In its second match at the Baden Classic on Saturday evening, the No. 22-ranked Long Beach State women’s volleyball team could not sustain its vicious first-set attack. The 49ers were taken down by the Oregon State Beavers in five sets — 10-25, 25-20, 25-23, 19-25, 15-12.
On paper, it looked like the ‘Niners would have won this match easily. Long Beach amassed more kills, (64-61), assists (59-57), blocks (22-12) and had a better hitting percentage (.251-.168) than the Beavers.
Despite the statistical dominance displayed by the Beach, Oregon State took advantage of a little fatigue shown by the ‘Niners late in the match.
“I didn’t think physically we could keep it up,” LBSU head coach Brian Gimmillaro said. “We’re not in very good shape, and we made a lot of mistakes.”
The Beach (5-4) made waves early and looked primed to break through the dam the Beavers (8-2) planned on building. The first set was dominated by the ‘Niners, with Haleigh Hampton, Janisa Johnson and Erin Juley combining to block any kill attempt from Oregon State. Senior Caitlin Ledoux led the 49ers early hitting attack with four kills on seven attempts for a .571 hit percentage. Freshman setter Erin Juley was also spreading the ball around very well, finishing with seven assists in the first set.
The Beavers showed some resiliency and came back in the second set, led by junior outside hitter Camille Saxton and freshman middle blocker Arica Nassar. Nassar got Oregon State off to a hot start in the second set, helping her team jump out to an early 3-0 lead. The Beach, however, came back with three straight points , one each from Ledoux, Haleigh Hampton and Delainy Aigner-Swesey. After a bit of back-and-forth play, the Beavers took the lead for good, and Saxton closed the door on the set.
The third set was an absolute barnburner, with Gimmillaro leading the charge. After what seemed to be an illegal rotation, Gimmillaro boisterously voiced his displeasure to the officials, and he was still in disbelief after the match had concluded.
“That changed the match,” he said. “We got five points in a row, and they asked something, then went back out a different rotation. They weren’t in the right formation, and it was obvious.”
Gimmillaro added: “It’s like a person being 10 feet offsides.”
Oregon State took an early 14-10 lead, but the Beach fought back, and came within one point late at 23-24. Again, Saxton was too much for the 49ers, closing out the set with two blistering kills.
Despite the questionable officiating, and tough third-set loss, The Beach, led by Ledoux who had a team-high 21 kills, Juley who ended the game with 50 assists, Janisa Johnson who had a great all around game with 13 kills and 17 digs, bounced back in the fourth set to force a fifth and final set.
The fifth set was a fickle early on, with each team jockeying for momentum. A Dre Shaw kill put the Beavers up 9-6 and they never looked back. Saxton, who had a game-high 22 kills, sent The Beach packing with two late kills followed by her teammates, who rushed the court to celebrate the 15-12 fifth-set victory.
The ‘Niners will look to get back on track against Idaho on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid.
2011 Baden Classic All-Tournament team
Caitin Ledoux, Long Beach State; Haleigh Hampton, Long Beach State; Arica Nassar, Oregon State; Tayla Woods, Oregon State; Kelli Becerra, SMU; Liz McArthur, Utah State; Libero: Becky Defoe; MVP: Camille Saxton, OSU
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