The Long Beach State women’s volleyball team will be without sophomore outside hitter Ashley Lee for the rest of the season.
Against CS Fullerton on Nov. 4, Lee partially tore the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in her right knee while diving for a ball late in the first set. At the time, Lee downplayed the injury and said she hoped to return to the court within days.
“I have to go through rehab to get stronger and I’ll be out for at least three months,” said Lee, whose leg is in a brace. “It’s really hard because I always want to be out there playing and it’s hard to watch everyone else being able to move and bend their knees.”
Lee appeared in 23 matches, racked up 82 kills on a .262 hitting percentage and averaged 2.79 digs per set (second-best on the team) in 85 sets played.
Head coach Brian Gimmillaro has inserted freshman outside hitter Cat Highmark, originally a setter, into Lee’s spot in the rotation.
“We’re lucky to have Cat but Ashley is a more experienced player,” he said. “This changes the dynamics of our team in terms of experience. We’re redshirting a lot of players. We’ll see what we’ve got, but we’re focusing more on Cat’s development.”
In four matches since Lee’s injury, Highmark has struggled on the attack in five-set victories over Cal Poly and UC Irvine, combining to hit just .051, but excelled in a pair of wins over UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside.
Against the Gauchos, Highmark chipped in with five kills, just one hitting error and eight digs. Her best performance came in last Thursday’s triumph over the Highlanders, when she posted seven kills on .375 hitting to go with seven digs.
The one constant in the four matches has been Highmark’s defense. The freshman has collected at least seven digs in each match and a total of 37 digs in 16 sets (2.31 per set), including a career-high 15 against UCI on Nov. 12.
LBSU (23-4, 12-2 Big West Conference) will finish its conference schedule on the road Friday against CS Northridge and at CS Fullerton on Saturday. Both matches start at 7 p.m.
One more win will secure sole possession of the 49ers’ ninth Big West title in the program’s history. By virtue of tiebreakers with Cal Poly and UC Irvine for the conference’s automatic bid, The Beach will appear in its 22nd consecutive NCAA Tournament — all under Gimmillaro. Just three programs — Stanford, Nebraska and Penn State — have matched the streak, while only Penn State has been led by the same head coach for every appearance.
Too bad for Ashley. I think she would have wanted to finish the season without that PCL being torn. Here;’s hoping that she will be able to have that heal in time for next season.
And a news flash to the team: You’re not out of the woods yet. I repeat: You are not out of the woods yet.
After seeing another conference road meltdown against Northridge, I am sure they got the message from Brian Gimmilaro as they prepare to extend the unbeaten strrak against Fullerton tomorrow.