THIS WEEK:

UC Santa Barbara Gauchos @ no. 22 Long Beach State 49ers (8-3, 1-0 Big West)

Friday, October 2, 7 p.m.

Cal Poly Mustangs (1-1 Big West) @ no. 22 Long Beach State 49ers (8-3, 1-0)

Date: Saturday, October 3, 7pm

After spending nearly a month on the road, Long Beach State returns to the friendly confines of the Walter Pyramid for two matches this week, hosting UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly in a pair of Big West contests, where they’ll trying and keep the positive momentum they built on the road rolling strong. The 49ers will start with the Gauchos on Friday night at 7 p.m. before hosting the Mustangs at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

The 49ers made their record a perfect 3-0 in Titan Gym this season, defeating Cal State Fullerton on the road one week after participating in a tournament hosted by the Titans. With the 25-21, 25-19, 25-21 victory, Long Beach State picked up its third straight 3-0 win. Naomi Washington led The Beach with 15 kills, while Laura Schuck and Ashley Lee tied for the team lead with 14 digs as the 49ers outdid the Titans in every statistical category.

Senior Naomi Washington is making a case for a second All-American selection after receiving an Honorable Mention nod last season. Washington leads the 49ers in kills with 169, averaging 4.12 per set. She also leads the squad with nine aces, and has 24 blocks on the season as well. Her kill totals place her fourth in the Big West, and she ranks 34th nationally in kills per set.

After the two matches in the Walter Pyramid this weekend, the 49ers have another tough stretch of road games. The team starts with the longest Big West road swing, traveling north to take on UC Davis and Pacific, and then faces No. 24 UC Irvine on the road in Irvine in three weeks on October 16.

UC Santa Barbara continues to impress, starting the Big West season 2-0 and improving its overall record to 11-2 last week. The Gauchos moved up to an unofficial 26th in the country, and boast two wins over San Diego along with a five-set comeback win at home over UC Irvine last weekend behind Rebecca Saraceno. The senior outside hitter leads the Gauchos at 4.41 kills per set, while middle blocker Stacey Schmidt tops the league with a .424 attack percentage putting away 120 kills with just 20 attack errors. The Gauchos also feature Dana Vargas at setter, sister of former Beach setter Nicole Vargas and daughter of long-time assistant Debbie Green, who now works with the Gauchos in a volunteer capacity. Vargas enters the week leading the conference in assists, averaging 11.55 per set.

Long Beach State vs. the Gauchos

Long Beach State leads a long and hotly contested series with UC Santa Barbara at 56-33. The 49ers have put together a current win streak of seven matches, which is a reversal from a long run of wins for the Gauchos, who won the seven matches prior to the start of Long Beach State’s hot streak. The 49ers last match with the Gauchos was a three-set win, where Naomi Washington had 13 kills on .632 hitting. The last match between the teams in the Walter Pyramid was a back-and-forth match, with the 49ers prevailing in five sets behind a career-high 22 kills by Caitlin Ledoux.

A young Cal Poly team has struggled out of the gate with a 5-10 record on the week. The Mustangs lost four starters and went 0-5 to start the year against a very tough schedule before taking a five-set win over Weber State to get their first win of the year. Freshman Megan McConnell leads a balanced attack for the Mustangs with 146 kills, though four players are averaging more than two kills per set in McConnell (2.86), Holly Franks (2.50), Molly Pon (2.33) and Dominique Olowolafe (2.29).

Long Beach State vs. the Mustangs

Long Beach State got back on the winning track against Cal Poly last year, and leads the all-time series 33-15. The Mustangs had won five straight matches against the 49ers, but Long Beach State won two five-set epics last season on the way to the Big West title. The Beach started with a five-setter at home that featured 20 kills from Caitlin Ledoux, and then rallied behind Brittney Herzog to come back from being down 2-1 in San Luis Obispo for a late November win.

Long Beach State jumped up three spots this past weekend, moving to No. 22 in the September 28 poll after defeating Cal State Fullerton in three sets. That represents the highest placement for the 49ers in 2009, and puts Long Beach State just in front of fellow Big West member UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara, which are the next two teams that the 49ers will face represented in the poll this week.

All three of Long Beach State’s returning All-Big West players are having another outstanding year, and The Beach has a number of additional players that are potential candidates for postseason honors. Naomi Washington and Caitlin Ledoux are each averaging more than three kills per set, and Ledoux adds solid defense with 109 digs so far on the year. Middle blocker Brittney Herzog leads the team in hitting .304, and Ashley Lee is having a nice season at setter with 40 kills to go along with 424 assists. Additionally, Jocelyn Neely is a likely all-freshman member with 1.63 kills per set.

With an outstanding alumni base to draw from, the 49ers are making a departure from the usual placement of an alumni game. Rather than using it as a preseason tune-up, Long Beach State will welcome back its greats for a midseason match on October 23 with this season’s team. Be on the lookout for a great chance to see Beach All-Americans on both sides of the net in the exhibition.

Laura Schuck had the best match of her career last week, serving and ace plus setting a career-high with 14 digs, many of them spectacular against Cal State Fullerton … Sophomore libero Lauren Minkel still leads the squad with 158 digs, but a team effort has put the 49ers as the top team in the league in digs, along with Schuck, Libby Fontanilla, Ashley Lee and Caitlin Ledoux … the strong defense shows in hitting percentage as well, where the 49ers also lead the Big West, holding foes to .155 hitting.

From LBSU reports