Sports, Women's Sports, Women's Volleyball

Long Beach State women’s volleyball team to battle in Seattle

After a rough stretch of matches to begin the season, the Long Beach State women’s volleyball team is hoping to turn things around this weekend at the Washington Invitational.

The non-conference schedule for the Beach (2-4) has been difficult to this point, and it does not get any easier. The 49ers will head to Seattle on Friday to play No. 7 Washington before taking on Seattle University on Saturday.

The Huskies (6-0) have yet to lose so much as a set this season, as they have won 18 straight en route to six overall wins. The team’s marquee victory thus far came against No. 11 Purdue (5-1), when they defeated the Boilermakers in straight sets (25-21, 25-17, 25-9) to move up five spots in the national rankings.

LBSU head coach Brian Gimmillaro said in order to be successful against such tough opponents, the team must continue to develop and improve during the absence of some key players.

“It’s very hard and very frustrating,” he said. “Health doesn’t matter. Most people would believe we would had done better if we had all our players, but we don’t.”

Without sophomore middle blockers Haleigh Hampton and Alma Serna, the 49ers have a lot to make up for at the net.

“Each player knows now they have to perform at their best because we don’t have much room for error,” Gimmillaro said. “Sometimes it makes you perform worse. Right now there is a lot of stress on each player trying to do more than they can do.”

So far this season, LBSU has been anchored by senior outside hitter Janisa Johnson, who has compiled a Big West Conference-leading 100 kills to go along with 79 digs on .232 hitting. Johnson has four double-doubles on the season and 33 for her career.

Gimillaro said he has been happy with the emergence of sophomore middle blocker Chisom Okpala and sophomore Bre Mackie during the absence of Serna.

“When Alma comes back, Chisom will be the second middle,” he said. “She’s learning to be helpful; that’s a big deal. Bre is learning that she isn’t a bonus player anymore. She has to be more responsible for scoring. So between the two of those there is a long term benefit, no question.”

Washington will counter with sophomore outside hitter Krista Vansant, who has 75 kills in just 18 sets and is hitting at a clip of .337.
 

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