The Beach Battle But Fall to Georgia Tech in Season Opener

Friday, August 30

Atlanta, Ga.

4:00 PM

Long Beach State University

0-1

Georgia Tech

1-0

Long Beach State

Georgia Tech

Photo by: John Fajardo

8/30/2019 8:39:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

YiZhi Xue posted a career-high four aces to go along with a double-figure kill performance and led the team in blocks

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Box Score (PDF) | Play-By-Play (PDF)

ATLANTA – Long Beach State women's volleyball opened the 2019 season with a strong showing at the Georgia Tech Tournament, but saw its rally cut short as the Beach fell in four sets [23-25, 20-25, 28-26, 28-30] to the host Yellow Jackets in the first match of the year.

The Beach (0-1) were led by senior middle blocker YiZhi Xue who turned in a solid outing on both sides of the ball. Xue posted a double-figure kill performance, while leading the squad on blocking defense and tallying a career-high four service aces. She was one of three LBSU players who recorded double-figure kills as Kashauna Williams and Allison Martinez also reached double digits.

Senior Hailey Harward got the start at libero and paced the defense in the back row. She kept the Yellow Jackets (1-0) off balance and helped keep the Beach within striking distance.

Georgia Tech took the first two sets but Long Beach State stayed close battling the Jackets in front of a loud and rowdy crowd of 1,300 in O'Keefe Gymnasium.

The Beach posted a gritty performance in the third set and used several scoring runs to jump out in front of the host Jackets. Georgia Tech would not go away quietly, however, as the Jackets kept the game close and pushed it to match point several times, before Long Beach State won the set (28-26) with three straight points forcing a fourth frame.

Long Beach State got off to a strong start in the fourth set, but fell behind Georgia Tech late in the game. The Jackets sent the game to match point, 24-19, but the Beach put together an incredible rally to even the score at 24-all. From there, the two teams battled each other for set and match point, respectively, but Georgia Tech managed to squeak out the win, 30-28.

The Georgia Tech Invitational continues on Saturday, August 31 as Long Beach State will go up against UNC Asheville at 7 a.m. (PT)/10 a.m. (ET), before closing out the tournament versus Southern at 1 p.m. (PT)/4 p.m. (ET).