The Long Beach State women’s volleyball team hit the road in need of wins, and it finally got one.
The 49ers (9-9, 2-3 Big West Conference) defeated UC Davis (10-8, 2-3 Big West) in four sets on Saturday after losing to first-place Cal State Northridge on Thursday.
The road trip started with a tough match against the Matadors (15-3, 5-0 Big West), who are now the only undefeated team in conference after Hawaii fell to Santa Barbara on Friday.
LBSU dropped the first set at the Matadome 25-22 but came back to even the match with a dominant 25-15 win in set two. Chisom Okpala and Joy Miley came up big for The Beach in the second set with 12 of the team’s 19 kills.
CSUN took back the momentum, though, and built an insurmountable eight-point lead before trading points and winning the third set 25-16. Set four was closer, but after 10 ties and four lead changes, the Matadors took the set 25-19 and won the match.
The 49ers took Friday to travel north to Davis, where they started out slow in Saturday’s match. They lost to the Aggies 18-25 in the opening set but turned things around in a close second set.
UC Davis jumped out to an early 10-3 lead, but LBSU fought back to tie the set at 19. Setter Erin Juley hit back-to-back service aces to give the 49ers a set point, and they ultimately took the set 26-24.
LBSU then used eight blocks in the third set to win 25-23 and take a 2-1 lead overall.
In the fourth set, the ‘Niners started with the lead and didn’t give it up for the rest of the set. They won the set 25-19 to take the match.
LBSU will return to the Walter Pyramid for its next match, which will be against Cal State Fullerton on Friday at 7 p.m.