The UCI Women’s Volleyball team (11-7, 4-4) lost a five set thriller, 3-2, against Long Beach State (10-6, 5-3) at Walter Pyramid in Long Beach, CA on Saturday, Oct. 15.
Both teams looked competitive in the first set, not letting either team go more than two points ahead. However, both teams also made a few costly mistakes. There were hits that didn’t go over the net due to miscommunication, and bad timing or contact. Serves for both teams went out of bounds or didn’t make it over the net.
Both teams defense were unable to dig up the opposing players kills. Although both teams were able to block effectively while playing throughout the game. Long Beach State had trouble getting the ball over the outstretched hands of UCI’s middle blockers. That didn’t stop them from attacking the Anteaters with hard kills. Irvine’s strong defense gave them an early 10-8 lead, drawing the first timeout of the game from Long Beach State.
After the timeout, Long Beach State displayed much more aggression. However, neither team could gain enough momentum for a run. Toward the end of the set, Long Beach State started to break free of the Anteaters’ grasp, forcing a timeout from UCI’s head coach Ashlie Hain, while Long Beach held a narrow 20-19 lead. Unfortunately for Irvine, Long Beach State ended the first set on a 5-2 spurt to take the first set, 25-21.
Both teams looked strong in the second set, with neither one gained an edge. This continued until Long Beach State scored back to back points to give themselves a 10-7 lead. But a service error from Long Beach put UCI back within a two point difference. The Beach started to pull ahead but a couple of Irvine blocks and more Long Beach State serving errors kept the game close.
A kill and solo block by junior middle blocker Onye Ofoegbu late in the set tied the game up at 22 points each. Long Beach State answered with a couple of clutch points to hold set point. A kill by Ofoegbu and a Long Beach State attack error tied the set at 24 points. Both teams traded points until a set fell too close to the UCI net, giving Long Beach State the win, 27-25, to take a 2-0 set lead on the Anteaters.
Irvine started out set three strong, as they gained the first three points with no response from Long Beach. UCI continued to gain momentum, taking a 7-4 lead to open the set which gave Long Beach State a reason to call a timeout. After the timeout, Long Beach State got back on track. They got the deficit down to 11-9, then proceeded to score three points in a row to take a 12-9 lead. A couple of huge blocks gave UCI a 21-19 lead, which made Long Beach State call a timeout. From there, UCI didn’t look back, scoring the final three points to take the set 25-21.
Irvine jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead to open the fourth set. Long Beach State then caved into the pressure and called for a timeout. Long Beach State rallied 5-1 to close the Anteater lead to 7-6. Irvine then answered with a five point rally of their own, making the score 17-11 in favor of the Anteaters. Three consecutive kills by Long Beach cut the Anteater lead to 23-21, which compelled UCI to call a timeout. As both teams were fighting for the win, a Long Beach player slid under the net diving for the ball, which gave UCI the final point of the set for a 25-22 victory.
The fifth and final set opened with a Long Beach State run, putting them ahead 3-0. UCI rallied to take a 7-6 lead. Long Beach then scored the next five points, forcing a UCI timeout. Both teams knew they had to put everything on the line as this final set only went to 15 points. Tensions ran high as a rally ensued, but Irvine couldn’t make it to see victory. Their final hit went into the net, which ended the game with a score of 15-12.
With the win, Long Beach State moved up to 5-3 in the conference, just ahead of UCI at fourth place in the standings. The loss dropped the Anteaters to fifth place, three games outside of the top spot.
Next up, the Anteaters will host the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners at the Bren Events Center on Friday, Oct. 21 at 5 p.m.
Seattle Barron is a Sports Intern for the fall 2022 quarter. She can be reached at skbarron@uci.edu.
