The Long Beach State women’s volleyball team dropped the second match of a back-to-back against the Santa Clara Broncos, who returned the sweep Saturday night.
The Broncos defeated the 49ers 25-18, 25-23, 25-13 at the Walter Pyramid. It was only the second loss for The Beach in the young season.
“It is very difficult to defeat the same team, a very good team two nights in a row,” LBSU head coach Brian Gimmillaro said. “We came out very tentative tonight knowing that they will make adjustments and change their game plan. We changed our game plan. We just didn’t execute it.”
In a reversal of roles, it was the Broncos who out-hit the 49ers, .277 to .038. Santa Clara’s Anna Cmaylo led all with 12 kills, while Brittany Lowe and Krista Kelley added 11 kills each. LBSU’s Catilin Ledoux tallied nine kills in the losing effort. Naomi Washington added six kills.
The Broncos (8-3) dominated the net all night, out blocking the Beach, 24-12. Cmaylo led the charge with nine blocks (one solo), and Lindsy Davigeadono added six blocks. Cmaylo and company forced The Beach into 24 hitting errors, including 11 in the first set.
Lowe said that after Friday night’s loss, the team held a meeting. “We reorganized and came out with a different mentality,” she said.
The ‘Niners opened the match with a 5-0 run early. Santa Clara then responded with a mini-run of its own.
“We tend to start 0-fer at the start of games,” Lowe said.
Trailing 13-12, the Broncos went on an 8-0 run. A Brittany Herzog kill brought LBSU to within 21-17, but a Nina Sevastopoulos kill and a Lowe block at game point preserved the first set for Santa Clara.
In a much closer second set, both teams traded side outs. Tied 9-9, Santa Clara broke away with a 6-2 run, but then the 49ers were able to respond with their own 8-2 run. A Cat Highmark ace brought LBSU to within a point at 24-23. Cmaylo then recorded a kill to close out the second set.
The third set was all Broncos as they recorded five blocks and tallied another 9-1 run en route to sweeping the match.
Gimmillaro, however was not content with just a split. “We could have, would have won both matches. We didn’t play well tonight,” he said.
Lowe said that the third set of Friday night’s match was when the Broncos played “our actual volleyball.” It showed as they dominated The Beach Saturday night.
“Next week will be the last big road trip. If we can survive it, then we will be okay,” Gimmillaro said.
The 49ers (10-2) will open Big West Conference play on the road next week, where they will face Pacific on Friday night and UC Davis Saturday night. Both games start at 7 p.m.