Spikers get ready to rumble
Long Beach State volleyball is known as a Big West Conference powerhouse.
That is why Utah State is all business this week as the 49ers come to town Thursday for a match at 7 p.m. The Aggies will also face UC Irvine on Saturday to round out a four-match homestand.
Long Beach (8-3 on the season and 3-1 in league action) opened BWC play with a four-game loss at UC Riverside before defeating Cal State Fullerton (3-0), No. 20 Pacific (3-1) and Cal State Northridge (3-1).
“Long Beach has dropped a couple of matches this year, but they are still a real good program,” said USU Head Coach Burt Fuller. “They train well and they always come out with a lot of confidence. We are looking forward to it.”
LBSU’s junior setter Jillian Mazzarella will come in on an especially high note after being named the conference player of the week. Last weekend she averaged 12.12 assists, 2.25 digs, 2.00 kills per game and a .484 attack percentage.
Overall, Mazzarella his hitting .328 and is averaging 12.24 assists per game.
The Beach looks somewhat like a new team this season, returning only two starters and seven letterwinners from last year’s squad that went 28-4 on the season.
They finished second in the Big West with a 15-3 record behind the University of California Santa Barbara, which won its first ever outright conference title with a 30-3 overall record.
Utah State outside hitter Beth Hodge said she thinks her squad has a good shot this year against Long Beach because the 49ers have not been at their strongest as of late.
Middle blocker Erin Cartwright also thinks the Aggies have a shot at coming out on the winning end.
“I haven’t beaten Long Beach,” she said. “This is a good chance to get on top of them, especially at home. The crowd helps us so much. It’s tough to play here, especially when you are from California.”
The Aggies (9-4, 2-1) are perfect at home this season, knocking off Idaho State, Utah and Idaho.
“If we can pull off a couple of wins this
weekend, that will put us in real good shape for the first half [of the season],” Fuller said. “This program hasn’t beaten Long Beach in awhile. We are not going to make it the only match of the season, though. We are going to make it a match that will help us progress through the conference.”
If the Aggies were to knock off the 49ers, it would make USU the second program in the conference to reach the double-digit win plateau. UCI did so last weekend by defeating CSN and Pacific.
UC Irvine is currently 13-3 on the season and in first place in the Big West with a 4-0 record. The Anteaters are leading the league in hitting at .257 and are holding its opponents to .214.
Junior Sami Cash leads the Anteaters. She is hitting .367 on the year.
Last year UCI finished fifth in the Big West with a 19-11 overall record and a 10-8 conference finish.
-juag@cc.usu.edu