Long Beach State’s Upset Bid of No. 11 Florida Comes up Short

Saturday, September 14

Gainesville, Fla.

2:00 PM

Long Beach State University

3-6

Florida

5-2

Long Beach State

Florida

Photo by: John Fajardo

Long Beach State’s Upset Bid of No. 11 Florida Comes up Short

9/14/2019 6:41:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

The Beach fall in five to the Gators as Kashauna Williams leads all scorers with a career-high 26 kills

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Box Score (PDF)

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Long Beach State women's volleyball team turned in a strong performance on Saturday night at the Gator Invitational as the Beach pushed host No. 11 Florida to five sets in an exciting 3-2 [25-27, 25-16, 25-20, 19-25, 19-17] loss on Saturday evening in front of 2,516 screaming Gator fans at Exactech Arena inside the O'Connell Center.

The Beach (3-6) knocked off the Gators (5-2) in the first set silencing the crowd, but dropped the next two sets to the tournament hosts as they fell behind two sets to one. Long Beach State refused to quit as the Beach out-hit the Gators .486 to .244 in the fourth set en route to claiming the game, 25-19, and forcing a fifth set.

The final set between the two teams saw the Beach take an early 4-1 lead as the Gators took a timeout down by four (6-2). Long Beach State held the lead over Florida as the Gators utilized their second timeout trailing the Beach, 11-8. The break in action seemed to be just what Florida needed as the Gators rattled off four straight points to take a 13-12 lead as the Beach called their first timeout of the set.

From there, the Beach and the Gators fought through five ties and five match points. Long Beach State pushed Florida to match point four times, but was unable to convert. After going up 17-16, the Beach gave up three straight points to the Gators as they claimed the set and match, 19-17.

Sophomore outside hitter Kashauna Williams led all scorers with a career-high 26 kills, while hitting .296 (26-10-54). She was named to the Gator Invitational All-Tournament Team after finishing the weekend with a total of 62 kills to average 4.77 per set on .245 hitting.

Williams led a quartet of double-figure scorers for the Beach in Katie Kennedy (15 kills), Amanda Henderson (13 kills), and YiZhi Xue (11 kills). The 15 and 13 kills, respectively, marked new career-highs for Kennedy and Henderson.

Freshman setter Tia Chavira was on-point as she dished out a career-high 58 assists to lead the Beach to a .275 attack percentage. Chavira was just one dig shy of a double-double.

Xue had another solid effort as the senior middle blocker served up three aces, just one off her career-high, to go along with a pair of blocks.

Senior libero Hailey Harward led the way with 19 digs in the backrow. She has now collected 1,297 in her career to move into sixth place all-time at Long Beach State. Harward passed LBSU legend Misty May as May finished her collegiate career with 1,279 career digs.

Also contributing to the Beach's defensive efforts were freshmen Jade Waskom (11 digs) and Nicole Hoff (7 digs). The duo's stout plays in the backcourt kept the Gators off balance and allowed the Beach to capitalize on numerous opportunities.

Florida hit .345 on the night as the Gators also had four double-figure scorers in Darrielle King (15 kills), Lauren Dooley (14 kills), Thayer Hall (12 kills), and Holly Carlton (11 kills). Marlie Monserez did a nice job at setter distributing 52 assists, while adding 13 digs for a double-double. Leading the Gators' defensive efforts was libero Allie Gregory who notched 20 digs on the match.

The Beach return to California, but continue their road swing as Long Beach State faces San Diego State on Thursday, Sept. 19, before taking on USC and San Diego at the San Diego Tournament on Sept. 20 and 21 to close out the preseason.