The battle between the Long Beach State and UC Irvine women’s volleyball teams Friday night was a polar opposite to last year’s showdown for the Big West Conference title.
The 49ers swept the Anteaters, 25-19, 25-21, 25-22, at the Walter Pyramid. Last season, the teams needed a five-set thriller to decide the conference champion.
LBSU (14-5, 4-2 Big West) was led by outside hitter Janisa Johnson’s 14 kills on .545 hitting and eight digs. Junior Caitlin Ledoux added a match-high 19 kills on .429 hitting.
Senior setter Ashley Lee, who finished with 39 assists and 13 digs, became the 10th player in LBSU history to collect 1,000 career digs. Lee, who hit the milestone with her first dig in the third set, also became just the fourth 49er to amass 1,000 career assists and 1,000 career digs.
“I did not even know that,” Lee said of both milestones. “But that’s cool, that’s really surprising and I didn’t even know I was up there.”
Misty May-Treanor, Sheri Sanders and Nicole Vargas are the other three to accomplish the feat.
UCI (5-14, 1-5 Big West) didn’t have an individual record more than Juliane Piggott’s eight kills. Senior outside hitter Kari Pestolesi, an All-Big West first-teamer along with Piggott last season, finished with just five kills on -.069 hitting and five digs.
The Anteaters have now lost eight of their last nine matches. Despite not looking like the preseason coaches’ poll’s second-place team, LBSU head coach Brian Gimmillaro didn’t see an underachieving Anteaters squad on the floor.
“[UCI has] got six or seven players back and they’re all quality players,” Gimmillaro said. “They challenged us tonight.”
The ‘Niners closed out the Anteaters despite a slight threat late in the third set.
Trailing 22-18, UCI went on a mini 3-0 run to pull within a point, but Ledoux picked up a sideout for LBSU. After the teams traded the next two points, freshman Delainey Aigner-Swesy picked up a kill and combined with fellow freshman Haleigh Hampton for a block to close the match.
LBSU posted a come-from-behind, 25-21 victory in set two.
The Anteaters jumped out to a 7-2 lead with the help of a seemingly distracted 49ers team that didn’t agree with some of the officials’ calls.
LBSU fought back to tie the set at 14, and then on six more occasions, before Lee delivered a no-look dump and Hampton closed the frame on a powerful kill.
Johnson’s all-around play got the ‘Niners off to a strong start for a 25-19 victory in set one. The sophomore recorded six kills on .556 hitting, three digs and two blocks in the frame.
“Lately we’ve played up and down, so I just did the most to rile the team up to get energy,” Johnson said.
The 49ers will be back in action Saturday at UC Riverside (2-17, 0-5 Big West). First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the UCR Student Recreation Center.
“Today helped us get ready for that [matchup] because it’s the same situation,” Lee said. “We just have to not get too anxious.”
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