Just days after fighting their way back into the nation’s top twenty-five, the Long Beach State Women’s Volleyball team was upset on the road by UC Irvine.  Lauren Kellerman had 21 kills and 13 digs for UC Irvine, allowing the Anteaters to top Long Beach State 20-25, 25-12, 25-23, 25-21 on Friday night. Long Beach State countered with 16 kills from Quincy Verdin and 15 from Caitlin Ledoux, but were unable to slow the UC Irvine attack.

UC Irvine became just the third team to out-hit the 49ers at .261 to .207, and The Beach fell to 0-3 against teams with a better hitting average. The Beach had solid nights from Ledoux and Verdin, but nine service aces from the Anteaters, including five from sophomore Kari Pestolesi undermined the success of Long Beach State’s outside hitters.

Long Beach State came out quickly in the match, taking a 5-1 lead. Keeping that cushion, The Beach was never seriously threatened in the remainder of the set, taking a 25-20 set one win. Verdin led the way with five kills, while the team hit .323.

What went right in the first set started to go wrong in the second, as UC Irvine answered with a dominant second set. Long Beach State opened with a  5-4 lead, but two Homan aces helped spark eight straight points for UC Irvine to take a 12-5 lead. The Anteaters never looked back on the way to a 25-12 final.

The 49ers kept things closer in the remaining two sets, but despite late charges in both a big lead for UC Irvine held. Long Beach State pulled to within one in both sets but was unable to tie or take the lead in the waning moments as big serving from Pestolesi and libero Devon Sutherland kept The Beach off balance.

Long Beach State stays on the road for one more conference matchup this weekend, heading to UC Riverside. That match starts at 7:30 p.m. on the UCR campus.

From LBSU reports