Emotions from last week’s loss at Hawaii seemed to have carried into the match against UC Davis and almost cost Long Beach State a win. But the 49ers managed to halt the Aggies’ three-game winning streak in a four-set match, ending with scores of 27-25, 25-23, 19-25 and 25-23.
The 49ers had difficulty finding their groove in the first set, as they suffered a six-point deficit at 7-13 after continuous errors. Alex Reid and Delainey Aigner-Swesey helped their team find momentum after five kills and an ace to tie the set at 16-16.
Sweet success didnt last long, as the 49ers gave up four straight points and were issued a yellow card for disagreeing with the referee’s call. After a three-point run, the 49ers found themselves in another heated disagreement after a lost point at 19-21. Five tie scores defined the remainder of the set and the 49ers took their first lead at 26-25, An Okpala block ended the set with a bang at 27-25.
Both teams kept fans on their feet as the second match resulted in 17 tie scores and eight lead changes. Bre Mackie steered her team toward a win with six kills and no errors. As the team started to struggle gaining points, Erin Juley took initiative and dished out four kills and helped end the set at 25-23.
Trailing the entire third set and hitting a .077, it was no surprise the 49ers let a win slip, ending the score at 19-25.
The 49ers redeemed themselves as they maintained the lead the entire fourth set and snatched a close win that ended the match with a score of 25-23.
The Aggies (14-10, 6-5 Big West) had four more kills than the 49ers and were led by Mary Schroeder (20), Devon Damelio (15), Victoria Lee (14) and Valerie Brain (11). Megan Lancaster led her team with 14 digs.
Although the 49ers made six less errors than the Aggies, making 31 errors is an unusual event for the 49ers.
Head coach Brian Gimmillaro said he thought the team’s biggest struggle of the night was scoring.
“We played as hard as we could,” Gimmillaro said. ” We were just playing too hard emotionally.”
Aigner-Swesey and Tyler Jackson said they believed the emotions could have been carried into the match from their recent loss at Hawaii that caused their unusual errors.
“[Our biggest struggle tonight] was probably all the mistakes we made,” Aigner-Swesey said. “It was in the third game when we got away from each other and lost, but being able to play as a team when we were down, helped us win.”
Jackson said the team was too hard on itself and didn’t know how to let go of its mistakes.
“I think there were a lot of mental errors,” Jackson said. “We came into this game as a debbie-downer…we weren’t pumped up…we still haven’t let [the Hawaii game] go yet.”
The 49ers will now host first-place Cal State Northridge for their homecoming game on Saturday. The game will be helf at the Walter Pyramid and start at 7p.m.