By Marlon Villa
The Beach was unable to overcome an elite UC Santa Barbara team on Saturday night at the Walter Pyramid, starting their first weekend of Big West play even at 1-1.
With 1,527 attendants, Long Beach State fans stood out shouting chants and holding posters in support of the team.
Long Beach State women's volleyball fan demonstrated their enthusiasm after The Beach was awarded a point after a play had to be reviewed. Photo credit: Marlon Villa
Passing well and with a fast offense, UCSB had The Beach playing catch up after the third set, where they started to take control of the match.
Long Beach State Head Coach Tyler Hildebrand saw the difference in the match being the transitions.
“They hit over .300 and we hit around .100,” Hildebrand said.
Going into the conference play, Long Beach State’s head coach knew that they were going to have to face tough teams in the beginning.
Hildebrand attributes the team’s struggles to recent players that the team has lost, as well as admitting the team needs to work on its offense.
“Whether it’s COVID or people that can’t play, we haven’t been at full strength one match all season,” he said.
The Beach’s weakness seemed to be in kills as the Gauchos didn’t waste any opportunity with 75.
A team that takes pride in stacking blocks like Santa Barbara, The Beach’s junior defensive specialist Savana Chacon believes the team is capable of getting around that and it wasn’t a factor against them. Chacon was key to the match as well with 18 digs.
“It just showed on a system setting that if we’re going to have a triple block I have to put the ball tighter so they have more of a chance and feel more confident going up there,” Chacon said.
The Gauchos did, however, get the upper hand defensively on The Beach with 14 blocks.
Redshirt sophomore Zayna Meyer was crucial to much of LBSU’s offense throughout the match with 37 assists.
Chacon sees this as an obvious learning opportunity for the next time the team faces off against UCSB later on in the season.
The Beach will return to the Walter Pyramid on Thursday to continue the homestand as they welcome UC San Diego at 7 p.m.
