Call it a Thanksgiving hangover, or complacency from having already secured a Big West Conference title and an NCAA bid, but the 49er women’s volleyball team looked out of it Friday afternoon at the Walter Pyramid.
Long Beach State (19-8) dropped a four-set decision to Texas Christian University, 15-25, 29-27, 25-15, 29-27 in the first game of the Mizuno Thanksgiving Tournament. The Horned Frogs hit .342 for the match to hand LBSU its first loss at the Pyramid since a five-set defeat to No. 2 Texas in August.
“I didn’t think [we] were ready to play this morning,” LBSU head coach Brian Gimmillaro said.
Caitlin Ledoux paced the 49ers with a match-high 22 kills to go along with 14 digs, while senior Naomi Washington added 20 kills.
With the match tied 24-24 in set four, the Horned Frogs (25-6) called a timeout and responded with an Irene Hester kill after the pause in action. Hester pounded 13 kills for the match.
Ledoux knotted the frame at 25 but the ‘Niners gave the point back after making four contacts on their side of the net.
Washington and Hester exchanged kills until the set was tied 27-27 before Lauren Otto put TCU ahead with a kill after a long rally. Kourtney Edwards ended the match on the ensuing rally with her 13th kill of the match on .323 hitting.
The Horned Frogs out-blocked the ‘Niners 9.0-4.5 in the match.
“TCU beat us and we played poorly,” Gimmillaro said. “We kept serving out of bounds and we did it again in the fourth set.”
The Beach soundly went down in set three after being held to -.103 hitting. The Horned Frogs attack blistered LBSU at a .400 clip in the frame, after posting a .395 mark in a set-two win. TCU right side hitter Christy Hudson swatted seven of her team-leading 16 kills in the set.
LBSU grabbed set one after hitting .356 for 20 kills and containing the TCU offense to a .184 mark.
According to Gimmillaro, four unidentified players will be inserted into the starting lineup for tonight’s match against UNLV. Start-time is set for 7 p.m.