Photo by Shar Higa
If you heard before the Long Beach State women’s volleyball team’s season opener against San Diego that the Brian Gimmillaro-coached 49ers would hold the Toreros to .153 hitting, that the Toreros would commit 11 service errors, and that the ‘Niners would outblock their opposition, you’d probably assume that you were hearing about a win. That wasn’t the case on Friday night for the first match played in the Pyramid, as the ‘Niners fell 24-26, 25-15, 22-25, 22-25—Gimmillaro doesn’t think there’s any mystery as to how those facts translated into a four-set loss. “We just didn’t play very well,” he said after the match.
The 49ers were lucky enough to catch the Toreros on an off-night—unfortunately, they were caught in the middle of one themselves. San Diego hit .153, but Long Beach hit .134, and just .091 and .022 in the third and fourth sets. It was obvious it wasn’t Long Beach’s night from the beginning—in the first set, they held leads of 7-4, 11-7, and 13-9, but watched the Toreros catch up each time. Then, down 21-20, Ashley Lee and Naomi Washington sparked a burst of productivity that gave the ‘Niners a 24-22 lead, putting them in the driver’s seat. Once there, they committed three straight errors, and the Toreros won it 26-24. “Three straight errors,” said Gimmillaro shaking his head. “You can’t make those mistakes at the end of the game. Eventually the other team’s going to start scoring some points for themselves.”
They exploded out of the gate in a second set that showed off the potential of this young group, grabbing an 8-2 lead and running away with a ten-point victory in the only set where they hit better than .160. San Diego got control of themselves during the long intermission, and despite the close scores, they dictated the tempo of the remainder. The Toreros committed enough errors (34 on attack, and a whopping 11 service errors) to leave the door open, but the ‘Niners never stepped through.
Their mistakes were mostly in execution, as plays broke down, or players missed open spots on the floor—the normally reliable Caitlin Ledoux only hit .143 and missed three cross shots wide; Brittney Herzog also struggled in the cross game. The standouts were Washington, who hit .303 and finished with 15.5 points, and Lauren Minkel, who had 18 digs in her first start at libero.
Gimmillaro says the frustrating match isn’t an indication of his team’s potential. “The personnel I know are better than that.” They’ll need to be if they want to keep the match going long enough for fans to get their popcorn Saturday night at 7pm against Texas—the Longhorns are ranked second in the nation.