Naomi Washington finished with 15 kills and Laura Schuck added 14 digs as Long Beach State took down Cal State Fullerton in three 25-21, 25-19, 25-21. Long Beach State bested the Titans in hitting, defense and blocking to take its third straight three-set victory.

The match was close throughout however, with 22 tie scores, including 12 in what was a tight first set, but the 49ers outlasted the Titans primarily through outstanding defense with 61 digs overall through three sets, led by Schuck and junior setter Ashley Lee with 14. Libero Lauren Minkel added nine digs, and Caitlin Ledoux had seven to go with her ten kills, second-most on the team.

Set one was the closest of the match, as neither team took any sort of advantage early. Long Beach State took its first lead at 6-7, but didn’t take advantage of any sort of rally until scoring four straight points to take a 17-13 lead. After a Cal State Fullerton timeout, the Titans put together a rally of their own, tying the match at 19 on an Andrea Ragan service ace. Ragan’s next serve went out of bounds, and at 20-20 the 49ers took the next four points on the way to a 25-21 win.

The Titans again took an early lead in set two, but leading 12-10, a dig on a Naomi Washington kill landed just out of bounds for a Long Beach State point, leading to a big momentum shift on the displeasure of the Titans. Long Beach State took the lead at 14-13 and went to Washington the rest of the way, as the All-American senior finished with 10 kills in the set on the way to a 25-19 win. 

After the back-and-forth nature of the first two sets, the third was a relative breeze for the 49ers coming out of the long break between sets. Long Beach State opened up an 8-5 lead on a kill from Ledoux and an error by Ragan, and eventually took an 18-12 lead. The Titans rallied to cut the lead to two at 19-17, but a Long Beach State timeout stymied the rush and the 49ers capitalized on a number of Titan errors along with outstanding defense down the stretch from Schuck, Lee and Libby Fontanilla to get the 25-21 win.

After picking up their first Big West win on the road, Long Beach State finally returns to the Walter Pyramid next weekend after spending nearly a month on the road. The 49ers host UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2 before taking on Cal Poly the following evening at 7 p.m.

Reports From LBSU