Women’s Volleyball Is Postseason Bound After Four-Set Win At UC Santa Barbara

Saturday, November 7

Santa Barbara, Calif.

7 p.m.

Long Beach State University

20-4,12-2Big West

UC Santa Barbara

13-12,9-5Big West

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Long Beach St.	25	25	22	29	3
UC Santa Barbara	21	16	25	27	1

11/7/2026 11:01:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Long Beach State clinched a berth in the Big West Championship behind the 16-kill performance from Sidney Hamaker and another Madi Maxwell triple-double.

By: Joe Reinsch; Assistant Director, Athletic Communications

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Long Beach State closed out a four-set win at UC Santa Barbara in impressive fashion, fighting off four set points before junior Sidney Hamaker took over down the stretch of a 25-21, 25-16, 22-25, 29-27 road win at UC Santa Barbara. With the victory, the Beach clinched a spot in the Big West Championship postseason tournament with four regular season matches remaining.

Hamaker had a hand in LBSU's final six points of the match, notching three of her match-high 16 kills and a pair of blocks during the closing stretch before stepping behind the service line for the match-clinching ace. Junior Madi Maxwell posted her second consecutive triple-double, finishing with 12 kills, 22 assists, and 10 digs to lead Long Beach State (20-4, 12-2 Big West) to the season series sweep of UC Santa Barbara (13-12, 9-5 Big West).

The victory came on a quick turnaround from Long Beach State's five-set win at Cal Poly, which was previously unbeaten in Big West play and slashed the margin between LBSU and the Big West leaders to just a single game.

The Beach took control early, rolling to a two-set lead before UCSB rallied to claim the third set. In the fourth set, the Gauchos opened up a six-point lead at 22-16 with momentum on their side heading towards a potential fifth set. However, Long Beach State scored 6 of the next 7 points, part of an 8-2 run that tied the set, 24-24, and provided the pathway for Sidney Hamaker's closing statement.

Hamaker teamed up with Pola Bujnarowska for the set-tying block that tied the score at 24-all, but LBSU dropped a point when a challenge review revealed a net touch on what would have been a go-ahead kill from Emma Gardner. Instead, UC Santa Barbara took the point for a 25-24 lead, which was answered by the first of three Sidney Hamaker kills down the stretch. Hamaker had another to answer a UCSB kill, tying the set at 26-26, and she registered another block with freshman Kyler Birkelbach to give the Beach a 27-26 edge. The next LBSU attack went wide, allowing the Gauchos to tie the score, 27-27, but Hamaker put down her 16^th kill of the match for a 28-27 lead and closed out the match with the ace.

Maxwell and Hamaker led the way in the opening set with four kills each, as Long Beach State took their first lead when Maxwell went for consecutive kills to break a 5-5 tie. The Beach never trailed for the rest of the first set, scoring five of the final seven points to pull away late for a 25-21 win.

Eight different LBSU players notched a kill in the second set, contributing to a .458 hitting percentage with 15 kills on just 24 attempts. Long Beach State jumped out to an early 8-2 lead, then used a later 7-2 run to extend the lead to 16-6. The lead grew to a dozen points at 23-11 before Hamaker finished off the 25-16 win with a kill that gave the Beach a two-set lead.

After hitting .093 in the first two sets combined, UC Santa Barbara turned things around in the third set, notching 13 kills on a much more efficient .267 attack percentage. The Gauchos jumped out to an early 8-2 lead and never trailed in the set, expanding the margin to 19-10 before Long Beach State scored five straight to cut the lead to 19-15. The Beach scored another three quick points after UCSB got to set point, with a Bujnarowska kill, Anna Jelinek ace, and Hamaker kill cutting the lead to 24-22 before Emma McDermott clinched the 25-22 set win for the Gauchos with a kill.

Junior Pola Bujnarowska was just one kill away from double figures, finishing with 9 kills while recording 6 blocks. Freshman Kyler Birkelbach also tied for the match-high in blocks with 6, and she added 6 kills and 3 aces, while redshirt freshman Chloe Johnson posted 7 kills for the LBSU offense.

Long Beach State returns home for the final two weeks of the regular season, starting with home matches against UC Riverside on Nov. 13 and California Baptist on Nov. 14. Both matches will be broadcast live on ESPN+.