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For the Long Beach State women’s volleyball team, it isn’t about what happens to them, it’s about how they respond. The Beach came right off of a late five-set loss against UC Irvine on Friday night into their matchup against Fullerton on Saturday and put together a huge response in a sweep over the Titans, 25-15, 25-21, 25-18.
“We talked a lot about responding (after the loss)…” said LBSU coach Natalie Reagan.. “We talked a lot about closing games, we talked about finishing, and something we talk a lot about is playing the point all the way through. That’s something that we take from whistle to whistle but also from point one to point 25 and that’s something we wanted to be better at tonight which was finishing sets and playing our game all the way through.”
“I think the locker room after that was all pretty upset after that loss (last night) knowing that we definitely could have beat UCI being up in that fifth set,” added setter Zayna Meyer. “But I think it did fuel us going into today knowing that we’re better than that.”
Meyer helped her team cruise to big leads in all three sets including a 6-0 opening run. Outside hitter Abby Karich racked up five kills in the set alongside Meyer’s three kills and seven assists. Meyer finished the game with a game-high 29 assists with six kills and game-high .750 hitting percentage.
Meyer’s 29 assists on the night moves her to No. 6 in all-time assists at Long Beach State with 2479 career assists.
“Wow, I just got chills throughout my body,” Meyer said after finding out. “That’s really special. All glory to God for sure, He’s number one and that’s all for Him. Truly, that means a lot to me and I love my team so much, so it’s all for them.”
“She’s being so selfless right now. She works harder than anybody I’ve ever played with,” chimed in Karich of her teammate Meyer. “It’s always about her teammates and I’m so proud of you. It’s such a blessing to be able to play with Zayna Meyer.”
Meyer played an aggressive game using multiple fake sets against the Titans to sneak the ball over for her six kills. Meyer said that she loves finding creative ways to find points and open up the game for her teammates.
“I love being offensive. I think it is nice to get some kills but it also opens up the offense,” said Meyer. “When I am aggressive it does help pop the blockers and then get solos for my attackers so I think that’s what it’s about. It’s about helping my teammates shine by being aggressive but it is really fun getting kills though too.”
She set up opportunities for hitters Natalie Glenn and Ella Lomigora who finished the game with eight and seven kills respectively, alongside Abby Karich who ended the night with a game-high 11 kills on an efficient .409 hitting percentage.
Karich has been battling injuries the past few weeks and made her return this weekend at home against Irvine and Fullerton. She talked about the feeling of being back after the game and said it was nice to contribute for her team.
“It was a rough two weeks mentally because I just love my team,” Karich said. “I wanted to be with them so bad through it all and I even got a little bit of a rush when they announced my name in my first game back (Friday) against UCI. I feel like I’m stronger because of that and it’s so good to be back with my girls.”
In the last two sets, the Beach found large leads again of 18-13 and 18-11 in their respective sets. The group bounced back from their sloppy loss against UCI with an efficient night of only four lead changes and a team hitting percentage of .354.
For Fullerton, Lolo Fonua ended the game with a team-high six kills. Setter Mya Tillman finished with a team-high 13 assists while Lakewood alum Laura Williams and Lyla Traylor finished with five kills each.
Long Beach State will host Cal Poly in the Walter Pyramid on Thursday at 7pm.
