The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2024-25 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
In the first round of the Big West Women’s Volleyball Championship, No. 4 Long Beach State took on No. 5 UC San Diego in a hard-fought four set match. The Beach dominated the first set before UCSD responded by winning the second set. Long Beach took the next two sets to win the match 3-1.
“So proud of our team tonight,” Head Coach Natalie Reagan said. “They showed so much resilience.”
The Beach started the match hot on a 3-0 run thanks to a kill from sophomore middle blocker Ella Lomigora and a pair of kills from redshirt senior Abby Karich.
San Diego responded with a few kills here and there, but Long Beach dominated the first set, getting some final points from a 5-0 run topped off with a set of aces from freshman setter Madi Collins.
The entire match was plagued by errors, including 11 attack errors in the first set. This seemed to be a theme for the game, as each set saw both teams struggle with attack and service errors. Long Beach and San Diego had 26 attack errors each, while the Tritons tallied up eight service errors, and the Beach had five.
San Diego started off set two with two points before Karich responded with another kill. She finished with 15 kills in the match. After the senior’s season was cut short last year due to injury, she is soaking up these last moments on the court.
“I’m just grateful for every opportunity I get to step on the floor with my teammates,” Karich said. “I just don’t want this to be over. I’m just grateful, and I can’t wait to take the floor with them again.”
Set two saw Long Beach’s blocking wake up. The Beach got a few good points off strong blocks from Lomigora, senior outside hitter Natalie Glenn, senior middle blocker Kameron Bacon and freshman setter and opposite hitter Madi Maxwell. However, Reagan knows her team needs to tighten up their blocking before Friday.
“Our blocking was not 100% tonight,” Reagan said. “We felt like we were making some mistakes on our side with our timing in our hands.”
While blocking may need some improvement before their next match, Long Beach’s offensive firepower was on tonight. Aside from Karich’s 15 kills, Glenn had a team high 19 kills and Maxwell had 10.
“I think just trusting and believing in myself that no matter how I start, I’m going to get going eventually. I finished pretty well,” Glenn said.
Glenn is the only Long Beach State player to receive All-Big West First Team honors. Maxwell is the only player repping LB on the All-Freshman team, as well.
Even with some strong kills for the Beach, San Diego was shutting down a lot of Long Beach’s attacks. After dropping a tough second set to the Tritons in a 23-25 score, the team knew they had to make some adjustments in order to get past the first round of tournament play.
“UC San Diego did a really, really good job defending us, and we were definitely uncomfortable for some parts of the night,” Karich said. “Our coaches have done an amazing job with teaching us more than just how to get up and hit the ball like how to read the court, how to read a defense, how to juke blockers.”
This win was an entire team effort. Long Beach’s setters worked hard to give kill opportunities, and Karich said she was able to make the adjustments needed for her 15 kills thanks to her teammates.
“What forced me into that kind of deep donut shot was Natalie Glenn,” Karich said. “She has the best vision of anybody that I’ve ever played with. So she did a really good job having our backs and giving us the confidence to widen our range a little bit and take risky shots.”
Having won one set each, the Beach knew they had to tighten things up against the Tritons. They scratched the second set loss and kept moving forward.
“Nobody’s perfect, but I think as long as we have the intention to execute well and just know the situation that you’re in and either being aggressive, creating or managing the ball,” Glenn said.
In the third set, everyone on Long Beach’s offense got involved. Glenn had seven kills, and other Beach players tapped in a few points of their own.
Redshirt freshman Grace O’Reilly had two kills in the third set and three in the fourth to tally up five kills in the match. After missing all of last season due to injury, O’Reilly’s presence was certainly seen and heard.
“Grace is the hardest worker in the gym,” Karich said. “She’s hustling for every ball. She keeps her head down. She has just stayed so resilient, and she’s a really big leader for this team. So I’m really excited to see all the amazing things she does in her future.”
While San Diego fought hard in the third and fourth set, Long Beach managed to win both by a narrow 25-23 score, ultimately sealing their match win.
This first round victory is Reagan’s first win since being named the official head coach on Nov. 26. Prior, Reagan served as interim head coach for the entirety of the season.
“I’m honored to be named the permanent head coach. I’m incredibly grateful to our administration and all of the team for supporting me,” Reagan said. “I’m really proud of how we handled the announcement. With that being said, it was just another day for Long Beach volleyball.”
The Beach will return to Irvine on Friday, where they will take on the No. 1 seed Cal Poly in the semifinals. With only Thanksgiving left to prepare for this match, Long Beach is grateful to be in this position together.
“I’m thankful for this group,” Reagan said. “This is a very special group, and I believe they’re destined for big things.”
