Long Beach State women’s volleyball won its only Big West Conference match last weekend in a five-set thriller against Cal State Northridge 26-24, 26-24, 25-27, 19-25, 15-13 at Walter Pyramid.
The Beach (7-13, 4-4) used a total team effort to secure the victory as senior YiZhi Xue and sophomore Kashauna Williams led the way with 19 kills apiece, while sophomore Amanda Henderson chipped in 13 kills. The 19 kills were a career high for Xue, and she also had a season-high six blocks.
Sophomore setter Carly Aigner-Swesey compiled a double-double on new season-highs with 54 assists and 11 digs. She is second in the conference with 9.35 assists per set.
Williams still leads the Big West with 308 kills this season, and senior Hailey Harward is second with 311 digs.
Women’s Soccer
LBSU (4-11, 2-4) picked up a much-needed victory at George Allen Field last week by beating UC Riverside 2-0.
In the 21st minute, junior Nadiyah Siqueiros opened the scoring by finishing a terrific cross from junior Kaylee Ramirez. It was the first goal of the season for Siqueiros, who had a game-high three shots on the night. It was also the first LBSU goal scored in Big West play this season by someone other than sophomore Elysia Laramie.
In the 23rd minute, sophomore Sierra Castles doubled the lead on a terrific left-footed strike into the opposite top corner of the goal from over 20 yards out. Redshirt freshman Angela Morales, who got an assist on the first goal after her ball into Ramirez for the one-time cross, picked up her second assist of the game on a clean pass to Castles.
Men’s Golf
The Beach finished fifth out of 16 teams at the Visit Stockton Pacific Intercollegiate last week. Senior Hunter Epson shot 72, 72 and 66 in the three-round tournament to finish fifth individually.
Men’s Water Polo
No. 7 LBSU (12-9, 1-1) fell just short of upsetting No. 4 UC Santa Barbara at Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center last Saturday in an 11-10 loss. Freshman Rafael Real Vergara scored a game-high four goals for the Beach, while junior Nemanja Bakic and sophomore Garrett Zaan each scored twice.
Cross Country
Freshman Nyah Chavez was the top finisher for LBSU at the Titan Invitational last weekend.
Football
Former and final LBSU football coach Willie Brown, 78, passed away last week.
Brown was the last football coach at LBSU in 1991 before the program was shut down, and he was well-know locally because he stuck around and coached at Jordan High after Long Beach State shuttered its program.
Brown is a first-ballot NFL Hall of Famer after playing for the Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders, and he worked in the Raiders front office for more than 20 years.
