A crowd of 2,149 fans watched inside the Walter Pyramid on Friday night as the Long Beach State women’s volleyball team fell victim to No. 6 Hawaii in four sets.
The 49ers (20-6, 10-3) lost a conference game at home for the first time since 2013. LBSU also fell three games behind Hawaii (22-1, 12-0) in the loss column in the Big West; something freshman middle blocker Peyton Grahovac said she wanted to avoid doing.
“We need to win the next five games no matter what,” Grahovac said. “We need to play as a team, we need our serves to be aggressive, and we need to get our defense back on because that’s what we’re good at.”
The opening set looked promising for the 49ers, as they went back and forth with Hawaii for the majority of the set. Hawaii at one point had a 21-18 lead, but LBSU battled back to win in overtime 28-26.
From then on it was all Hawaii.
In the second set the 49ers fed off their momentum at first, but the Rainbow Warriors reacted and racked up some points to take a 15-11 lead about halfway through. The 49ers managed to tie the game up at 21, but Hawaii ultimately won the set 25-22 after the 49ers made multiple hitting and serving errors.
Freshman middle blocker Ashley Murray led the set with four kills and freshman libero Sarah Miller led with five digs in the set.
Hawaii came out on fire in set three. LBSU again made multiple mistakes that added up letting Hawaii run away with the third set, 25-13. Hawaii’s sophomore outside hitter Nikki Taylor, led the way with 7 kills.
“I bring a good sense of energy and team chemistry,” Taylor said. “I try to focus on being really encouraging to every single player on the court.”
Hawaii jumped to a 6-0 lead in set four with some strong service aces. LBSU made a lot of mental mistakes and fumbled several passes on the night.
Hawaii ended up winning the fourth and final set 25-20 after a late push from the 49ers. In spite of the loss, the 49ers took with them some of the positives after the game.
“We really connected as a team tonight, even though we didn’t play our best,” Grahovac said. “In this game they knew what to expect from us and attacked our strengths.”
Benson also stressed how well the team worked together and said the team reacted well to the loss.
“We were so supportive of each other,” Benson said. “Everyone was positive and no one got caught up in themselves. There were times when teammates would pick each other up and it was always reciprocated.”
LBSU junior outside hitter Nele Barber was the brightest spot on the 49ers on Friday. She led the team in both kills and digs with 16 of each, giving the German her 20th double double of the season.
The 49ers go on to play CSUN Friday at 7 p.m. at the Matadome.