By Long Beach State’s women’s volleyball dropped to 4-4 on Thursday after losing to University of Washington at The Walter Pyramid in four sets in the weekend opener.
After winning their first three matches at the Pyramid this season, The Beach could not get past the 9-0 Huskies, who are fighting for a national ranking, falling victim to a reverse sweep.
The first set went to The Beach 25-21 after trading leads for most of the set. They pulled away after interim head coach Natalie Reagan’s timeout down 20-19 by way of a service error from Washington’s senior setter Molly Wilson.
After The Beach won the first set, the Huskies responded in the second, hitting their way to the biggest lead of the match and stretching their lead to 23-9.
Long Beach State women’s volleyball went head-to-head against Washington at Walter Pyramid on Thursday night. Despite a hard-fought four sets, The Beach lost 3-1. Photo Credit: Devin Malast
Washington’s freshman middle blocker Julia Hunt finished off the set with a quick kill to the middle of the net to end the set 25-11.
Although LBSU went with a different lineup to start the second set, Washington adjusted quickly and put the heat on The Beach’s serve receive.
“More than anything they ramped up their serving,” Reagan said.
Through the third set, LBSU regained momentum to keep the game within a three-point reach, but could not claw back in front, falling down two sets to one with a final third set score of 25-23.
Freshman outside hitter Madi Maxwell (left) and sophomore middle blocker Ella Lomigora (right) leap to block Washington’s spike. Lomigora led The Beach in attack percentage at .533, connecting on nine of her 15 attempts in Thursday’s loss against University of Washington at The Walter Pyramid. Photo Credit: Devin Malast
LBSU continued to change the lineup each set in hopes of finding a successful combination to win back control over the game, but the Huskies’ offense was unstoppable.
Washington’s senior outside hitter Madi Endsley scored a combined 14 points with 13 kills and one service ace.
Washington then maintained control throughout the fourth set and broke away once again to close out the game 25-16 and stay undefeated at 9-0 with a 3-1 win over The Beach.
Senior setter Zayna Meyer sets the ball in front of Washington’s net in Thursday’s loss to University of Washington at The Walter Pyramid. Meyer would go on to rack up 27 assists and nine digs despite the loss. Photo Credit: Devin Malast
Amidst the Husky domination, there were some positives for The Beach on Thursday despite the loss, most notably senior outside hitter Natalie Glenn’s performance. Glenn recorded a season-high 14 kills along with a team-high 12 digs to make it her fourth double-double of the young season.
“Just using my vision… I can see the block pretty well,” Glenn said.
The Beach hosts University of Washington on Friday and Pepperdine University on Saturday, hoping to bounce back from Thursday’s loss before they begin conference play on Sept. 26th.
Editor’s note: The story was updated at 2:27 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 23 to correct the name of the opposing university.
