A pair of dominant freshmen carried the Long Beach State women’s volleyball team as its win-streak hit a season-high 12 matches Saturday night at the Walter Pyramid.
No. 24-ranked LBSU did not let its deficit get out of control after faltering in the first set, as it regrouped to defeat Big West Conference-rival UC Irvine(10-18, 4-12 Big West) in four sets — 19-25, 25-16, 25-15, 25-17.
The ‘Niners (20-6, 14-2 Big West) completed its conference schedule Saturday night, defeating the Anteaters (10-18, 4-12 Big West) for the second time this season.
After dropping the first set, 25-19, LBSU won the next three en route to its 12th consecutive match victory — the team’s longest streak since 2007.
LBSU head coach Brian Gimmillaro said even though the team could have been more mentally prepared, it was physically ready for Irvine.
“If there is a good sign to this game, it is that we did not play very well but the scores were still pretty good,” he said.
The Beach found its stride in the second set, using a run of 10 consecutive points to propel itself to a 25-16 victory. Nine of the points were served by sophomore middle blocker Haleigh Hampton, including two service aces.
The ‘Niners were led by freshman outside hitter Bre Mackie, who drilled home a match-high 15 kills on .560 hitting.
“We knew that we had to just pick up our energy,” Mackie said. “We knew that Irvine was not going to roll over. We came out the next few games with a better attitude about what we needed to do to get the job done.”
Another freshman outside hitter, Alma Serna, complimented Mackie’s performance by adding 11 kills on .444 hitting.
Gimmillaro added: “When Alma goes hard she is hard to stop. She hit a couple balls tonight that were just incredible.”
Irvine was paced by sophomore outside hitter and team captain Aly Squires, who compiled seven kills and 10 digs while only hitting at a .100 clip.
Long Beach out-hit Irvine .289 to .168 for the match.
The Beach returns to action against Loyola Marymount (14-14) at the Pyramid on Wednesday with the first serve scheduled for 7 p.m. The match will be the first of three in four nights for LBSU to round out the regular season.
“The teams next week (LMU, Central Michigan and the University of New Mexico) are better than people think,” Gimmillaro said. “Their RPI are pretty good. All of them have had big wins.”
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