Opening its season at the Speedo Cup in Berkeley Saturday, the No. 13 Long Beach State women’s water polo team started with a 9-8 win against No. 17 San Jose State.
Trailing San Jose State 2-0 early in the game, sophomore attacker Tori Morrissey cut the deficit to one goal when she scored from the five meter area. LBSU’s junior defender Alexandra Massier then tied the game at two with a perimeter goal.
Along with its first win, LBSU (1-2) welcomed back defender senior Christina Kotsia, who is back with the team after a two-year stint with the Greek National Team.
Kotsia didn’t waste anytime making her presence known when she scored a goal to tie the game at three at the end of the first period.
After falling behind 4-3, Morrisey once again scored on a power play to tie the game at 4-4 after the second period.
The back-and-forth game continued in the third, but after goals from junior utility Raney Remme and sophomore defender Annabel Harman, LBSU took a 7-6 lead heading into the fourth and final period.
In the fourth period, the Spartans and 49ers were tied at seven and eight. The game ended in a 8-8 tie after regulation.
After two scoreless overtime periods, LBSU’s Massier played the hero, scoring her second goal to give LBSU the 9-8 win.
In their last game of the Speedo Classic, the 49ers lost to No. 4 University of California, Berkeley 12-6.
On Sunday, the 49ers finished their road trip with a 19-5 loss to No. 1 Stanford.
Stay tuned for our preview of the water polo season in Wednesday’s paper.
Men’s volleyball
After starting the season 7-1, the Long Beach State men’s volleyball team rounded out its trip to Ohio with a match against No.1 Ohio State.
In a highly contested match, the 49ers (7-2) fell short to the top-ranked Buckeyes (9-0) 22-25, 26-24, 21-25, 24-26 Saturday in St. John’s Arena.
Sophomore outside hitter TJ DeFalco and sophomore opposite Kyle Ensing led the way for the 49ers, combining for 32 kills in the match. Sophomore setter Josh Tuaniga connected with his hitters for 38 assists.
In the first set, OSU took an early 6-2 lead winning 25-22.
In a back-and-forth second set, the 49ers took the closely contested set 26-24 after DeFalco won the set with an ace.
In the next two sets, LBSU continued to fight OSU in third and fourth sets, but ultimately lost both sets.
LBSU will look to get back to its winning ways when it hosts Pepperdine Thursday and Stanford Saturday before starting a four-game road trip.