Box Score LONG BEACH, Calif. – UC Irvine rallied from 0-2 to upend Long Beach State, 3-2 (19-25, 27-29, 25-20, 25-17, 15-12) at the Walter Pyramid Friday.
The win is the ninth all-time against the Forty-Niners (9-70) and the first against LBSU since Oct. 16, 2009 in Irvine. It was the first win in Long Beach since 2003.
UCI improves to 10-13 overall and 5-4 in the Big West. The victory snaps Long Beach's undefeated Big West mark (8-1) as the Forty-Niners go to 14-8 overall.
The Anteater block was dominate tonight with a season-high 20 rejections.
Senior outside hitter Victoria Dennis led UCI with 19 kills. The reigning Big West Player of the Week Harlee Kekauoha had 13 kills, three aces, nine digs and five blocks in the win.
Senior setter Shelley Anderson was a beast at the net with a career-high three solos and five block assists. She also added 50 set assists, a season-high 16 digs, four kills and an ace.
Freshman Makayla Wolfe was also a star with a career-high 11 block assists and 12 total blocks. Her 11 block assists ranks tied for second in the UCI match records. She also added three kills. Freshman Loryn Carter had eight kills.
Long Beach State was led by Nele Barber's match-high 23 kills and 21 digs. Anete Brinke had 14 kills followed by YiZhi Xue with 10.
Long Beach State used a 6-1 run which included two kills, two aces and two UCI attack errors to move out to an 11-6 lead in the first set. After kills by Haley DeSales and Danielle Geiger closed the gap to 15-18, LBSU had the next three points to extend to 21-15. The Forty-Niners would take the set 25-19.
The Anteaters started the second set, hitting -.091 (2-3-11) as Long Beach jumped out to a 7-3 lead. UCI chipped away and a kill and ace by Harlee Kekauoha knotted the score at 18-18. The Anteaters took their first lead, 20-19, on a block by Geiger and Shelley Anderson and a Forty-Niner hitting error. Three straight LBSU errors gave UCI set point, 24-21. A Beach kill and back-to-back blocks tied it at 24-24. In a rollercoaster finish with each team holding set points, the Forty-Niners closed it out on a kill by Anete Brinke followed by a UCI attack error and a kill by Nele Barber out of the back row, 29-27.
A kill and two aces by Kekauoha plus a kill by Loryn Carter gave UCI the 15-10 advantage, forcing a LBSU timeout in the third. On her third attempt of the rally, Geiger pounded a kill and Long Beach had a ball sail wide to give the Anteaters the 18-12 lead. Long Beach made a move on three consecutive kills (20-17), but a service error killed their momentum. A pair of Carter kills and an ace by Luna Tsujimoto gave UCI set point, 24-17. After waiting two points, Kekauoha put away the winner, 25-20.
A pair of blocks propelled the Anteaters to a 4-1 lead. After a kill by Anderson (7-4), the Forty-Niners edged within 8-7, but back-to-back blocks, a kill by Kekauoha and a LBSU ball-handling error extended UCI's lead to 13-7. Two more blocks gave UCI the 23-15 cushion and fittingly a block by Makayla Wolfe and Carter ended the set 25-17.
In the final stanza, UCI used a block and kill by Carter to take a 6-3 lead. Great defense by Arden Davis and a kill by Kekauoha pushed the margin to 9-4, while a kill by Dennis made it 12-7. Four consecutive kills by Barber got the Forty-Niners to 12-11. A UCI block and a kill by Dennis gave the Anteaters match-point 14-12. Following the Dennis kill, a card was issued to the Long Beach bench and after the officials conferred a point was given to UCI after determining that two yellows were given in the fifth set resulting in a red. The red card gave UCI a point to end the match 15-12.
UCI travels to CSUN Saturday (Oct. 28) for a 7:00 p.m. match at the Matadome to close out the roadtrip.
