The iconic fist pump from head coach Brian Gimmillaro said it all.
They did it. They’re champions.
The Long Beach State women’s volleyball team secured the Big West title and the automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament after sweeping UC Davis on Thursday.
“It’s tough to know you need to win on the road against a good team to clinch the championship,” head coach Brian Gimmillaro said. “We wanted to clinch it tonight so that we could know we’re in, and we’re in. It’s done. We’re in the NCAA Tournament, and we’re three games ahead with three to go.”
The 49ers (23-4, 13-0 Big West Conference) earned their 13th Big West title with their 13th straight win of the season.
“I’ve very proud of that, very excited and very happy to be able to do it,” Gimmillaro said. “I’m very proud of how much we’ve improved up to this point, and I want to continue between now and Saturday night and next week, and continue to improve between now and the playoffs.”
This marks LBSU’s 27th appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
“Twenty seven times, and it never gets old,” Gimmillaro said. “We’re proud of all 27 of those. Right now we’re just gathering ourselves, get together to appreciate the opportunity and get good enough to do something about it when we get there.”
The Beach won 25-17, 25-23 and 25-19, and the Aggies (15-12, 10-4 Big West) are now to third in the conference behind Hawai’i.
LBSU started the match trading points but were down 11-14 midway. After The Beach took its first timeout, the 49ers went on a 14-3 run to end the set.
The Aggies kept close the entire second set, coming within one point late at 24-23. But the 49ers took another timeout to calm down, went back on the floor and surrendered an Aggie service error to take the set.
The 49ers kept a bigger distance in the third, and senior Bre Mackie’s back-to-back kills won it.
“We passed the ball well, good enough,” Gimmillaro said. “It’s always great to play an almost flawless match, but we didn’t. We played well enough to beat a good team. They did many things well, and we were able to react and execute well enough to win and win in three.”
Senior middle blocker Chisom Okpala led the way for The Beach with 12 kills on .318 hitting. Mackie and junior Alex Reid had nine kills.
Freshman Ashley Murray had a game-high seven total blocks and setter Jenelle Hudson finished with 33 assists and a game-high 21 digs.
UCD junior Holland Seymour led the game with 13 kills, and junior Kaylin Squyres added 11.
LBSU had 11 team blocks compared to two for the Aggies.
The 49ers will head to UC Riverside to play the Highlanders Saturday night in the SRC Arena at 7 p.m.