Check on everything that’s happened with the Long Beach State 49ers over the last seven days.
Men’s Volleyball
Long Beach State Sweeps Hawaii For Big West Title; NCAAs Up Next
Women’s Golf
LBSU completed a dominant performance at the Big West Championship at Strawberry Farms Golf Club to win the three-round tournament by 10 strokes. LBSU finished with an overall 879, 27-over par. It’s the second Big West Championship in school history, and the first since 2009.
Jennifer Yu won the individual title after a 2-under par 69 in the final round. She is the first LBSU golfer to win since Kay Hoey in 2007. Yu started the day with two bogies, but finished strong with two birdies on the final holes. She won by three strokes.
“We had a really good talk about two weeks ago about raising the bar,” Cerulle said of he and Yu. “It inspired her, and watching her last two weeks of preparation, you could see it coming.”
The win automatically qualified LBSU for the NCAA Regionals held Wednesday.
Softball
No. 20 LBSU (39-9, 10-2) swept UC Santa Barbara on the road last weekend while outscoring the Gauchos 19-6. The 49ers are now one game back of first-place Cal State Fullerton.
First baseman Taylor Rowland and right fielder Julia Lombardi each had four RBIs in the doubleheader on Saturday at UCSB. Cielo Meza won her 19th and 20th games of the season. Jessica Flores picked up her eighth win in the second game, and recorded the save in the other two victories.
LBSU center fielder Naomi Hernandez is on the short list for the Schutt Sports/NFCA Division I National Freshman of the Year award. She is one of 25 players in the running for the National Fastpich Coaches Association honor. Hernandez is hitting .405 with 15 doubles and three home runs. She’s walked 23 times, and leads the 49ers with a .489 on-base percentage.
Three finalists will be announced on May 23, and the award will be presented live at the Women’s College World Series banquet on May 29.
Baseball
The Dirtbags (16-24, 3-6) were swept at Cal Poly last weekend in the first Big West sweep suffered by LBSU in three years. The Dirtbags fell behind early in all three games, and left possible game-tying runs on base in the later innings on Friday and Saturday. Junior Clayton Andrews went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs and one run scored in the 5-4 loss on Friday.
Men’s Golf
Junior Joe Fryer won the Big West Men’s Golfer Of the Month award for the second straight month. The junior from Bristol, England, won the OGIO UCSB Intercollegiate earlier this week, his second individual title this season. Fryer and LBSU are headed for the Big West Championships at the Industry Hills Golf Club. The tournament is three rounds from April 29 to May 1.
Women’s Tennis
Senior Lena Pacholski won her first career Big West Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Week award after leading the 49ers to conference wins over CSUN and UC Davis. She had a comeback win against CSUN to clinch the match, and then came back again on Sunday to even the score at 1-1 against UC Davis.
Beach Volleyball
LBSU (23-6) finished the regular season with a 4-1 loss to No. 1 UCLA (31-3) last Thursday. Kristyna Adamcikova and Hailey Harward were straight set winners for the 49ers in the third flight. Adamcikova’s 15 kills and Harward’s four second-set aces were key in the 21-19, 21-18 victory to give LBSU a point.
Women’s Water Polo
The 49ers (11-13, 2-3) lost an early lead and fell to UC Irvine 11-8 on Thursday in their regular season finale. Virginia Smith and Alexandra Massier each had a hat trick.
Track & Field
LBSU hosted the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate on Thursday at Jack Rose Track, and the 24th Beach Invitational on Friday and Saturday featuring more than 2,300 athletes. Elijah McDonald was seventh in the 100 meter hurdles on Thursday with a time of 13.77 for LBSU. It ties for the fifth-best time in school history.
“My evaluation of a meet that we host is that it went well if athletes performed well, not just ours, and I think we accomplished that today,” LBSU coach Andy Sythe said. “I’m really proud of everyone who made the event happen, and we’re looking forward to even bigger and better things next year as we host this event for the 25th time.”
