The Long Beach State women’s volleyball team continues to take its lumps early on, absorbing two more close losses in the Bay Area Challenge.
Playing three matches in two days, the ‘Niners (2-4) defeated San Francisco on Friday night in between losses to Air Force and Miami.
All three matches went to a decisive fifth set, with The Beach only able to close out once. The 49ers’ matches have gone the distance four out of six times thus far to begin the season.
Without star middle blocker Haleigh Hampton, The Beach was once again forced to experiment with different lineups at the net with Tiara Wallace and freshman Joy Miley each seeing playing time over the weekend.
Delainey Aigner-Swesey paced the 49ers during the 25-21, 19-25, 26-28, 25-22, 17-15 loss Saturday afternoon against Miami (3-1) with her third straight — and fourth overall — double-double.
The senior outside hitter tallied 19 kills and 15 digs. Sophomore setter Erin Juley also provided a double-double with 37 assists and 11 digs.
The fifth and final set was tied as late as 9-9 and The Beach even led 12-10 but was not able to hang on as the Hurricanes took the lead at 14-13 and eventually won 17-15.
In the tournament opener on Friday afternoon, LBSU lost 22-25, 25-15, 25-27, 25-22, 15-11 against Air Force.
Aigner-Swesey compiled 18 kills and 14 digs to lead The Beach. Sophomore Alex Reid added 16 kills, and Bre Mackie had a career-high 14 kills, but the ‘Niners suffered from a myriad of errors.
Air Force delivered a stunning 14 service aces, eight of which were produced by Cami Richan. Additionally, The Beach committed 10 services errors.
The lone win of the weekend for LBSU came Friday night against host San Francisco (0-4).
Despite trailing 10-9 in the fifth set, the ‘Niners ran off six straight points to take the set 15-10. Miley made her debut in the win and tallied 12 kills on .348 hitting.
The Beach returns to the court Thursday when it travels to Loyola Marymount for the first match of the Long Beach State/LMU Tournament. The match will start at 7 p.m. against an opponent yet to be determined.
The tournament will then shift to the Walter Pyramid, where the ‘Niners will play host to the College of Charleston and Seattle University on Friday and Saturday. Each match will start at 7 p.m.