After a shaky start, the Long Beach State women’s volleyball team defeated the CS Northridge Matadors in three straight sets 25-18, 25-21, 25-21 on Tuesday night.
LBSU (12-3, 2-1 Big West Conference), who had a week off in conference schedule, began their first league match at the Walter Pyramid with sloppy plays and communication errors. CS Northridge (5-13, 0-5 Big West) capitalized on LBSU’s errors, tying the score 13 times in the first set.
The second set started the same as the first, with miscommunication between players, holes in the blocks, inconsistencies and other sloppy plays.
Despite the win, head coach Brian Gimmillaro was unhappy with the way his team performed.
“We didn’t play very well and we have to get better,” he said. “We are better [than this].”
Set three began on a stronger note, with LBSU finally getting into the rhythm of the game, with strong performances by Caitlin Ledoux, Naomi Washington, Nicole Vargas and Ashley Lee.
Overall, team captain and setter Vargas led the team in assists with 29, a total matched by CSUN setter Sam Orlandini. Ledoux, a freshman outside hitter, led the team in kills with 10 and senior libero Iris Murray led the team in digs with 14.
LBSU takes on Cal Poly (9-6, 4-0 Big West) and UC Santa Barbara (7-8, 3-1 Big West) this weekend. Gimmillaro said the team must play a lot better than they did tonight in order to clinch the victories in this weekend’s matches.
“Cal Poly is good and they’re going to be very difficult to beat,” he said. “We are better in practice than we are in the games and we need to change that.”
Gimmillaro is also hoping for a good audience at this weekend’s games.
“I hope we have a good crowd and I hope the crowd is into [the game],” he said.
The 49ers take on the Cal Poly Mustangs at the Walter Pyramid on Friday at 7 p.m.