Long Beach State Takes Down Utah On The Road

Saturday, September 5

Salt Lake City, Utah

7 p.m. MT

Long Beach State University

2-2,0-0Big West

Utah

4-1,0-0Big 12

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Long Beach St.	25	26	20	19	17	3
Utah	15	24	25	25	15	2

9/5/2026 9:09:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Sidney Hamaker, Madi Maxwell led Long Beach State past the Utes in a five-set thriller.

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

SALT LAKE CITY – Outside hitters Sidney Hamaker for Long Beach State and Kamryn Gibadlo for Utah had a battle for the ages while leading their teams, but clutch play from Madi Maxwell in the final points of the fifth set helped the Beach fight off match point and defeat Utah on the road, 25-15, 26-24, 20-25, 19-25, 17-15.

Gibadlo finished with 26 kills on .386 hitting for Utah, a career night for the senior that helped the Utes battle back into the match. Meanwhile, for Long Beach State (2-2), sophomore Sidney Hamaker led the Beach with a career-high 20 kills as well as a career-high nine digs. Madi Maxwell flirted with a quadruple-double, finishing with 10 kills, 36 assists, 13 digs and a team-high seven blocks. Sophomore libero Anna Jelinek also set a career high with 17 digs, leading the Beach. Collectively, Long Beach State finished with a season-high 15 blocks as well.

Long Beach State opened the first set in total command, cruising to a 25-15 win. A kill from setter Madi Maxwell began a run for the Beach, followed by a pair of blocks from Reagan Hope and two more kills as the Beach took a 10-4 lead on the road against Utah (4-1). A block from Sidney Hamaker and Kyler Birkelbach sparked another push from the Beach, and Long Beach State opened up a 20-9 lead on an ace from Hamaker on the way to the big win.

Long Beach State held Utah to .000 hitting in the first set and used balanced hitting, five blocks and four service errors from the Utes to grab the early momentum.

Another great run on serve with Izzy Mahaffey behind the end line got the Beach going in the second set. Trailing 6-3, Long Beach State would push all the way to 9-6 with four blocks from Maxwell and Hope in a strong stretch at the net. Utah would rally, tying the set at 16-16 on a Beach attack error, but LBSU held on to the edge with a side out by finding Hamaker. The Beach would never trail, though the set remained tight, tied all the way to 24-24. Hamaker gave Long Beach State a second set point at 25-24 with a kill, and Maxwell put away a kill to finish off the set.

Utah bounced back in the third set. The Utes took an early 7-3 lead on a kill from Kamryn Gibadlo, and while Long Beach State was able to tie the set at 7-7 with Mahaffey serving, after getting out of that rotation, the Utes pushed back in front, eventually taking an 18-13 lead and forcing Long Beach State into a timeout. LBSU was able to cut the lead to three at 23-20, but Utah scored two straight to finish off the third and extend the match.

A close fourth set took a turn as an ace from Princess Atamah helped Utah take a 15-12 edge at the media timeout. Gibadlo grabbed a kill to push the Utah lead to four at 22-18, and the Utes finished off the fourth, 25-19.

Long Beach State took the early edge in the deciding set behind a kill from Hamaker and a Utah error, moving on top, 5-2. Maxwell and Birkelbach combined for a block to push the lead to 7-3, but after a Utes timeout, Utah battled all the way back to tie the set at 7-7. Tied at 12-12 after a Gibadlo kill, a block from the Utes' senior star gave Utah the lead at 13-12.

On Utah's match point at 14-13, Maxwell and Birkelbach had their second block of the set to extend the match, and then Maxwell smashed an overpass to set up Long Beach State's first match point. Up 16-15 for their second match point, Maxwell then put away the match with a kill, recording her second triple-double of the season in a 17-15 win over the previously undefeated Utes.

Long Beach State finishes their time at the Utah Classic with one final match on Sunday, as the Beach faces Wyoming at 11 a.m. PT, with coverage on ESPN+.