LOS ANGELES — The Long Beach State women’s volleyball season ended in a state of déjà vu Friday night at UCLA’s John Wooden Center.
The 49ers were eliminated for the second consecutive time by the University of San Diego in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
In its 25th consecutive NCAA appearance, the four-set loss – 23-25, 26-24, 25-19, 25-21 — ended not only the ‘Niners’ season, but also their 15-match winning streak, which began Oct. 4 at UC lrvine.
LBSU head coach Brian Gimmillaro attributed the loss to a lack of discipline after the team fell behind.
“I felt that there was still a match in the fourth game until we started making a series of errors,” he said. We wanted to win badly, but we just lost our sense of discipline and responsibility.”
Gimmillaro added: “I am extremely disappointed. We certainly wanted more out of this; it is a really hard loss for this team.”
After winning the first set, the No. 23-ranked LBSU (23-7) dropped three straight frames to No. 20 San Diego (28-4), who were led by a ferocious attack from its core group of stars.
Sophomore middle blocker Chloe Ferrari led the surge with a match-high 18 kills, to go with three digs on .424 hitting.
Ferrari was one of three Toreros to wind up with double-digit kills as junior outside hitter Carrie Baird drilled home 14 and freshman outside hitter Sandra Lozic had 10 to compliment her 13 digs.
Baird said the team had to regroup and stay focused after LBSU took the first set.
“It is do or die,” she said. “When it comes down to it, you have got to make the clutch plays.”
The ‘Niners had a chance to take a commanding two-sets-to-none lead and had one set-point service attempt before surrendering four consecutive points and the set, 26-24.
LBSU was led by senior outside hitter Caitlin Ledoux, who in her final match as a 49er, compiled a team-high 16 kills to go with five digs on .163 hitting.
The ‘Niners attack was otherwise balanced as four players ended up with seven kills apiece for a collective hitting percentage of .159.
Ever the professional, an emotional Ledoux credited the Toreros for the victory and hinted at the excitement she has for her young teammates in the seasons to come.
“They [San Diego] just outplayed us in the end,” she said. “We came out really confident and we lost that.”
Ledoux added: “I think our freshmen are absolutely amazing and I think they will go really far. I am excited to watch them.”
The co-captain rounded out her career by becoming only the seventh player in Big West Conference history to be named to the All-Conference first team four times. With her 16 kills on the night, the four-year starter tied Cheryl Weaver for fifth all-time in LBSU history with a total of 1,589.
Sophomore middle blocker Haleigh Hampton, who led the team in kills and hitting percentage for the season, contributed seven kills and three digs on .167 hitting.
Hampton set an LBSU NCAA tournament record with five solo blocks for the match and tied the team record with 11 total.
Hampton talked about the strength of the Toreros attack after the first set and the ‘Niners inability to respond to the strong net play.
“They did a really nice job blocking tonight,” Hampton said, “and we just were not ready for it.”
Senior libero Lauren Minkel also played her last match for the Beach and she led the team with 15 digs, tied for game-high honors.
Minkel finished the season with 432 digs, bringing her career total to 1,653. The libero started every match of her four year career and her final dig tally is only 33 shy of Heather Laudato (LBSU’s all-time leader).
The ‘Niners finished the season with its 12th Big West Conference championship and will only lose four members of its lineup this offseason due to graduation.
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