posted 15 solo blocks to go along with 84 block assists, while 2.41 kills per set, 0.73 digs per set, and 22 service aces. The product out of Nanjing, China was solid on both sides of the ball as she also led the Beach with a .353 (253-55-561) attack percentage. She led LBSU in blocks 17 times, and led the squad in kills twice. Xue collected 443 total blocks in her Long Beach State career to rank ninth all-time at the Beach.
Kennedy rounded out the all-conference selections for the Beach as the Hood River, Ore., native was named to the All-Freshman Team. The versatile Kennedy who saw action at both outside hitter and opposite in her rookie season finished the year with 2.16 kills per set, while adding 0.51 blocks per set, and 0.42 digs per set. She recorded nine double-figure kill performances on the year, while leading the Beach in blocks three times, and kills twice. She recorded a career-high 15 kills at No. 11 Florida in September and put up a career-best eight total blocks against Cal Poly two weeks ago.
Wednesday, Dec. 4
Tulsa vs. UC Davis - 5:00 p.m..
Santa Clara at Long Beach State - 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 5
Round 2 - 7:00 p.m.
Location: Long Beach, Calif.
Arena: Walter Pyramid
Live Stats: BeachLiveStats.com
Listen: 22WestMedia.com
Watch: Big West TV
Twitter: @LBSU_WVB
Complete LBSU Notes (PDF)
Long Beach State Set to Host Santa Clara in First Round of NIVC
Long Beach State earned an automatic berth to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) marking the first time the Beach have made the postseason under head coach Joy McKienzie-Fuerbringer. The Beach host Rounds 1 and 2 of the NIVC and will face Santa Clara on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid.
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 closed out the regular season winning four of its last five matches to finish with a 12-16 overall record.
• The Beach posted a 9-7 mark in Big West action as they picked up key wins over UC Santa Barbara (3-0) and al Poly (3-1) late in the season.
• As a team, LBSU is hitting .232, while averaging 13.52 kills per set on 12.49 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 logged 14.07 digs per set and have put up 2.04 blocks per set.
• Long Beach State boasted four Big West All-Conference selections as the Beach garnered three First Team honorees in Hailey Harward, Kashauna Williams, and YiZhi Xue. Katie Kennedy rounded out LBSU's all-conference selections as she was named to the All-Freshman Team.
• Senior libero Hailey Harward continues to pace the Long Beach State defense. She averages 4.10 digs per set. Her career total is at 1575 as she is just three digs away from taking third all-time at LBSU.
• Also moving up in the Long Beach State annals is senior middle blocker YiZhi Xue. Xue has now amassed 390 block assists in her collegiate career which is good for sixth place at LBSU. She is now six block assists away of moving into the top five.
• In four years at the Beach, Xue has posted a total of 443 blocks to rank ninth all-time at Long Beach State. She is just three total blocks away from finishing her collegiate career seventh all-time.
• Harward and Xue are also tops on the squad in aces as Harward leads the team with 23 and Xue is right behind her with 22. Harward tallied a season-high four aces against Cal Poly on Nov. 16 to bring her career total to 114. She is just one ace shy of moving into the top 10 in career aces and tying current assistant coach Sabrina Hernandez who sits in ninth place, along with Christine Romero, with 115 service aces.
• Offensively, sophomore Kashauna Williams leads the Beach with 4.09 kills per set. Williams has collected 24 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 9.90 assists per set, to lead the Big West, while Chavira averages 6.76.
• Despite being listed as a setter on the roster, Chavira has been playing at outside hitter and has been on point. In the last five matches, the freshman has averaged 3.73 kills per set on a .315 attack percentage, while adding 1.82 digs per set and 0.55 blocks per set. She took home both Big West Conference Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week honors on Nov. 18.
• At the net, Kjersti Norveel and Xue lead the way with 1.14 and 0.94 blocks per set, respectively. Xue owns a team-leading 99 total blocks, while Norveel is second on the squad with 56 blocks in just 49 sets played.
• Norveel made the most of her senior night as she tied her career-high with eight blocks to lead the Beach, along with freshman outside hitter Katie Kennedy, who added eight blocks of her own. The duo helped LBSU finish with 13.0 total team blocks, marking a season-high for the Beach.
Scouting Santa Clara
Santa Clara brings a 20-11 overall record into the NIVC Tournament after having closed the regular season winning five of its last six matches.
The Broncos are hitting .228 as a team while averaging 12.61 kills per set on 11.60 assists per set. Defensively, Santa Clara has registered 14.57 digs per set and is averaging 2.67 blocks per set at the net.
Julia San Giacomo is the team's leading scorer with 3.38 kills per set, while hitting .206. She also adds 2.29 digs per set and 0.63 blocks per set.
Michelle Shaffer and Liliana Light split setter duties as Shaffer sets the tone with 6.08 assists per set, while Light distributes 5.16 assists per set. Shaffer also leads the team with 49 aces to average 0.43 per set.
Libero Gretchen Reinert paces the back row with 3.64 digs per set, while Taylor Odom secures the net with 1.63 blocks per set.
The Series: The Beach vs. The Broncos
Long Beach State and Santa Clara will meet for the ninth time in program history and for the first time since 2008. The Beach hold the edge in the all-time series owning a 5-3 record over the Broncos.
Scouting Tulsa
Tulsa finished the regular season with a 15-15 overall record and are currently looking to snap a four-match losing streak.
