Friday, August 25
Long Beach, Calif.
6:00 PM
Long Beach State University
1-0,0-0Big West
3
vs
1
Texas
0-1,0-0Big 12
1
2
3
4
F
Texas
22
25
16
22
1
Long Beach St.
25
18
25
25
3
Long Beach State Takes Down #1 Texas in Season Opener
8/25/2023 10:17:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
The Beach used a balanced offensive attack to upset the defending National Champs in front of a crowd of more than 3,500 at the Walter Pyramid
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Long Beach State Women's Volleyball kicked off the 2023 season with a huge victory as the Beach upset the defending National Champion Texas Longhorns, 3-1 [25-22, 18-25, 25-16, 25-22] in front of a crowd of 3,579 fans at the Walter Pyramid on Friday night.
The crowd was the largest in the last 20 years and is the ninth highest in program history. A large part of that came from the program-record 1,381 students who filled the endzone and chanted "Go Beach" as Long Beach State (1-0) secured the win over No. 1 Texas (0-1).
The Beach turned in a balanced attack as they hit .223 in the match. Redshirt sophomore setter Zayna Meyer distributed the ball well as she found Abby Karich, Hanna Lesiak, and Maura Hayes for 10 kills apiece, while Kameron Bacon added nine and Katie Kennedy contributed eight. Meyer would finish the night with 41 assists, eight digs, three kills, two blocks, and a pair of aces in an all-around solid performance.
In her LBSU debut, Lesiak hit .214 and finished with a double-double as she logged 11 digs to accompany her 10 kills. Karich, who was also playing in her first match for the Beach, led the team with an attack percentage of .259, while adding two digs.
Hayes came off the bench in set two, and earned the start in sets three and four as her 10 kills marked a new career-high for the junior opposite.
Defensively, junior libero Savana Chacon picked up 14 digs in the backcourt as she helped the Beach out-dig the Longhorns, 49-45. Also contributing in the backrow was junior defensive specialist Jenna Giambi who came off the bench and recorded seven digs, while junior outside hitter Natalie Glenn added six over two sets of action.
The opening set started out with Texas taking an 8-3 lead. Long Beach called a timeout to regroup. Coming out of the timeout, the Beach got new life as they went on a 5-1 run to close the gap at 9-8. After a kill from Bacon and an ace from Meyer, LBSU evened the score at 10-all. From there, the set went back and forth until the Beach used another 5-1 run to open up a 22-16 lead. Long Beach pushed the game to set point, 24-19, and was able to close it out after three-straight points from Texas, as LBSU won 25-22 on a kill from Lesiak.
Texas managed to tie the match at one set apiece with a 25-18 set two win. The Longhorns went on an early 6-0 run to take an 8-2 lead and never looked back from there.
With the match tied 1-1, Long Beach came out swinging in the third set as the Beach hit .316 and knocked down 17 kills in the frame. Additionally, the LBSU defense kept Texas off balance as the Longhorns hit just .115 in the set. After four early ties, Long Beach State tallied four-straight points as Hayes knocked down three kills to give the Beach a 15-12 advantage. Leading by three (18-15), LBSU used a 5-0 run to open up a 23-15 lead, before going on to take the set 25-16.
The fourth and final set was a close one. Long Beach hit .263 with 16 kills and Texas hit .231 with 14 kills. The two teams battled each other through 16 ties and five lead changes. The final tie came at 19-19. The Beach broke the tie with four-straight points to take a 23-19 edge. Texas came back and closed the gap at 23-21, but the Beach called a timeout, and bounced back winning the set and match, 25-22.
The victory for Long Beach State handed Texas their first loss dating back to October 19, 2022.
The Longhorns were led by AVCA All-American Madisen Skinner who finished the match with 16 kills, but hit just .157. She also added five digs, three blocks, and two aces. Jenna Wenaas also recorded double-figure kills with 11, while adding four blocks. Setter, Ella Swindle distributed 32 assists, while Keonilei Akana and Emma Halter led the defense with 11 and 10 digs, respectively.
Long Beach State will be back in action on Sunday, August 27 at 4 p.m. when they host Loyola Marymount at the Walter Pyramid. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
The crowd was the largest in the last 20 years and is the ninth highest in program history. A large part of that came from the program-record 1,381 students who filled the endzone and chanted "Go Beach" as Long Beach State (1-0) secured the win over No. 1 Texas (0-1).
