FULLERTON — The 25th-ranked Long Beach State women’s volleyball team grinded out a 3-0 sweep in a back-and-forth affair Saturday night at Titan Gym.
The 49ers started their Big West Conference title defense with a 25-21, 25-19, 25-21 win over host Cal State Fullerton in the conference opener for both teams.
Senior middle blocker Naomi Washington paced the attack with 15 kills for LBSU, followed by 10 from sophomore Caitlin Ledoux.
“It’s always tough to play on the road,” Washington said. “By watching [Fullerton in last week’s tournament] — studying their moves, studying their hits — we felt like we know where they’re going to hit.”
The Titans (9-5, 0-1 Big West) were led by Erin Saddler’s 13 kills but committed 22 hitting errors.
The 49ers (8-3, 1-0 Big West) tried to run away with the final set of an otherwise hotly-contested match.
LBSU jumped out to a 13-8 lead, highlighted by junior setter Ashley Lee’s no-look attempt behind her head that cleared the net and an emphatic kill on an overpass to draw a reaction from the 429 fans — mostly from Long Beach — in attendance.
“I wanted to kill that so bad and didn’t want anybody to touch it,” Lee said.
But the Titans cut the deficit to two points and trailed 19-17.
Leading 20-18, LBSU received help from defensive specialist Laura Schuck, who kept a long rally alive three different times before senior middle blocker Brittney Herzog put the point and momentum away for The Beach.
“Laura played very, very well,” head coach Brian Gimmillaro said. “Her movement, her sense for the ball, the technical part of her game is getting very good.”
Schuck finished with a career-high 14 digs, including seven in the final set, to match Lee’s 14 digs. As a team, the 49ers made a season-high 61 digs for a three-set match.
“It was inconsistent,” Gimmillaro said of the defense, “but we did more good things than we gave away.”
The ‘Niners rode Washington’s right arm en route to a 25-19 victory in set two. The fifth-year senior did a little bit of everything as she tallied 10 of her kills on 15 swings and added a block assist to give LBSU a 2-0 lead in the match.
With LBSU ahead 21-17, the 6-foot-3 middle blocker kept a rally alive on the overpass by tipping the ball to Lee, who returned it to Washington for the point.
Defensively, Lee carried the 49ers with seven of her 14 digs in the frame. She capped her double-double performance with 34 assists.
After splitting the first 26 points of the opening set, LBSU’s Jocelyn Neely and Herzog had a hand in three of the next four points — including a block — to give the 49ers a 17-13 lead going into the first timeout.
The Titans fought back to tie the frame at 19 on a service ace from Andrea Ragan, but the ‘Niners answered back with six of the final eight points, including Washington’s dagger, to claim a 25-21 victory in set one.
Neely led a balanced attack with a pair of kills on .667 hitting to go with three block assists.
CSUF was limited to a woeful .048 attack in the set with 11 hitting errors and four LBSU team blocks.
The 49ers extended their winning streak over the Titans to 52 matches dating back to 1983, and are 74-4 all-time against the rival Titans — the most wins for The Beach against one opponent.
The ‘Niners return home to the Walter Pyramid, where they haven’t played since Sept. 5, for a meeting against UC Santa Barbara on Friday night. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.
LBSU will welcome back longtime assistant coach Debbie Green, who is listed as a volunteer assistant for the Gauchos. Green accompanied Gimmillaro on the sidelines for 23 seasons before stepping down.
“She’s with her daughter,” Gimmillaro said, referring to the Gauchos’ Dana Vargas. “I can’t think of [anything] better. … We’ve talked about it for years.”