Women's Volleyball To Play Two Matches At Washington State

Thursday, September 17

Pullman, Wash.

6 p.m.

Long Beach State University

Washington State

9/15/2026 1:02:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Week 4 - Washington State

The Beach will play back-to-back matches with the same opponent for the second time this season.

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

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- For the second time this season, Long Beach State will play a back-to-back series with an opponent, this time facing Washington State for two matches hosted by the Cougars in Pullman. Both matches will be streamed live on the Pac-12 YouTube Channel.

RIGHT AWAY
• Sophomore Sidney Hamaker was the co-MVP of last weekend's tournament as Long Beach State went 3-0 against Brown, San Jose State and Loyola Marymount. Hamaker continues to lead Long Beach State in kills in every match while hitting double-figures in every match. The outside hitter saved her best for the biggest match against then 7-1 LMU, making 15 kills on .480 hitting in the team's sweep of the Lions.

• After two straight unbeaten weekends, Long Beach State has won six straight matches but will have a test coming up, playing six straight matches on the road starting with this week's pair against Washington State.

• Junior setter Madi Maxwell won her second straight Big West Setter of the Week award after guiding Long Beach State to .242 hitting and three wins at home. Maxwell averaged just under 30 assists per match while making 30 digs and 19 kills in the victories.

IN BRIEF
• The six-match winning streak started in an excellent weekend where the team went 3-0 at the Utah Classic. LBSU started the weekend with a dominant 3-0 win over Eastern Illinois, hitting over .400, and followed with two thrilling five-set wins.

• Facing the hosts, Utah, Long Beach State battled the Utes for a 3-2 win on the road against the Big 12 foe. Sidney Hamaker finished with a career-high 20 kills, and Madi Maxwell recorded her second triple-double of the season with 36 assists, 13 digs and 10 kills to go with seven blocks as the two stars carried the Beach to the win. The next morning, the Beach gritted through a slow start and rallied for another five-set win, 3-2 over Wyoming.

• In front of over 3,000 in the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid, Long Beach State won their first set of the season against UCLA, but the Bruins ultimately won both halves of the home-and-home matchup between the two Southern California volleyball rivals.

ON THE OUTSIDE
• Sophomore Sidney Hamaker has carried the load offensively for Long Beach State in her second season. No slumps allowed as Hamaker has led the Beach in kills in every match this season, including setting a career-high with 20 in Long Beach State's road win at Utah. Hamaker is averaging 3.75 kills per set this season for the Beach.

• 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.

• Senior Kendal Murphy is also making an impact from the Beach after transferring from Baylor. Starting every match, Murphy has 8 service aces, and has made 54 kills on the year while playing all six rotations. Murphy set a season-high with 11 kills against San Jose State.

• Redshirt Freshman Chloe Johnson is also making an early impact. Reaching double-figure kills for the first time with 10 against Wyoming, Johnson is tied for second on the team with 57 kills on the year, averaging 1.97 per set, second-best on the team.

SETTER SPOTLIGHT
• Junior Madi Maxwell has continued to impress. The preseason All-Big West selection has recorded two triple-doubles already this year, and is leading Long Beach State to .217 hitting on the season. Maxwell leads the team in assists and digs, and is tied for second in kills and fourth in blocks, contributing in multiple ways as an all-around threat.

• Maxwell's efforts at the Utah Classic earned the junior her first Big West Setter of the Week honor. Maxwell's triple-double led the Beach past Utah, and over the weekend she finished with 21 kills, 12 blocks and a team-high 37 digs in addition to 99 assists over three victories.

• Leading Long Beach State to .244 hitting as a team in 2025, 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.

• Junior Madi Collins has played in 22 sets and made 37 assists, providing Long Beach State a 6-2 option as a setter. Collins has 13 digs on the year and has played in seven of eight total matches.

BLOCK PARTY
• Long Beach State is averaging over 8 blocks per match this season with strong depth playing a role in the middle.

• Freshman Kyler Birkelbach has had a great start to her career at the Beach. Birkelbach is one of five players with over 40 kills in the early portion of the season, and started the first seven matches for Long Beach State. Her 21 blocks are second on the team, and the freshman is hitting .289 on the year.

• 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 devoting 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, and despite missing two matches, Hope has 20 total blocks while average 1.11 per set and is hitting a team-best .373 on the year.

• Junior Pola Bujnarowska had a monster match against Wyoming, making 10 blocks against the Cowgirls. The junior is averaging 1.00 blocks per set while seeing time in six matches, starting four. Sophomore Preslie Yates had a breakout match at UC Santa Barbara last season, finishing with 7 kills and 8 blocks as a redshirt freshman, and will also vie for match time as a middle blocker this season.

DIGGING IT
• The Beach 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.

• Jelinek has started as libero in every match this season for Long Beach State, averaging 3.16 digs per set, second-best on the team behind Maxwell. Mahaffey has also played in every set, making 54 digs so far this season while also sharing the team lead with eight aces, including a season-high four aces against Loyola Marymount. Senior Laurel Barsocchini has also played a big role for the Beach, seeing time in 27 sets as a defensive specialist and making six aces in the early part of the season.