Women's Volleyball Begins Season With Home-And-Home Series With UCLA

Friday, August 28

Long Beach, Calif.

7 p.m.

Long Beach State University

UCLA

Tickets From $17 - $34

Women's Volleyball Begins Season With Home-And-Home Series With UCLA

8/26/2026 9:36:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Match Notes - Week 1

The Beach will host the Bruins Friday, before playing at UCLA on Saturday.

By: Roger Kirk, Associate Athletics Director, Communications & Broadcast

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Long Beach State Women's Volleyball begins the 2026 season with an exciting weekend, facing a home-and-home weekend with UCLA as the local rivals resume their series. Opening weekend marks the 92nd and 93rd meetings between the two Southern California powerhouses.

RIGHT AWAY
• Long Beach State is coming off of the program's second 20-win season in the last three years as Natalie Reagan returns for her third season as the program's head coach.

• The Beach posted a 22-9 overall record in the record season, tying for second overall in the Big West but fell in the Big West Championship semifinals to eventual champions Cal Poly. The Beach had five All-Big West honorees, which included a pair of returners in junior setter Madi Maxwell and sophomore outside hitter Sidney Hamaker.

• In the preseason Big West Coaches Poll, Long Beach State was picked to finish in second behind 2025 Big West Championship winners Cal Poly, who received 11 first place votes. LBSU was the clear second pick in front of UC Santa Barbara and league newcomers Utah Valley, who received a first-place vote as well.

SETTER SPOTLIGHT
• Long Beach State brings back a key starter in setter Madi Maxwell. An All-Freshman Team selection as a true freshman at opposite, Maxwell transitioned to setter prior to the 2025 season and had an excellent campaign.

• Leading Long Beach State to .244 hitting as a team, Maxwell finished the season averaging 9.42 assists per set while leading the team with 306 digs and adding 1.08 kills per set and 80 total blocks on the year. Along the way, she was named Big West Setter of the Week on three occasions, and was selected as a Second Team All-Big West honoree following the season.

• One of four returning starters for Long Beach State, Maxwell was one of seven players named to the Preseason All-Big West team as selected by the 12 head coaches from the league.

• Among the returners for Long Beach State, Maxwell had the most assists, digs, aces and blocks from the team while trailing only sophomore outside hitter in kills.

BRINGING IT BACK
• In total, Long Beach State returns nine players including four starters from last year's 20-win program.

• Sophomore Sidney Hamaker was named to the Big West All-Freshman team after her first season at the Beach. Hamker played in all 31 matches, starting 16 as a true freshman and was third on the team in kills per set, finishing with 222 total on the year. Making 14 kills twice, Hamaker was also tied for third on the team with 20 aces last season.

• The Beach also returns both of their liberos from last season. Both true freshmen in 2025, Izzy Mahaffey finished with 211 digs and 11 aces on the year while Anna Jelinek added 183 digs and 8 aces, with both playing in every match during the season.

• Preslie Yates had a breakout match at UC Santa Barbara, finishing with 7 kills and 8 blocks as a redshirt freshman, and will vie for match time as a middle blocker this season. She is joined as a returning at that position by Pola Bujnarowska, who played in 16 matches as a sophomore in 2025 after transferring to the Beach from Syracuse.

• Senior Anabel Kotzakov played in 24 matches in her first season with Long Beach State in 2025, including a 17-kill performance against UCLA, setting a career high for the transfer who joined LBSU from Boise State. Kotzakov finished the season averaging 1.28 kills per set as a key depth option for the Beach on the pin.

• Senior Laurel Barsocchini averaged 1.20 digs per set while seeing time in 24 matches for the Beach, making six aces. Madi Collins also returns for Long Beach State, as the backup setter for the last two seasons has played in 49 matches for the Beach, making 143 assists.

• Two redshirts, outside hitters Mia Halsey and Chloe Johnson also return for the Beach in their second year with the program.

FRESH FACES
• Long Beach State utilized both the transfer portal and traditional high school recruiting to fill out the roster for the 2027 season, with five Division I transfers and two recruits.

• An unconventional path brings middle blocker Reagan Hope to Long Beach State. A Top 25 recruit out of high school, Hope spent two seasons at Oregon before fully devoding her time to Beach Volleyball. She played two seasons with UCLA Beach Volleyball before going 15-15 overall with Arizona State in her final season of Beach. She now returns to LBSU to finish off her indoor career.

• Senior Kendal Murphy is looking to make a major impact for the Beach after transferring from Baylor. Coming off of an injury that limited her time in 2025, Murphy was a key outside hitter for Baylor in 2024, starting 29 matches and making 261 kills on .216 hitting. Murphy was also a Top 20 recruit coming out of high school.

• Fifth-year Dani Thomas-Nathan is pursuing graduate school while closing out her career with Long Beach State. The outside hitter spent four seasons with USC, but missed the 2025 campaign following a season-ending injury in 2024. Thomas-Nathan played in 23 matches as a sophomore for the Trojans.

• Setter Kinga Ziolkowska played in 27 matches as a true freshman as part of a 6-2, averaging 5.47 assists per set. She led McNeese with 23 aces on the season, and set a season and career-high with 50 assists against Tulane, joining the Beach as a sophomore in 2026.

• Outside Hitter Haumea Marumoto played for two seasons at Washington State, making 15 appearances as a true freshman in 2024 before playing in six matches in 2025. Originally from Honolulu, the 6-2 junior won a state championship with Punahou High School.

• Long Beach State also welcomes in two freshman recruits. Middle Blocker Kyler Birkelbach comes to the Beach from Lone Star High School in Frisco, Texas, and OPP/OH Emma Gardner won an Oklahoma State Championship with Bishop McGuinness High School.

THIS AND THAT
• Both Madi Maxwell and Madi Collins also compete on Long Beach State's Beach Volleyball team. The pair were both on the 2026 team for Long Beach State that finished the year ranked No. 9 in the nation and made a fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Championships held in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

THE LONG BEACH TRADITION
• After a 22-9 record in 2025 under third-year head coach Natalie Reagan, Long Beach State has an all-time record of 1,340-525-6. The program's 1,340 wins rank eighth in Division I history, trailing only Nebraska, BYU, Penn State, UCLA, Texas, Hawai'i, and Minnesota. The team's .718 winning percentage in history also ranks 12th in Division I history.

• Long Beach State are five-time national champions, winning AIAW championships in 1972 and 1973 and NCAA titles in 1989, 1993, and 1998. The Beach has made the NCAA Final Four 8 times, most recently in 2001, and has made 27 NCAA Tournament appearances.

FOR THE FANS
• Long Beach State has had over 3,000 fans watch the team at the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid multiple times, including over 5,000 viewing the 1998 National Champions featuring Misty May-Treanor against UC Santa Barbara in 1998. Overall, the Beach ranked in the Top 50 in attendance last season, with over 23,000 fans seeing the team at home in 2026.