Sports, Women's Sports, Women's Volleyball

LBSU picks up another sweep against Cal State Fullerton

The Long Beach State women’s volleyball team continued its dominance over Cal State Fullerton on Friday by picking up a 3-0 win inside the Walter Pyramid.

The 49ers (22-16, 12-3) comfortably took all three sets from the Titans (0-27, 0-15) to keep CSUF winless on the season and remain in second place in the conference. Yet even after the win, LBSU head coach Brian Gimmillaro said the 49ers must improve if they want a chance to break into the NCAA Tournament field.

“We’re getting better, but our performances are scattered,” Gimmillaro said. “Parts of our game [are] good, parts are not good. It’s not what we want because we know how good we’ve got to be.”

Senior Hayley Benson led the way with 13 kills on just 17 total attacks for a hitting percentage of .706. Benson now ranks third in the Big West with a hitting percentage of .338 in 22 matches played. After the game, the middle blocker said she feels like she’s playing her best volleyball.

“I feel like I started out a little rough this season, honestly,” Benson said. “I’m peaking towards the end, which is always what you want.”

LBSU and Fullerton started off the game by trading points. With the score 13-12 in favor of the 49ers, LBSU put together a 12-3 run to take the first set 25-15. Benson started off quiet, but picked up four of the last five 49er points on four kills to finish the set with a game-high six.

Set two played out in similar fashion with both teams going back and forth at first. With the set tied at nine, the 49ers went on a 7-0 run to put some distance between themselves and the Titans. CSUF was never close after that as LBSU took a 25-19 win. Benson picked up another five kills in the set, but freshman hitter Megan Kruidhof led all players with six kills in set two.

The Titans kept the match much closer in the third set. Behind freshman hitter Megan Delgado’s five kills, Fullerton managed to tie the set at 17-17. However, the 49ers went on an 8-2 run, highlighted by back-to-back kills by Kruidhof, to end the match in a sweep.

“I thought in the third set we fought harder,” CSUF head coach Ashley Preston said. “And that is a positive. We tried to get more kills and we tried to do things better, whereas the first two sets I thought we were slow.”

Despite the loss, Preston, the first-year CSUF head coach, called it a privilege to share the sideline Gimmillaro.

“I think [Long Beach vs. Fullerton] is a great rivalry, and I think Brian, of course, is a great coach,” Preston said. “I heard about him growing up and it’s an honor to coach against him and coach against this Long Beach team, and I think it’ll be fun in years to come.”

Kruidhof added six more kills in set three to come in second on the team, behind Benson, with 12 kills, while junior hitter Nele Barber picked up her 21st double-double of the year with 10 kills and 12 digs.

The 49ers wrapped up Big West play at the Pyramid for the season, but they have one more conference matchup away at UC Riverside and two non-conference matchups against Pacific and Denver on Nov. 27 and 28 at the Walter Pyramid.

LBSU takes on the Highlanders on Saturday inside the SRC Center at 7 p.m.

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