Oct. 24, 2008
Final Stats
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Senior outside hitter Quincy Verdin led all players with 13 kills and .500 hitting to lead Long Beach State to a 25-15, 25-17, 25-15 win over UC Davis in Big West Conference women's volleyball action in front of 1,694 at the Walter Pyramid Friday evening.
The Aggies fall to 10-12 overall and 2-7 in conference play. The 49ers, among the teams receiving votes in Monday's CSTV/American Volleyball Coaches Association Top 25, improve to 17-4 for the year and 6-2 in Big West action.
Senior Renee Ibekwe led UC Davis offensively with nine kills on 34 attempts while sophomore right-sider Melanie Adams added five. As a team, the Aggies hit just .085 for the match, in contrast to Long Beach State's success rate of .382.
Freshman outside hitter Caitlin Ledoux had 10 kills against two errors on attack and three block assists on net defense for the 49ers. Middle blocker Naomi Washington also boosted the offensive numbers, collecting eight kills and hitting at a .462 clip.
Washington had three kills during a 6-0 run midway through the first set, helping the Beach pull away to a 20-11 edge. Verdin had three kills down the stretch, then Ledoux and Brittney Herzog teamed up for a block on the game-winner. The 49ers also enjoyed a run of unanswered points in the second set as Herzog scored back-to-back kills and a block assist in a 7-0 stretch, turning a 6-6 tie into a 13-6 lead. LBSU held at least a six-point edge the rest of the way, capping the frame with consecutive kills by Ledoux to take a 2-0 match lead.
Long Beach State virtually never trailed in the third set, hitting 12 kills with just one error for a .524 hitting average. The 49ers also had four of their eight total blocks in the finale, riding an 8-2 start into a 17-8 advantage, then scoring four straight points to a 24-13 match point.
Helping the LBSU cause was a 10th-anniversary reunion of its 1998 NCAA-champion team, featuring Olympians Misty May-Treanor and Tayyibba Haneef-Park in attendance in support of the 49ers.
UC Davis returns home for matches against UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly on October 31 and November 1.
