The Long Beach State women’s volleyball team came away with one of the most thrilling victories of the season in five sets on their home court in front of a packed Walter Pyramid.
“This is exactly why we wanted a tournament, there’s been three matches and they have all went five [sets],” LBSU head coach Tyler Hildebrand said.
The Pyramid housed numerous rowdy fans from Santa Barbara and Long Beach who greatly impacted the game.
During the regular season, UCSB was the only team that beat The Beach twice, beating them in four sets in both contests on their way to securing the number one seed with a conference record of 17-1.
LBSU got out to a great start against the Gauchos, something that had not happened in their first two matchups. The Beach’s lead would grow to as much as six after going up 14-8, leading to Big West Coach of the Year, Matt Jones, calling a timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, UCSB would go on a 5-1 run and get themselves right back into the set. Santa Barbara eventually pulled within one point of a set victory, leading 24-22.
The Beach would make a final push as junior outside hitter Elise Agi would tally two of her team-high 20 kills to power The Beach to a 4-0 run to win the first set.
With an opportunity to take a set-to-none advantage against the Big West favorites, The Beach would again go up early with a big lead amounting to as much as seven after a kill by junior middle blocker Kameron Bacon.
Again The Beach was met with a strong counter as UCSB would go another big run coming out of a timeout, tying the score at 16 a piece after an 8-1 run. The Gauchos would ultimately take the second match by a score of 25-23 and narrowly escape a dreaded 2-0 hole.
The third set saw The Beach create some more separation led by redshirt sophomore setter Zayna Meyer and junior libero Savana Chacon who both recorded double-doubles. The Beach would take the set 25-17 and a 2-1 lead overall.
UCSB would strike back with a set similar to LBSU’s third set as they dominated and went up as much as nine to close out the set 25-16. This led up to a decisive fifth set to decide who would book their ticket to the inaugural Big West Championship game on Saturday.
The already energetic crowd took it up another notch becoming even more invested with both team’s seasons on the line. LBSU fed off that energy, propelling them to an 11-7 advantage leading to another UCSB timeout.
Santa Barbara would do what they had done all night and dominate coming out of the timeout, making it a two-point game and a score of 14-12 until a kill by junior outside hitter Natalie Glenn would seal the deal to complete the upset by a final of 15-12.
“I really wanted to win and I really wanted to go to the NCAA tournament,” Glenn said. “I just felt really motivated to play my best, and I felt like I had to put on a performance.”
The Beach will take on Hawai’i in the title match Saturday night at the Walter Pyramid with a bid to the NCAA tournament on the line. LBSU split the season series with the Rainbow Warriors and their win came via a sweep at the Walter Pyramid, the location of the title match.
This article was edited on Nov. 25, 2023 for clarity and accuracy.