Long Beach State Falls in Four to Georgia at Mizuno Classic

Friday, September 6

Long Beach, Calif.

7:00 PM

Long Beach State University

2-3

Georgia

3-2

Georgia

Long Beach State

Photo by: John Fajardo

9/6/2019 10:46:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Williams, Martinez lead the offense with double-figures in loss

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

@LBSU_WVB head coach Joy McKienzie-Fuerbring and sophomore outside hitter Allison Martinez discuss the Beach's 3-1 loss against Georgia #GoBeach https://t.co/ww1lngAqJA via @LBSUAthletics
— LBSU W. Volleyball (@LBSU_WVB) September 7, 2019

Box Score (PDF) | Photo Gallery

LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Long Beach State women's volleyball team won the first set against Georgia at the LBSU Mizuno Classic, but was unable to put the Bulldogs away as the Beach fell in four sets [25-20, 21-25, 19-25, 22-25] on Friday night at the Walter Pyramid.

LBSU (2-3) started the match off strong, and got a spark in the fourth set, but was unable to complete the comeback as Long Beach State suffered its third loss of the season.

The Beach hit .203 on the night, while the Bulldogs (3-2) hit .214 in an evenly matched performance.

Sophomores Kashauna Williams (15 kills) and Allison Martinez (14 kills) led the offensive attack, while freshman Jade Waskom came off the bench to pace the defense with a season-high 13 digs in the back row. Joining Waskom in double-figures was senior libero Hailey Harward who notched 10 digs for the Beach.

Freshman setter Tia Chavira just missed a double-double as she finished the match with 28 assists and nine digs,

At the net Kjersti Norveel led the way with two solo blocks and six block assists in another solid defensive performance.

Long Beach State used a 7-0 run to turn a four-point deficit (16-12) into a three-point lead (19-16) and never looked back. The Beach held the lead over the Bulldogs the rest of the way and came away with a 25-20 victory thanks to an ace off the hands of Martinez.

The Beach took an early 5-2 lead over the Bulldogs, but Georgia would not go away. The two teams stayed close throughout the frame, but an 8-1 Georgia run would give the Bulldogs a 21-16 lead that it would not relinquish. Despite their efforts, the Beach was unable to come back as they fell, 25-21.

Georgia jumped out in front of LBSU 5-2 in the third set, but the Beach used a 4-0 run to even the score at 9-all. However, the Bulldogs would counter with three-straight points of their own to go up 12-9. From there, Georgia held the edge the rest of the way and eventually took the third set, 25-19.

The fourth set saw Georgia start things off on a 7-2 run as the Bulldogs took a commanding lead over the Beach. Long Beach State, however, was undeterred as the Beach used a 7-0 run sparked by a Martinez kill to even the score at 21-all. With the score knotted at 21 apiece, Georgia closed out the set and match on a 4-1 run to win the fourth set, 25-22, and put an end to the Beach rally.

Long Beach State led on blocking defense with 11.0 blocks to Georgia's 9.0. But Georgia held the edge in every other statistical category.

The Beach will close out the Long Beach State Mizuno Classic on Saturday, Sept. 7 against UCLA at 7 p.m. The LBSU-UCLA match will be the second match of the day following the Texas State-Georgia match up at 4:30 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid.