Long Beach State head coach Brian Gimmillaro kept his team in the locker room for about an hour and a half following Friday afternoon’s loss to Texas Christian University — it took the 49ers only one hour, 18 minutes to finish off Loyola Marymount.
The Beach (21-8) swept the Lions 25-15, 25-17, 25-11 Saturday afternoon at the Walter Pyramid in the second day of action at the Mizuno Thanksgiving Tournament. LBSU limited LMU to .018 hitting and out-blocked the visitors, 12.5-5.0.
“There are certain levels of performances that are acceptable, and certain levels that are not,” said Gimmillaro on what he discussed with his team after the TCU match. “We wanted to make sure everyone understood what was acceptable.”
Senior middle blocker Brittney Herzog, who was one of four 49er starters benched in Friday evening’s win over UNLV, stepped up with 12 kills on .526 hitting, while adding six block assists.
Michelle Osunbor, who also sat out Friday evening’s match via coach’s decision, chipped in five kills to go with a match-high seven block assists and one solo block.
“We didn’t do our job so we deserved to get benched,” Herzog said. “[Gimmillaro] wanted to show that we could be replaced if we didn’t do our jobs.”
The ‘Niner attack was bolstered by six kills apiece from Jocelyn Neely and Ashley Lee, who also had a match-high 28 assists to complement 14 digs.
LBSU’s balanced performance offset quiet outings from Naomi Washington and Caitlin Ledoux, who had eight and five kills, respectively. The big hitters, along with Lee and Laura Schuck, are the only 49ers to have appeared in every set of the three matches this weekend.
“We knew they were tired,” Herzog said. “Brian told us to show that we do have other players that can play and not just them.”
Defensively, LBSU also received double-digit dig totals from Lauren Minkel, who led all players with 18, and Schuck, who tallied 12.
The 49ers steamrolled to a set three win after shutting down the overmatched Lions to a -.081 clip in the frame. LBSU held a 22-6 lead at one stage in the set after storming out to an 8-1 run out of an LMU timeout.
Herzog had five kills, while Lee and Osunbor collected four each in LBSU’s set two win. The Lions were kept to a .077 clip in the set.
LBSU hit only .162 in its set one win, but managed to hold LMU to an .057 mark.
The Beach returns to the Pyramid floor tonight to wrap up its regular season campaign with a match against Utah. Start-time is set for 7:30 p.m.
Herzog and Washington will be honored before tonight’s match in a Senior Day ceremony. Both could be making their final appearances at the Pyramid if the 49ers are not selected as an NCAA Tournament host when the 64-team field is revealed at noon tomorrow on ESPNEWS.