Women’s basketball
Who: Houston (0-1)
When: Thursday at 5 p.m.
Where: Hofheinz Pavilion, Houston, Texas
The Long Beach State women’s basketball team travels to the dirty South for a pair of road games against Houston and LSU on Thursday and Saturday.
Need to know: The 49ers (2-0) lead the all-time series, 3-1, against the Cougars. If Long Beach State wants to extend that record to 4-1, they have to keep a close eye on newcomers Kierra Graves and Serithia Hawkins.
Graves, a junior transfer from Kaskaskia College, scored six points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds in Houston’s loss to College of Charleston on Friday, Nov. 13. The freshman guard Hawkins led all Cougars with 11 points on 4-8 shooting.
The last meeting between the two ended in a 66-57 Houston victory on Nov. 20, 2005 at the Hofheinz Pavilion.
Who: LSU (2-1)
When: Saturday at noon
Where: Maravich Center, Baton Rogue, Louisiana
Need to know: This matchup will give both LBSU and LSU a chance to get ahead in the all-time series between the two.
As it stands, the 49ers and Tigers have split four matchups. In their last meeting, LBSU picked up a 59-44 win in the Walter Pyramid on Dec. 16, 2014. In their only visit to the Maravich Center, the 49ers fell 78-73 on Dec. 1, 1988.
LSU’s best scorer is junior Raigyne Moncrief. The guard averaged 11.8 points per game in 31 appearances last season. This season, Moncrief is picking up where she left off by averaging 10.3 ppg in LSU’s first three games.
Women’s volleyball
Who: Cal State Fullerton (0-26, 0-14 Big West)
When: Friday at 7 p.m.
Where: Walter Pyramid
Need to know: In this season’s first showdown between the Titans and the 49ers, LBSU stumped Fullerton in a sweep, to improve to 66-5 in the all-time series against the Titans.
The 49ers hit .340 in the win, compared to the Titans .188 percent. Fullerton’s senior setter Mackenzie Olsen recorded her fourth double double in the Titans loss, totaling 27 assists and 10 digs. Senior middle blocker Kandace Thomas leads the Titans with a .259 hitting percentage and is second in blocks per set at 0.62.
Who: UC Riverside (10-17, 5-9 Big West)
When: Saturday at 7 p.m.
Where: SRC Arena, Riverside
Need to know: In the first match-up of the season between LBSU and UCR, the 49ers swept the Highlanders inside the Walter Pyramid.
UCR junior libero Maddie Hubbell led her team with 15 digs to add to the team’s total of 44 on the night. Senior outside hitter Helena Peric and junior outside hitter Fabiana Rosas lead the Highlanders in attacks this season by totaling 276 and 222 kills for an average of 3.16 and 2.49 kills per set, respectively.
UCR is 8-41 all-time against LBSU, with the 49ers taking the win in the last eight match-ups between the two.