The Golden Hurricane is hitting .177 on 12.98 kills per set. The defensively strong team averages 17.06 digs per set and 2.19 blocks per set.
Dilara Gedikoglu leads the team with 4.23 kills per set, while adding 2.75 digs per set.
Tulsa utilizes a two-setter offense with Roosa Rautio (5.79 assists per set) and Mariah Prado (4.61 assists per set).
In the back row, Taylor Horsfall has racked up 704 digs per set to average an impressive 6.12 digs per set.
At the net, Callie Cook leads the team with 1.06 blocks per set, while also boasting a .316 attack percentage (258-72-588).
The Series: The Beach vs. The Golden Hurricane
Should Long Beach State and Tulsa face off in the second round, it will be the first meeting between the two teams.
Scouting UC Davis
UC Davis concluded the regular season with a 17-12 overall record. The Aggies were 9-7 in the Big West to finish with an identical record as the Beach.
As a team, the Aggies average 12.80 kills per set and are hitting .246 on the year. The team is averaging 11.81 assists per set, while adding 12.62 digs per set, and 1.99 blocks per set.
Lauren Matias leads the team with 3.78 kills per set, while Mahailia White is the second leading scorer with 3.09 kills per set. The duo are the only two Aggies who average more than three kills per set.
Jane Seslar is the squad's setter as she averages 9.91 assists per set after having dished out 1,070 assists this season.
Defensively, UC Davis is paced by libero Shira Lahav's 3.38 digs per set and middle blocker Josephine Ough's 1.09 blocks per set.
The Series: The Beach vs. The Aggies
Long Beach State and UC Davis are familiar foes from the Big West Conference. Should the two teams meet in the second round, it will be the 32nd time in program history the two teams would face off. The Beach lead the all-time series 28-3, but the Aggies have been victorious over LBSU in the last three meetings, including two earlier this season.
Killin' It
Sophomore outside hitter Kashauna Williams leads the Beach offense with 4.09 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 20 of the team's 28 matches thus far. Williams has notched 23 double-figure kill performances this season and has recorded at least 20 kills on six occasions.
Can You Dig It?
Hailey Harward has amassed 431 digs this season to average 4.10 digs per set. After another solid outing last week, Harward has now collected 1,575 career digs which is good for fourth all-time at Long Beach State. The Phoenix, Ariz., native is just three digs away from finishing her collegiate career ranked third.
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 390 blocks assists in her four-year collegiate career as she sits in sixth all-time at the Beach. Xue is six block assists away from moving into the top five at Long Beach State. Additionally, Xue has posted a total of 443 blocks to rank ninth all-time at Long Beach State. She is just three total blocks away from finishing her collegiate career seventh all-time.
Aces Wild
Seniors Hailey Harward and YiZhi Xue also contribute at the service line as Harward leads the team with 23 aces, while Xue is close behind with 22. Both players tallied four aces in a single match earlier this season. Harward has racked up 114 service aces in her career and she is just one away from cracking the top 10 and tying current assistant coach Sabrina Hernandez. Hernandez, along with Christine Romero are tied for ninth with 115.
Big West All-Conference Honors
Long Beach State boasted four Big West All-Conference selections as Hailey Harward, Kashauna Williams, and YiZhi Xue were named to the First Team, while Katie Kennedy was selected to the All-Freshman Team.
Harward collected her second First Team selection after a stellar senior season in which the libero finished the regular-season averaging 4.10 digs per set to rank second in the Big West Conference. She also led the team with 23 aces on the year. Harward tallied 24 double-figure dig matches and led the Beach in digs in 27 of the team's 28 matches. In her four-year LBSU career, Harward amassed 1,575 career digs to rank fourth all-time at Long Beach State.
Williams earned her first-ever First Team honor after having been named to the All-Freshman Team a year ago. The outside hitter from Los Angeles, Calif., led the Beach with 4.09 kills per set while hitting .250. Williams also added 0.98 digs per set and 0.41 blocks per set. Her kills per set average ranked her third in the Big West. She led Long Beach State in kills on 19 occasions, recorded double-figure kills 24 times, and tallied half a dozen 20-plus kill performances this season.
Xue is a three-time All-Big West First Team selection as the 6-foot-4 middle blocker led Long Beach State with 99 total blocks for an average of 0.94 blocks per set in her senior season. Xue posted 15 solo blocks to go along with 84 block assists, while 2.41 kills per set, 0.73 digs per set, and 22 service aces. The product out of Nanjing, China was solid on both sides of the ball as she also led the Beach with a .353 (253-55-561) attack percentage. She led LBSU in blocks 17 times, and led the squad in kills twice. Xue collected 443 total blocks in her Long Beach State career to rank ninth all-time at the Beach.
Kennedy rounded out the all-conference selections for the Beach as the Hood River, Ore., native was named to the All-Freshman Team. The versatile Kennedy who saw action at both outside hitter and opposite in her rookie season finished the year with 2.16 kills per set, while adding 0.51 blocks per set, and 0.42 digs per set. She recorded nine double-figure kill performances on the year, while leading the Beach in blocks three times, and kills twice. She recorded a career-high 15 kills at No. 11 Florida in September and put up a career-best eight total blocks against Cal Poly two weeks ago.
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Volleyball
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/ Women's Volleyball
DS/L
/ Women's Volleyball
OH
/ Women's Volleyball
MB
/ Women's Volleyball
OH
/ Women's Volleyball
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