The Long Beach State women’s volleyball extended their winning streak to six, leaving them undefeated in the Big West Conference after a successful weekend on the road against UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly
The 49ers (16-4, 6-0 Big West) defeated UCSB 3-0 on Friday and Cal Poly 3-1 on Saturday.
Jenelle Hudson led The Beach in the sweep against UCSB; the team finished with scores of 25-21, 25-16 and 25-16. Hudson chipped in on almost every category including the attack line, going eight for nine on .889 hitting.
Hudson had eight digs and one solo block. She also added 31 assists to lead the 49ers to a season-high .406 team hitting percentage.
Chisom Okpala led LBSU in kills with 13 on .545 hitting, and Alex Reid contributed six blocks and seven kills.
Britton Taylor led the Gauchos (9-9, 4-3 Big West) with 10 kills, followed by freshman outside hitter Chanel Hoffman with nine. Both players had two blocks each.
LBSU held UCSB to .131 hitting, including less than .100 in the first and third sets.
The 49ers had a slow offensive start against Cal Poly (7-10, 2-5 Big West), but snatched the win in the last two sets with scores of 26-28, 25-22, 25-15 and 25-20.
LBSU had an opportunity to end the first set in the lead at 24-23, but the Mustangs tied it at 24 to stay in the game. The Beach went up again, but Cal Poly didn’t let go, tying the match at 26. From there, the Mustangs pulled away with a kill while the Beach committed two attack errors.
The 49ers led late in the second set at 20-16, but the Mustangs kept creeping in to make it a two-point deficit game at 24-22. A Bre Mackie kill ended the set.
Ashley Murray held the hot hand for LBSU and kept her team in the match, recording nine of her 10 kills in the first two sets. Murray also added five blocks in the match.
The Beach hit .065 in the first set and .136 in the second. The Mustangs went for .154 in the first and .060 in the second.
Chelsea Cabrajac went on an 8-0 serving run to extend the 49ers’ lead in the third set at16-5, and the Mustangs couldn’t catch up from there. The Beach finished with .333 hitting.
The fourth set held the same problems with the Beach leading 18-12 and the Mustangs going on a 7-3 run, catching up at 21-19. Murray’s solo block ended the match.
The 49ers’ defense recorded 15 team blocks and 86 digs in the match compared to the Mustangs’ seven team blocks and 73 digs.
LBSU held Cal Poly to .000 hitting in the third set and -.020 hitting in the fourth.
Okpala and Mackie led the team in kills with 11 each. Okpala led with seven blocks while Mackie followed with six.
The 49ers will take on UC Riverside on Friday and UC Davis on Saturday in the Walter Pyramid. Both matches are set to begin at 7 p.m.