The No. 21-ranked Long Beach State women’s volleyball team defeated
the CS Fullerton Titans in the Big West Conference opener, 3-1, in The
Pyramid Thursday night. Game scores were 30-20, 30-19, 31-33, 30-16.
Long Beach State improved to 6-0 (1-0 Big West), while CS Fullerton dropped
to 6-3 (0-2 Big West).
Dyanne Lawlor paced The Beach with a career-high 16 kills, while teammate
Alexis Crimes added a career-high 15 kills. Jillian Mazzarella notched
her third double-double of the season with 55 assists and 11 digs, to
go along with seven kills. Heather Laudato recorded double-digits in digs
for the sixth straight match with match-high 21. Robin Miramontes netted
her first double-double of the season with 15 kills and a career-high
13 digs. As a team, LBSU registered a .280 attack percentage (73-27-164)
and limited CS Fullerton to just a .087 clip (44-30-161). Alyssa Opeka
led the Titans with 13 kills in the losing effort.
The 49ers cruised in game one behind five kills from Miramontes and four
kills from Hetzer for the 30-20 win. Long Beach State hit a blistering
.429 (18-3-35) and limited CS Fullerton to just a .143 clip (12-7-35).
Crimes (three kills) and Mariko Crum (two kills) also contributed to the
balanced 49er attack. LBSU broke the set open with a 7-1 run to take a
19-11 lead, and went up by as many as 12 at 29-17, courtesy of a Titan
attack error.
LBSU kept its hot hitting in the second frame after a 30-19 win. Long
Beach State registered another 18 kills for a .308 hitting percentage.
Crimes netted four more kills in the set to raise her match total to eight.
Hetzer added three more kills to raise her match total to seven. CS Fullerton
registered just nine kills and had nine errors on 38 swings for a .000
hitting percentage.
Long Beach State fought off four game points, after trailing 25-29 to
take a 30-29 lead in the third game. However, CS Fullerton managed to
take a 31-30 lead after two straight 49er hitting errors, and eventually
closed out LBSU, 33-31, after another 49er hitting error. The Titans only
managed 15 kills in the set, but Long Beach State hurt itself with 14
hitting errors.
The Beach eventually put away the Titans, 30-16 in the fourth set, after
a Crum kill.
Cal State Fullerton continues action on Saturday (Sept. 18) at 5 p.m.
as the Titans meet Arizona State at The Pyramid on the campus of Long
Beach State.
