Long Beach - Santa Barbara Game

[beachvball]

Volleyball Blows Past Gauchos 3-0
Crimes led the way with 15 kills and 9 digs.

Oct. 19, 2007

longbeachstate.com/vol/wvol/REL07/recapwvol101907.htm

LONG BEACH – Senior Alexis Crimes tallied 15 kills to lead the Long Beach State women’s volleyball team to a 30-14, 31-29, 30-17 victory over UC Santa Barbara on Friday evening at the Walter Pyramid. The win was the seventh in a row by the streaking 49ers (13-5, 7-1 Big West), who remained tied for first place in the Big West Conference with Cal Poly. UCSB fell to 7-13 and 2-6 in league action.

Michaela Hasalikova added eight kills and six blocks to go along with a .500 hitting percentage. Ashley Lee had seven kills and 15 digs while true freshman Nicole Moore, in just her second collegiate match, had a career-high eight kills and three blocks.

Brett Quirarte and Lauren McLaughlin both finished with nine kills for UCSB and Stacey Schmidt added eight. UCSB hit just .093 (36-24-129) for the match compared to .250 for the 49ers.

Game one saw Long Beach take control early, as the 49ers jumped to an 8-2 advantage before the Gauchos called a timeout. The lead grew to as many as 14 points (20-6) before the 49ers closed out the 30-14 victory. Long Beach hit .429 (17-2-35) in the game while forcing seven UCSB hitting errors for a .048 hitting percentage (9-7-42). Crimes tallied seven kills on nine swings in the opening game.

Game two was a much closer affair. The game was tied several times, the last at 29-29, before a Crimes kill and a Hasalikova block gave the game to the 49ers 31-29. Crimes added four more kills to her total while Moore had four as well. The 49ers hit just .140 in the game, but recorded 20 digs, six each by Talaya Whitfield and Lee.

In game three the 49ers used a 5-0 run to break a 6-6 tie and take an 11-6 advantage, forcing a UCSB timeout. Long Beach then pushed the lead to 20-9 before closing out the game, winning 30-17.

49er setter Nicole Vargas guided the Long Beach offense as she tallied 37 assists on the evening, adding five kills, three blocks and six digs. Long Beach outdug the Gauchos 62-49 as Whitfield led the way with 19, Lee added 15 and Cynthia Buggs 10.

Long Beach returns to action on Saturday night when they host No. 24-ranked Cal Poly at 7 pm in the Walter Pyramid in a match which will be broadcast on tape delay by CSTV.

[georgia(pacific)girl]

tomorrow nite should be exciting...

[bucky415]

Yikes. UCSB is really having a tough year. I know LBSU has talent, but the Gauchos probably haven't had too many 14 or 17 point games since the advent of rally scoring.

[middlemonkey]

The Gaucho's have been on a decline the past few years due to the exodus of players that keep leaving and then breaking in a new setter each year since the defections. You can't have players keep leaving and new setters starting each year without it having a negative impact on your ability to execute and close a match, let alone a game.

They won't make it to the playoffs this year, the first time in it's history. The coaching staff needs to take responsibility and evaluate their ability to be effective anymore. It's time for the torch to be passed.

[bigfan]

UCSB is really stuggling....have not been great since 2002 when they hosted the regional. LBSU seems to be finally getting on track.