Oct. 14, 2011
Final Stats
LONG BEACH, Calif. - Sophomore Haleigh Hampton tallied 12 kills and a .611 hitting average to boost Long Beach State to a 25-11, 25-20, 25-12 sweep of UC Davis in the battle of two first-place Big West Conference women's volleyball teams in front of 1,234 fans at Walter Pyramid Friday night.
The Aggies slip to 18-4 overall and 4-3 in conference. The 49ers improve to 11-6 for the year and 5-2 in Big West play, breaking the tie atop the league standings. Both teams appear among those receiving votes in the AVCA Top 25 poll.
Sophomore opposite Devon Damelio was a bright spot offensively for UC Davis, posting nine kills on 19 swings for a .368 hitting average. She also matched senior middle blocker Betsy Sedlak with two block assists. Junior Allison Whitson also had nine kills and redshirt freshman Valerie Brain added six, but the team combined for 27 attack errors in the match.
Meanwhile, Hampton's match-high attacking numbers helped Long Beach State compile a .353 hitting average. Sophomore Delainey Aigner-Swesey and freshman middle Alma Serna each posted four blocks as part of the 49ers' 9.0 team stuffs.
Save for a 1-0 start in each of the second and third sets, UC Davis never led at any point during the match. The Aggies suffered minus-.033 hitting to Long Beach State's .385 in the opener, as Hampton posted two kills and two block assists in a 12-1 stretch in the frame. UC Davis made its closest challenge in the second, then Brain's kill closed the 49er lead to 12-10. But Hampton scored back-to-back kills and Tyler Jackson served up an ace to help their team score seven of the next eight points.
Brain put down two more kills to help the Aggies close the the gap from nine to four late in the second, but Hampton finally delivered the side-out kill to end the comeback effort and send LBSU to the break with a 2-0 lead.
Long Beach State enjoyed near-perfect attacking in the finale, committing just one error on 25 swings for a .560 average. In contrast, UC Davis managed only one more kill than error for a .027 clip. Five of those errors helped the 49ers break loose from a slight 5-4 edge to a 14-5 command early on, then more miscues boosted LBSU to an 8-1 run down the stretch.
The Aggies finish their Southern California conference weekend with a match at Cal State Fullerton on Saturday. Match time is 7 p.m. from Titan Gym.
