Down two sets to none, Long Beach State rallied with the help of a huge effort by Naomi Washington to defeat Tulane 17-25, 21-25, 25-21, 25-19, 15-11. Washington finished with a career-high 29 kills on .339 hitting to lead the 49ers in her home town of New Orleans.
Down two sets to none and 2-0, the 49ers recovered to take a 6-3 lead in set three, their largest lead to that point, and the small rally helped bring about a change in the matches’ momentum which never swayed from the 49ers’ side again.
Long Beach State snapped a 25-match win streak for Tulane in Fogelman Arena with the victory, keyed by big nights from Washington, Caitlin Ledoux, and Jocelyn Neely. Ledoux finished with her second double-double of the tournament, putting away 15 kills along with 12 digs, while Jocelyn Neely finished with the first double-double of her career, adding 18 digs to go with 10 kills.
Setter Ashley Lee added a career high 58 assists in the effort along with 19 digs, a third double-double for the team, while libero Lauren Minkel led the team with 22 digs and Libby Fontanilla has 12 digs, as five 49er players finished with double-digit digs.
Set one was close from the start, but a kill from Maria Milsavljevic and a Tulane block put the Green Wave in front 9-7. From that point, the Green Wave continued to set Visnja Djurdjevic, who had seven kills in the set on the way to a 25-17 win.
Tulane took an early lead in set two, moving in front 6-3 and holding that cushion throughout most of the set. The 49ers battled back for a trio of ties, and finally took the lead for the first time since the early points at 16-15 with a Washington kill and a Tulane error. Four straight Green Wave points out of a timeout killed the rally, however, and Tulane took set two 25-21 without another serious threat.
Having rallied to get to 6-3, Long Beach State again extended their lead with a push, hitting Neely and Ledoux to move ahead 11-6. That cushion would last the 49ers the rest of the set, as the 49ers recovered for a 25-21 lead.
Forcing the match to set five, Long Beach State again rallied from an early deficit to take an 8-5 lead after a kill and a block by Michelle Osunbor. With that lead, the 49ers were never again seriously threatened and finished off the comeback with a 15-11 set five victory.
With the recovery in set three after a grim first two sets, Long Beach State held tough in set four as the teams traded leads three times, until two aces from Lee sparked a late rally to give the 49ers a 22-15 lead on the way to a 25-19 win.
Long Beach State returns to California next week for its next action, participating in a tournament hosted by Cal State Fullerton. The 49ers will start the tournament by playing Fordham on Friday, September 18 at 4 p.m., before taking on No. 8 UCLA on Saturday, September 19 at 5 p.m. Both matches will be held in Titan Gym.
From LBSU reports