The Long Beach State women’s volleyball team traveled to Nebraska this weekend for the Husker Labor Day Invitational and left the Cornhusker state winning its first two matches before falling to No. 1 Nebraska Sunday.
The Beach (5-2) beat Middle Tennessee State 30-25, 26-30, 30-24, 30-26, St. Mary’s 22-30, 30-25, 30-22, 28-30, 15-7, and lost to Nebraska 30-15, 31-29, 30-25.
The match against Nebraska was a rematch of the 1989 NCAA Final, in which the 49ers beat the Cornhuskers in three games.
But on Sunday Nebraska’s Sarah Pavan led the home team past The Beach recording 24 kills in the match. Tracy Stalls added 14 kills and Jordan Larson had four aces and 14 digs in the win.
After losing convincingly in the opening game, The Beach held strong against Nebraska in the second game, turning away two game points before losing the game.
In the final game, LBSU held a 21-16 lead, but the Cornhuskers went on a run 7-1 run, and held on to win the match in three straight games.
Quincy Verdin had 11 kills, redshirt freshman Naomi Washington added eight kills and Michaela Hasalikova contributed seven kills and four blocks in the loss.
On Saturday, The Beach played its first five-game match of the year, outlasting St. Mary’s College.
LBSU didn’t give St. Mary’s much of a chance in the final game, jumping out to a 7-2 lead, and led by as many as eight, at 11-3, before winning the game and match.
The Beach had 100 kills in the match, which ranked No. 8 all-time in LBSU history.
Washington had a career high 20 kills in the match, Verdin had 15 kills, and Robin Miramontes had a double-double with 15 kills and 16 digs.
LBSU will have a rematch against St. Mary’s Thursday, this time in The Walter Pyramid at 7:30.
In The Beach’s first match of the tournament last Friday, LBSU met MTSU.
LBSU was down four points in the fourth game, but rallied late and ended up winning the deciding fourth game by four points.
Middle blocker Alexis Crimes led the squad in kills with 17, and Hasalikova almost had a double-double with 10 kills and a career high nine blocks.
Nicole Vargas did have a double-double, her first of the season, with 40 assists, 12 digs and she also had a career high in blocks with eight. Sarah Hudson added a season-high 10 digs in the four-game victory.
Information for this story was provided by the Long Beach State Information Department.