Long Beach State Volleyball Team Finishes Big West Play This Weekend
THIS WEEK:
Long Beach State 49ers (21-6, 11-3 Big West) at
UC Irvine Anteaters (7-20, 3-11 Big West)
Date: Thursday, November 18
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Irvine, Calif.
Long Beach State 49ers (21-6, 11-3 Big West) at
CS Northridge Matadors (12-18, 4-10 Big West)
Date: Friday, November 19
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Northridge, Calif.
COMING UP:
Notre Dame Fighting Irish (17-11, 10-4 BIG EAST) at
Long Beach State 49ers (21-6, 11-3 Big West)
Date: Friday, November 26
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Walter Pyramid
Starting Out
Long Beach State finishes Big West play this week, as the 49ers travel to Cal State Northridge and UC Irvine for the last two of 16 conference matches. Just like last week, the 49ers play one day earlier than normal, heading to UC Irvine for a 7 p.m. match in the Bren Events Center on Thursday, November 18, before finishing the Big West slate with a match at Cal State Northridge on Friday at 7 p.m. Live audio coverage for both matches will be provided at www.longbeachstate.com.
In Top Form
The 49ers put together two of their most dominating performances since the very beginning of the season last week, grabbing two sweeps over Cal State Northridge and UC Riverside to improve to 21-6 overall and 11-3 in the Big West. Junior outside hitter Caitlin Ledoux had a monster night against CSUN, making 16 kills on .371 hitting while adding 11 digs for her seventh double-double on the season in a 25-13, 25-15, 25-23 win. The next night, setter Ashley Lee spread the offense around for the 49ers, as Long Beach State had three players with 8 kills on the way to a 25-14, 25-14, 25-12 romp over UC Riverside.
700 ... That’s A Lot
Head coach Brian Gimmillaro is just one win away from reaching a very exclusive club, becoming just the eighth active coach to record 700 Division I wins and just the 10th coach ever to reach the mark solely with Division I victories. Gimmillaro, the 1998 National Coach of the Year, has led the 49ers to three national championships, and has put the current team in a very good position to reach a 24th consecutive NCAA Tournament, a mark matched by only three other programs in the nation: Stanford, Penn State and Nebraska. Gimmillaro ranks 17th in all-time victories, and is No. 8 in career winning percentage in Division I.
Scouting UC Irvine
Picked to finish second in the Big West in the preseason, UC Irvine has struggled all season, and currently sits eighth in the conference at 3-11, and the ‘Eaters are 7-20 on the season. Senior Kari Pestolesi leads the team with 283 kills, but is only hitting .135, a good example of the team’s .146 hitting, which is seventh in the conference. Julianne Piggott is the team’s other top hitter, averaging 2.71 kills per set on .129 hitting.
Long Beach State vs. the Anteaters
Long Beach State has a 59-8 lead in the women’s volleyball section of the Black and Blue rivalry after taking the teams’ meeting earlier in this season. However, the Anteaters have had the 49ers’ number lately in Irvine, winning the last two matches on the road. In last season’s meeting, both teams came in ranked in the Top 25, and the Anteaters ended up winning the match in five sets behind 23 kills from Kari Pesolesi and 19 kills from Julianne Piggott.
Scouting Cal State Northridge
After playing the Matadors last week, the get Cal State Northridge once more in the final league game of the season. The Matadors are 12-18 overall and 4-10 in conference, but have played tough through most of their matches, especially at home, where they are 4-10 and 3-3 in Big West action. Natalie Allen leads the team with 2.94 kills per set, but nearly every other hitter has been substituted at one time or another in the lineup. Sam Orlandini guides the offense, averaging 9.29 assists per set.
Long Beach State vs. the Matadors
Long Beach State leads the all-time series with CSUN by a large margin, 45-18, but the 49ers and the Matadors have split the meetings over the last two years, struggling to win in the Matadome. In the Walter Pyramid, though, the 49ers haven’t lost to CS Northridge since 2004, including last week. In last season’s loss, Caitlin Ledoux led the 49ers with 21 kills and 19 digs, but the Matadors took the five-setter after out-blocking the 49ers and hitting .209, led by Lynda Morales’ .321 mark.
Block Party
Two players averaging over a block per set have helped pace the 49ers to one of their best blocking rates in years, and the tops in the Big West this season.
Long Beach State averages 2.99 blocks per set and ranks fifth nationally, over a half-block better than the second-place team in the Big West. Haleigh Hampton leads the conference individually with 1.56 blocks per set, while Michelle Osunbor is fourth with 1.15 per set. Hampton’s totals rank second nationally, and the pair is even better in conference play, where Long Beach State’s middles come in at 1.64 and 1.26 blocks per set respectively.
Looking Around The Big West
A five-game stretch pitted the six Big West title contenders against each other over the prior three weeks leading into last week’s action. The 49ers emerged nearly unscathed, going 4-1 over that stretch, but so did Cal State Fullerton, allowing the Titans to maintain a one-game lead over Long Beach State. The 49ers hold the tiebreaker over Cal State Fullerton, having swept the Titans in their two meetings this season. The teams finish off the season with an identical week on the road, but one day apart, starting at UC Irvine and then finishing the conference season at Cal State Northridge.
Tournament Watch
With the NCAA releasing weekly RPI updates, fans can get a better look than ever before at the numbers that feature most prominently in the tournament seeding and entry processes. Long Beach State slid slightly after last week despite two wins, falling to No. 25 after playing two teams outside of the Top 150. Cal State Fullerton, who the 49ers beat twice, sits at No. 27, while another win over No. 21 Colorado State continues to raise the 49ers RPI. The match remaining on the schedule that will most affect the 49ers is the November 26 meeting in the Walter Pyramid with No. 76 Notre Dame.
