The weekend before Halloween ended with cheers instead of fears for Long Beach State.
The LBSU women’s volleyball team snagged its fourth consecutive win in a sweep of UC Irvine in the Black and Blue rivalry series, ending with scores of 25-18, 25-21 and 25-15.
Delainey Aigner-Swesey led the 49ers (12-9, 5-3 Big West Conference) with 11 kills for the night with Chisom Okpala contributing 10. Erin Juley obtained the only double-double of the night with 31 assists and 10 digs. Alex Reid showed up with 14 digs, the most out of the 20 players that stepped foot onto the court during this match.
Bre Mackie pushed the 49ers to a strong start, as she made six of the first 12 points with kills and block assists. The Anteaters (11-11, 2-6 Big West) couldn’t get on a scoring run for more than three points, but the 49ers were able to snatch a six-point run at 10-9 after a Reid hit.
The momentum carried into the second game and showed a similar fate as the 49ers stayed in the lead after giving up just the first point.
Both teams had a sloppy start to the third set with five straight unforced errors. But Aigner-Swesey and Okpala excited the crowd as they dominated at the net with a combined nine kills in just the first half of the game.
Head coach Brian Gimmillaro said he noticed his team being more focused in the third set.
Down 16-5, the Anteaters experienced their first sign of life after their outside hitter, Allison Lee, showed off a lightening kill that went between two 49er blockers and straight to the floor, followed by Reid getting blocked. After Lee secured four more points for her team, Reid redeemed herself with a hard kill that almost smashed into a UCI player’s face.
Juley said Lee was a smart hitter who got really comfortable in the front row.
“Allison [Lee] was a big emotional player for [UCI] tonight, but I think we did a good job slowing her down,” Juley said.
The Anteaters were led offensively by Lee, the only player on her team to hit double-digits in kills, with 13. Aly Squires, the only Anteater who went into double-digits in digs, came out with 11 digs and six kills.
Juley and Aigner-Swesey both said that it was the entire team’s desire to come out stronger the third game that made the difference in their performance.
“We had so much momentum in the third game,” Aigner-Swesey said. “We wanted to come out hard and not go to a fourth game.”
The 49ers will travel to Hawaii next Saturday for their second match against the Rainbow Wahine at 10 p.m.