Long Beach State went to Naomi Washington for seven kills down the stretch as the senior led the way for the 49ers in a five-set win over UC Santa Barbara 25-18, 25-22,20-25, 18-25, 15-11.Ashley Lee added 50 assists with 15 digs for the 49ers.
Washington finished the match with 23 kills on .283 hitting to lead the 49ers, while sophomore Caitlin Ledoux added 15 kills and 14 digs for the 49ers. While the 49ers had a huge edge over the Gauchos in the first two sets in hitting, Long Beach State finished with .214 hitting to UCSB’s hitting helping key the win.
The 49er defense also proved to be tough again, led by Lauren Minkel who had 18 digs, along with Lee Ledoux and Libby Fontanilla who all finished with double-digit digs for Long Beach State. The Beach also finished with 10 blocks, led by Michelle Osunbor who had three solo blocks, including an important stop in the final set.
UC Santa Barbara stormed out to an early lead in the set, but Long Beach State rallied behind Ledoux to tie the set at 7-7. After tying the game, the 49ers took the lead for the first time and eventually extended their lead to four at 16-12 leading to a UC Santa Barbara timeout. Long Beach State won a long ally out of the timeout, and the 49ers moved out to a 20-14 lead on the way to a 25-18 win.
The second set stayed close through an 11-11 tie before UC Santa Barbara was able to take the first edge at 16-13. Long Beach State recovered with four straight points, taking the lead at 17-16 on a Lauren Minkel ace. UC Santa Barbara tied the set one more time at 22 before an Ashley Lee ace helped the 49ers finish the set 25-22.
Two early blocks for The Beach put the 49ers ahead 3-0 in set three, but UC Santa Barbara would press back, taking the lead and 6-5 and extending it to 13-10. The 49ers recovered to tie the set at 14-14 after an ace and a block by Lee. With the set tied 20-20, UC Santa Barbara ran off five unanswered points to extend the match at 25-20.
Continuing the momentum from the third in the fourth set, the Gauchos took an early two-point lead at 10-8. UC Santa Barbara never trailed again after the early part of the set, hitting .379 and coverting on 88 percent of their sideout opportunities to force a fifth set.
In the fifth the 49ers took a 4-2 on a Jocelyn Neely and Osunbor block. The teams continued to trade points, until Brittney Herzog knocked a kill off the block to take an 8-5 lead. Immediately after the switch an overpass led to a Ledoux kill and a 9-5 lead for the 49ers and LBSU hit Washington the rest of the way to close out the team’s second conference win.
The 49ers return to the Walter Pyramid on Saturday for a second match of the weekend as Long Beach State hosts Cal Poly. That match is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
Reports From LBSU