Beach Takes Down Big West-Leading Cal Poly In Five-Set Road Thriller

Friday, November 6

San Luis Obispo, Calif.

6 p.m.

Long Beach State University

19-4,11-2Big West

Cal Poly

16-7,12-1Big West

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Long Beach St.	21	25	19	25	15	3
Cal Poly	25	18	25	21	11	2

11/6/2026 9:54:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Madi Maxwell produced her fourth triple-double of the season, leading Long Beach State to a 5-set win at Cal Poly,

By: Joe Reinsch; Assistant Director, Athletic Communications

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Long Beach State handed Cal Poly a five-set defeat, 21-25, 25-18, 19-25, 25-21, 15-11, to earn a season series split with the Mustangs and pull within a game of the Big West Conference lead with the victory.

Junior setter Madi Maxwell claimed her fourth double-double of the season in the victory, moving into second in the country (NCAA Division I) in triple-doubles after her 11-kill, 14-dig, 26-assist performance. She was one of three Beach hitters to reach double figures in kills, and it was her 11^th kill which sealed the five-set victory for Long Beach State (19-4, 11-2 Big West) on match point in the final set.

Sophomore Sidney Hamaker led the LBSU offense, collecting 17 kills while leading the Beach to a .220 team hitting percentage, and freshman Chloe Johnson joined Maxwell with 11-kill performances. Cal Poly (16-7, 12-1 Big West) got a match-high 19 kills on from Emma Fredrick, who was held to .106 hitting on 66 swings.

Cal Poly won the opening set, answering Maxwell's match-opening kill with four consecutive points, and the Mustangs maintained their lead throughout the set. Maxwell recorded back-to-back kills to close the gap to 12-11, but Cal Poly scored the next three points and led by at least three points the remainder of the set in a 25-21 win.

Another Maxwell kill kicked off the second set, and the Beach turned an early 3-3 tie into a five-point edge when junior Pola Bujnarowska and sophomore Sidney Hamaker scored consecutive kills followed by back-to-back aces from sophomore Anna Jelinek. Graduate student Reagan Hope finished off the 5-0 run with another kill, and the Beach pulled away for a lead as large as eight points, 20-12, while knotting the match at a set apiece with the 25-18 second-set victory.

Cal Poly answered by starting the third set with a 4-0 run; after Long Beach State pulled within 5-3, the Mustangs reeled off five straight to take a 10-3 lead. The Beach got as close as four points several times late in the set, but Cal Poly scored four of the final six points in a 25-19 win.

The fourth set was the only set of the match with more than one lead change, and they all took place in the first nine points of the set. Hamaker tied the set at 4-4 with a kill, and LBSU took a 6-4 lead on back-to-back attack errors from Cal Poly. The decisive swing came in the middle of the set, when a 5-1 run for the Beach expanded a 10-9 lead into a 15-10 margin. Bujnarowska and Johnson each had a kill and teamed up for a block during the run, and Jelinek served her third ace of the match to finish off the run.

Long Beach State led by as many as eight points during the fourth set, reaching set point at 24-16 before a 5-0 Cal Poly run cut the margin to 24-21. Hamaker provided the set clincher with her sixth kill of the set to finish off the 25-21 win and force a fifth set.

Freshman Kyler Birkelbach got the scoring started in the fifth set, and a Cal Poly attack error gave the Beach an early 2-0 lead. Although the score was tied three times, at 2-2, 3-3, and 4-4, the Beach never trailed in the final set. Madi Maxwell's kill broke a 4-4 tie and kicked off a 7-2 run that ended with LBSU holding an 11-6 advantage. Cal Poly had three consecutive attack errors before sophomore Izzy Mahaffey added an ace that pushed the Beach advantage to five points, 11-6. Reagan Hope had a kill that made it 12-7, although the Mustangs clawed back within two, 13-11. Birkelbach responded with a kill, her third of the set and ninth of the match, before Maxwell closed out the victory on the first match point opportunity with her 11^th kill of the match.

Long Beach State held Cal Poly to their lowest hitting percentage of the season, limiting the Mustangs to .149. It was the first time in Big West play the Mustangs hit lower than .238, as LBSU recorded 66 digs and posted 7 blocks in the match.

Sophomore Izzy Mahaffey was the digs leader for the Beach, notching 15 digs, while both LBSU setters also hit double figures in digs with Maxwell recording 14 digs while sophomore Kinga Ziolkowska added a 10-dig, 22-assist double-double, her second time this season with a double-double.

Long Beach State wraps up the final Big West Conference road trip of the season with a Saturday, Nov. 7 visit to UC Santa Barbara, which will be broadcast live on ESPN+.