LBSU played host to UCSD at the Walter Pyramid, where they looked better than ever, sweeping the Tritons, and improving to (8-5) overall. LBSU will be 2-1 in the Big West on Thursday night.
The Beach opened up the second half of their four-game homestand against a UCSD team who they beat in both of their match-ups last year and looked to continue their success against them.
After splitting the pair of matches last weekend to open up conference play, The Beach was able to jump out to leads early and often in each of the three sets.
“It’s really nice coming out strong and aggressive, at the beginning of sets. That kind of gives us a little leeway,” redshirt sophomore setter Zayna Meyer said.
“You look at the scoreboard and we’re up by quite a bit, so less of that tension when little mistakes happen.”
Junior outside hitter Natalie Glenn, who has been playing outstanding as of late, said, “Being able to play freed up is a big thing, and just having fun while on the court, not having that tension.”
The Beach would go on to take the first set by a score of 25-20, which would end up being the closest margin of any set throughout the night.
The second set featured a 9-0 run from The Beach, that not even two timeouts called by UC San Diego head coach, Ricci Luyties were able to stop. The Walter Pyramid filled with LBSU fans rocked as the lead grew to its peak when The Beach won the set 25-11.
LBSU went into the third and final set looking for their fourth sweep of the year and the first in front of the home crowd.
UCSD remained competitive in the early minutes, even taking a 6-5 lead. This was before The Beach would go on another impressive 7-0 run to grab control, and never give the lead back.
Fans in the Pyramid once again erupted after Glenn sent one of her loud team-leading 17 kills over the net, prompting Luyties to call a timeout again. Long Beach State would finish off the Tritions by a final score of 25-16 in the last set of the night.
“We’ve had a tough schedule and every match is a chance for us to learn, because we have the Big West tournament at the end of this year,” Head Coach Tyler Hildebrand said after the game.
“So we’re going to build on every match, and hopefully be in the top six and are going to have an opportunity to put it all together at the end.”
LBSU is tasked with one of their toughest matchups of the year on Friday night as Hawai’i comes to town. Hawai’i will come in (9-4) on the season and (2-0) in Big West action.
“We know Hawai’i really well, they didn’t lose anybody and upgraded I think at a couple of positions,” Hildebrand said.
Long Beach State looks to show out in front of a packed Walter Pyramid on Friday’s ASI night and get their first win against their conference rivals since 2016 at 7 p.m.