With the 1998 national champions in attendance, outside hitter Quincy Verdin made sure to let her childhood idols know that Long Beach State women’s volleyball is in good hands.
The senior produced 13 kills on .500 hitting to help the 49ers throttle visiting UC Davis, 25-15, 25-17, 25-15, at the Walter Pyramid Friday night. Outside hitter Caitlin Ledoux added 10 kills on .444 hitting, to go along with eight digs.
“It was amazing to see [the 1998 team] here because we looked up to them,” Verdin said.
Defensively, senior libero Iris Murray led the 49ers with 11 digs and sophomore outside hitter Ashley Lee contributed with nine.
As a team, the 49ers put up stats that would mislead one to think that this was the ’98 squad. LBSU hit .382 as a team, while holding the Aggies to a miniscule .085.
“I feel like I’m getting more consistent,” Verdin said. “Now I’m going in a good direction. We’re all getting better, so that’s good to see.”
The ’98 team was honored in a ceremony after the second set, but the current players made sure not to lose its killer instinct, given the emotional moment.
“Our main focus was to play like we wanted to win,” Verdin said. “We need to play just like that to beat [the University of the Pacific], who we lost to earlier this season.”
The 49ers maintained its dominance after the intermission, hitting .524 as a team in the decisive set and holding the Aggies to .107. On the final point of the match, setter Nicole Vargas connected with Ledoux, who pounded the ball just inside the end line for the kill.
Head coach Brian Gimmillaro commended his team’s ability to keep their thoughts on the task at hand.
“We still have jobs to do,” he said. “During that 10-minute break in the game, it’s hard to keep momentum. So the fact that we were able to keep our momentum was great.”
LBSU (17-4, 6-2 Big West Conference) now prepares for a home showdown against Pacific tonight at 7 p.m. The Tigers swept the 49ers, 3-0, in the previous encounter.
2008 silver-medalist Tayyiba Haneef-Park, one of the players honored in the ceremony, said the team was gelling at the right time.
“They’re beginning to know each other as a team,” Haneef-Park said. “They’re rallying together to live up to the reputation that previous teams had.”