The Beach turned in a balanced attack as they hit .223 in the match. Redshirt sophomore setter Zayna Meyer distributed the ball well as she found Abby Karich, Hanna Lesiak, and Maura Hayes for 10 kills apiece, while Kameron Bacon added nine and Katie Kennedy contributed eight. Meyer would finish the night with 41 assists, eight digs, three kills, two blocks, and a pair of aces in an all-around solid performance.
In her LBSU debut, Lesiak hit .214 and finished with a double-double as she logged 11 digs to accompany her 10 kills. Karich, who was also playing in her first match for the Beach, led the team with an attack percentage of .259, while adding two digs.
Hayes came off the bench in set two, and earned the start in sets three and four as her 10 kills marked a new career-high for the junior opposite.
Defensively, junior libero Savana Chacon picked up 14 digs in the backcourt as she helped the Beach out-dig the Longhorns, 49-45. Also contributing in the backrow was junior defensive specialist Jenna Giambi who came off the bench and recorded seven digs, while junior outside hitter Natalie Glenn added six over two sets of action.
What a hustle play by Savana Chacon! Abby Karich finishes it off with a??#BOOM! #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/CEF68CEFAm
— LBSU W. Volleyball (@LBSUWVB) August 26, 2023
The opening set started out with Texas taking an 8-3 lead. Long Beach called a timeout to regroup. Coming out of the timeout, the Beach got new life as they went on a 5-1 run to close the gap at 9-8. After a kill from Bacon and an ace from Meyer, LBSU evened the score at 10-all. From there, the set went back and forth until the Beach used another 5-1 run to open up a 22-16 lead. Long Beach pushed the game to set point, 24-19, and was able to close it out after three-straight points from Texas, as LBSU won 25-22 on a kill from Lesiak.
Texas managed to tie the match at one set apiece with a 25-18 set two win. The Longhorns went on an early 6-0 run to take an 8-2 lead and never looked back from there.
With the match tied 1-1, Long Beach came out swinging in the third set as the Beach hit .316 and knocked down 17 kills in the frame. Additionally, the LBSU defense kept Texas off balance as the Longhorns hit just .115 in the set. After four early ties, Long Beach State tallied four-straight points as Hayes knocked down three kills to give the Beach a 15-12 advantage. Leading by three (18-15), LBSU used a 5-0 run to open up a 23-15 lead, before going on to take the set 25-16.
The fourth and final set was a close one. Long Beach hit .263 with 16 kills and Texas hit .231 with 14 kills. The two teams battled each other through 16 ties and five lead changes. The final tie came at 19-19. The Beach broke the tie with four-straight points to take a 23-19 edge. Texas came back and closed the gap at 23-21, but the Beach called a timeout, and bounced back winning the set and match, 25-22.
BOOM! #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/GfztFZbfMG
— LBSU W. Volleyball (@LBSUWVB) August 26, 2023
The victory for Long Beach State handed Texas their first loss dating back to October 19, 2022.
The Longhorns were led by AVCA All-American Madisen Skinner who finished the match with 16 kills, but hit just .157. She also added five digs, three blocks, and two aces. Jenna Wenaas also recorded double-figure kills with 11, while adding four blocks. Setter, Ella Swindle distributed 32 assists, while Keonilei Akana and Emma Halter led the defense with 11 and 10 digs, respectively.
Long Beach State will be back in action on Sunday, August 27 at 4 p.m. when they host Loyola Marymount at the Walter Pyramid. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
Team Stats
UT
LBSU
Kills
44
56
Errors
13
25
Attempts
123
139
Hitting %
.252
.223
Points
59.0
65.0
Assists
41
51
Aces
2
5
Blocks
13
4
Game Leaders
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
10
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
10
Aces
1
Blocks
0
Kills
9
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
MB
/ Women's Volleyball
DS
/ Women's Volleyball
L/DS
/ Women's Volleyball
OH
/ Women's VolleyballOPP/S
/ Women's VolleyballOH
/ Women's Volleyball
OPP/OH
/ Women's VolleyballOH
/ Women's Volleyball
S
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