The Long Beach State women’s volleyball team will start the second half of the season with rematches against UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly in the Walter Pyramid on Friday and Saturday.
LBSU was handed its first conference loss at the hands of Cal Poly on Oct. 2, despite senior setter Jenelle Hudson and junior outside hitter Nele Barber earning double-doubles. Barber finished the night with 12 kills and 15 digs, but her hitting percentage on the night was only .179.
49ers head coach Brian Gimmillaro said that his team is consistently improving, with new players getting their chance to help out the team on the court. The original line-ups that Gimmillaro had planned have changed due to injury, but he said his players are continuing to develop how they play.
“Give [Cal Poly] all the credit,” Gimmillaro said. “They’re a good team [at] all six positions. It’s a well-coached, well-designed team, and certainly they deserved to beat us up there. We’ll go in as hard as we can.”
Freshman outside hitter Adlee Van Winden was the star for the Mustangs in their victory over the 49ers, as she recorded a career-high 21 kills and chipped in nine digs. Sophomore setter Taylor Nelson directed the Mustangs to a .253 hitting percentage and totaled 50 assists.
In the 49ers first match-up against the Mustangs, Barber said she struggled with stopping the offense. She said that while she was physically in the game, it was as if she wasn’t there at all.
“The good thing is that it’s the home court so we will have the crowd behind us,” Barber said. “We know the environment. With Cal Poly, [we want] revenge.”
LBSU freshman middle blocker Peyton Grahovac said that the team has been coming together despite injuries. At the halfway point, she said the team has been working harder to have a strong finish to the season.
“We expect them to be really strong everywhere,” Grahovac said. “We know what they’re good at, what they’re weaknesses are and we want to take that and use it to our advantage. I want to beat Cal Poly SLO. We lost to them the first time, so now we have to beat them.”
In the last meeting between the 49ers and the UCSB Gauchos, LBSU won 3-1 in Santa Barbara.
Hudson shined in the match, leading the offense to a .349 hitting percentage. Hudson totaled 43 assists and chipped in 10 digs and nine kills.
The Gauchos are coming off of a pair of wins against UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton. Junior middle blocker Phoebe Grunt was the go-to hitter in those matches, totaling 13 kills in each win. Freshman defensive specialist Emilia Petrachi guarded the back row, averaging 5.38 digs per set in the last two matches.
The 49ers return to the Pyramid for the matches against the Gauchos on Friday and the Mustangs on Saturday, with both matches starting at 7 p.m.