By Davis Ramage
Junior middle blocker Kameron Bacon has been Long Beach State’s defensive anchor all season long.
She recently came out hitting in last week’s two conference wins, as she filled up the box score with 15 kills and 12 blocks in these games. Her performance earned her Big West Defensive Player of the Week honors.
“I obviously don’t play to get awards, but it’s cool to be recognized. I’m just happy that we’re winning a lot of games right now,” Bacon said.
The Beach have won six of their last seven games and have swept their last three; the defense led by Bacon has been a major part of their success.
“The improvement on defense has changed our defense as a whole,” said LBSU head coach Tyler Hildebrand. “We were a medium defensive team last year and we are a very good floor defensive team now.”
Bacon has made an instant impact since the moment she arrived on campus. Before her first game as a freshman in 2021, The Beach’s starting middle blocker got injured in warmups in their first game of the season vs. UCLA, thrusting Bacon into the starting role.
“I feel like it adapted me because we only had two middles, there was no other option,” Bacon said. “I think it helped me not be scared of competition at a high level, and it just made [the transition] a little bit easier for me.”
Hildebrand expressed how much Bacon has grown since she’s been on campus, saying that she has grown physically as a result of being in the weight room and as a player in general.
“We have a growth mindset, learning-centric team, and when you commit to that, she is a great example of that can turn into a positive,” Hildebrand said.
She started 30 of the 31 games she played in as a freshman and finished an outstanding freshman season 10th in the Big West in blocks (96) and average blocks per set (0.87).
“Kam gives us physicality as a blocker. We’re not a super physical blocking team, so her ability to stress attackers and stress the other team is one of the impacts she has,” Hildebrand said.
Hildebrand became the head coach after the 2021 season and Bacon noted that Hildebrand influenced her to take blocking more seriously than in years past and even retaught her blocking altogether.
Bacon is not just contributing defensively, she is fourth on the team in kills and first among non-hitters. Offense is something that Bacon said she has struggled with in years past, but this season she is trying to be more aggressive offensively and feels she has made a lot of improvements to her game.
Her older sister Karson Bacon is a middle blocker for the University of Oregon. The two played high school and club volleyball together growing up. Bacon expressed how important it was to have her “baller” older sister to follow in the footsteps of.
“She’s so good and there’s so much to learn from her and I think she was a really good person to look up to for volleyball and she taught me so much,” she said.
Even with a coaching change after her freshman year and the uncertainty that came with it, Bacon had no thoughts of linking up with her sister at Oregon and chose to stay loyal to The Beach.
“I just love it here,” Bacon said, “We have gotten the most amazing staff over the past few years and it’s just a great place.”
With The Beach looking to make a final push for the Big West regular season title, Bacon hopes to continue to fry the competition and keep this winning streak going.
