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LBSU extends winning streak to five with wins against UC Irvine, UC Davis
Josh Barajas, Sports Editor
The Long Beach State women’s volleyball team took down both UC Irvine and UC Davis on the road in four sets on Thursday and Saturday, respectively; to make it five wins a row for the 49ers.
Four 49ers (19-5, 9-2) finished with double-digit kills in both road games, but none stood out more than junior outside hitter Nele Barber.
Against Irvine (11-12, 5-6), Barber recorded her second 20-kill performance in a row by notching 21 kills to go along with 16 digs.
Sophomore Ashley Murray added 13 kills, senior Hayley Benson added 12 and freshman Peyton Grahovac finished with 10.
The 49ers won a highly contested first set, 26-24, before running away with the second, 25-13. The Anteaters took the third set, 25-17, before LBSU closed them out in the fourth, 25-15.
On Saturday, Barber again erupted for LBSU by racking up 16 kills and 19 digs for her 19th double-double as a 49er. Murray grabbed another 13 kills while Grahovac posted a career-high .500 hitting percentage to go along with 11 kills. Freshman Carly Beddingfield also added 11 kills as LBSU dispatched Davis (11-14, 6-5) in four sets.
The 49ers showed they came ready to play on Halloween night by taking the first set by a whopping score of 25-10. LBSU won a closer second set 25-22 before dropping the third set to the Aggies by the same score. The 49ers sealed the game in the fourth set, 25-20, to extend their winning streak to five.
LBSU is still a game and a half behind Hawaii for first place in the Big West, however the two teams will meet next Friday.
First, the 49ers have a road game against CSU Fullerton on Wednesday at 7 p.m. before they get a chance to avenge their Oct. 11 loss to Hawaii on Friday at the Walter Pyramid at 7 p.m.
LBSU splits doubleheader against Stanford, Golden West College
Will Hernandez, Contributing Writer
Ben Hammerton | Daily 49er
Sophomore Jacob Fujioka (17) looks for an opening with Stanford driver BJ Churnside looking for the block.
The Long Beach State men’s water polo team lost 13-8 to Stanford in the first game of its doubleheader on Saturday, but hung on to defeat Golden West College 9-8 at the Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center in the finale.
The 49ers (10-12, 1-5 MPSF) trailed Stanford 8-7 at the end of three periods. However, Stanford’s goalkeeper Drew Holland’s four saves in the fourth period stymied LBSU’s late come-from-behind attempt.
The 49ers’ matchup with Stanford was highlighted by a record-setting performance by the Cardinal’s Brett Bonnani. Thirty seconds into the match, Bonnani scored the first goal of the game on a five-meter penalty shot to tie former Cardinal Tony Azevedo’s school record of 332 career goals.
Bonnani scored five more goals in the game and now owns the all-time Stanford and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation scoring record with 337 goals.
LBSU freshman Keegan Wicken led the 49ers in scoring with a hat trick. His first score helped the 49ers take a 3-2 lead at the end of the first.
In the second, Holland shut out the 49ers while Stanford (17-6, 3-3 MPSF) added three goals to take a 5-4 lead into halftime.
In their second match of the day, the 49ers came-from-behind in the fourth period to beat Golden West College in an exhibition contest. LBSU was down 6-4 to Golden West at the end of three periods before a five goal fourth period lifted them to a 9-8 win.
Redshirt freshman attacker Max Cusator netted the game-winner and senior Dimitrios Lappas scored three goals in the match.
The 49ers will play their last home game of the season against No. 1 UCLA on Saturday at the Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center.
LBSU runs into fourth, sixth place
Kayce Contatore, Assistant Sports Editor
The Long Beach State men’s and women’s cross country teams finished in fourth and sixth, respectively, at the Big West Conference Championships at UC Riverside on Saturday.
Two 49ers, juniors Kathleen Dunne and Emilio Nunez, finished in the top 15 in their races. Dunne finished 12th in the women’s 6,000 meter race while Nunez took home the 15th position in the men’s 8,000 meter race.
For the women’s teams, Cal Poly took home the top spot, followed by UC Santa Barbara, UC Davis, UC Riverside, Cal State Fullerton and LBSU.
The LBSU women’s team had three more runners finish in the top 50 of the race. Sophomore Mikayla Florez finished in 35th place with a time of 22:08.45 while juniors Ashley Carrera and Pauline Mandel ended up in 40th and 41st, respectively.
On the men’s side, UCSB captured first place, Cal Poly came in second and UC Davis finished third, ahead of the 49ers.
The 49er men’s team had four more men claim spots in the top 40. Junior Sam Bautista finished in 17th, junior Kevin Ramirez took home the 21st, freshman Andres Barragan ended one spot behind Ramirez in 22nd and senior Tim Bergstrom finished in the 37th position.
The 49ers continue their travels as they head to the NCAA West Regional race hosted by the University of Washington on Nov. 13.
