Video by J.J. Fiddler<\/span><\/p>\nMost of all, we learned that the #24-ranked 49ers are so talented, they’ll be able to win most games based on sheer ability alone – forgoing the fact that the team features eight newcomers and eight returners, a recipe for chemistry disaster.<\/p>\n
Friday, head coach Brian Gimmillaro debuted a team that is strong at each individual position with enough depth to set them apart from thinner, talented squads. Senior setter Nicole Vargas set the tone on offense, conducting a free-for-all offense – Gimmillaro has refrained from overcomplicating the schemes yet – to the tune of 45 assists in a win over the University of San Francisco, and 27 over Indiana. Senior Iris Murray held down the back line on defense to dig – literally – the team out of a hole. Senior hitters Quincy Verdin and Naomi Washington are offensive powerhouses that leave opponents stricken with fear (and blows to the head).<\/p>\n
The Beach took the two matches in seven games (3-1 vs. USF, 3-0 vs. IU), to start the season-opening tournament off right before facing Missouri State tonight at 7:00pm. Last season – one in which the 49ers were a clear national title contender – the team dropped three matches before finally winning at home. So there is cause for both relief and optimism after Friday’s victories.<\/p>\n
The wins also gave Gimmillaro a chance to see what he’s got in his newcomers, most notably freshmen Ledoux and Highmark. Ledoux is a talented, leaping hitter, but Highmark is a natural setter that was asked to play hitter only one week ago.<\/p>\n
“We figure it’s better to have her out there somewhere than not at all,” says Gimmillaro.<\/p>\n
That seemed to be his mantra for the night, as Ledoux and Highmark earned more playing time in the doubleheader than any other player besides Vargas. Admittedly, he was testing their mettle with a quick toss into the fire, and the new 49ers did not disappoint. Each had twelve kills against USF in their debut match, while Ledoux racked up nine and Highmark eight against the Hoosiers.<\/p>\n
“It’s just an honor to be playing for a program like this,” Ledoux said about her new squad, following the Indiana game. “Everyone makes us feel really comfortable out there, and the older girls have been really helpful.”<\/p>\n
“It’s definitely faster,” said Highmark of the speedy pace of the college game. “The first game [USF] was tough because of nerves.”<\/p>\n
“But the second,” chimed in Ledoux, “was harder because the crowd was bigger.”<\/p>\n
Both agreed they were happy just to have contributed, and that we still haven’t seen their best stuff yet. Gimmillaro agrees, and promises to use both freshmen often. But the telling sign of success will come from his four senior leaders and what they’re able to bring to the team. With so many new faces (five freshmen and three transfers), a strong voice in the locker room and on the floor is essential to keeping the team cohesive and focused.<\/p>\n
“The desire is there,” Gimmillaro said after the USF opener. “But they’re just not ready to perform at the level they need to.”<\/p>\n
Much of his ire was drawn from the third set against University of San Francisco, in which the Beach had a chance for a 3-0 sweep and instead allowed the Dons to stretch it to a fourth game. The team seemed confused during that third game and was unable to pull through the adversity to win in three, though similar problems were handled more successfully later against Indiana. As we saw, the team will improve rapidly with more and more time spent on the court together. They’ll need to learn each other’s styles and preferences to avoid crashing into one another, but timing seemed on point and kill attempts were struck well.<\/p>\n
“I wasn’t displeased with our movement,” Gimmillaro said. “We’re not even beginning to run our offense. I’d like to see Nicole [Vargas] play a little looser, and once she does we can start running some Long Beach State plays.”<\/p>\n
Until then, I guess we’ll just have to settle for this potent playground style, orchestrated by Vargas – daughter of Long Beach State assistant coach and setting legend Debbie Green. She too, believes the team has a lot of improving to do.<\/p>\n
“I have to find where [everyone is] comfortable and how they move,” she said after recording the 45-assist game. “I have to really be aware of where everyone is at.”<\/p>\n
That will all come with time, and after just two games, the Beach has plenty of it. Friday showed us exactly what you’d expect from a very talented team that’s only been playing together for three weeks. As the team experiences new challenges and opponents, they’ll learn about each other as much as we learn about them. It’s a team with definite postseason potential and the talent to bring some hardware to the Pyramid.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Long Beach State Women’s Volleyball team looked impressive in its first two games of the opening season, finishing 2-0 and only losing one set.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5643"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=5643"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/div>\n