The No. 22-ranked Long Beach State women’s volleyball team wasted no time de-hoofing Southern Methodist University on Friday night at the Walter Pyramid. The 49ers’ opening match at the Baden Classic was a clean, three-set sweep over SMU — 25-19, 25-18, 25-17.
The Beach had all of its’ heavy hitters on full display. Senior outside hitter Caitlin Ledoux led the way with 16 kills on a .400 hitting percentage, including a kill that slipped in down the left side of the court that sent the Mustangs trotting off the court.
Ledoux credited much of her aggressive play to her teammates.
“Our middles did a really good job of getting up and getting the outside hitters one-on-one.” said Ledoux, who connected on 40 percent of her attacks on the evening.
Along with Ledoux, middle blocker Haleigh Hampton and outside hitter Janisa Johnson helped set the tone for the ‘Niners (4-3) early on. Hampton had 11 kills for the match on .500 hitting. Johnson came up with nine on a match-high .533 hitting before receiving a loud ovation from the fans as she took the bench for a much-needed rest in the third frame.
The Mustangs (3-5) took an early lead in the second set, but the 49ers pulled the reins on the Mustang’s attack to regain complete control of the frame.
“We kind of just got off to a bad start,” Ledoux said. “We had to recollect and just play our game and not worry about what they were doing, just worry about what we were doing.”
Newly anointed starting setter, freshman Erin Juley, helped The Beach stay calm and collected as she kept the Mustangs off-balance by spreading the wealth to each of her teammates with precision setting. Juley finished with 34 assists on the night.
The ‘Niners started the third set on fire, and Ledoux attributed that to trying to stay healthy.
“I think that we have a lot of people on this team right now that are hurting,” Ledoux said, “and we didn’t want it to go more than three games.”
The hard hitting trio of Ledoux, Hampton and Johnson proved to be too much for the Mustangs as The Beach stayed hot through the entire third set to pull of the victory in straight sets.
Many of the injured ‘Niners came through in a big way, namely middle blocker Alma Serna, who had four huge blocks in the game. The hobbling 49ers received plenty of encouragement from their teammates.
“We all try to help them out during warmups, doing whatever we can do,” Ledoux said. We talk to them and try to help them get out of any funk.”
The Beach will be back in action Saturday with a doubleheader at the Walter Pyramid. The 49ers will face Utah State at 11 a.m. before taking on Oregon State at 7 p.m.
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