FULLERTON, Calif. - Cal State Fullerton dropped another Big West Conference matchup Wednesday night as Long Beach State pulled out a 3-0 (25-13, 25-18, 25-17) victory at Titan Gym.
The Titans (0-22, 0-10) have now dropped 22 straight matches this season and 25th straight dating back to last season. The Titans have now won a match since Nov. 15, 2014 when they defeated UC Riverside in three sets. The Highlanders will come in to Titan Gym on Saturday night while the second-place 49ers (20-5, 10-2) will face off against first-place Hawai'i in Long Beach on Friday night.
Kyra Hill notched her 10th double-digit kill performance of the season, tallying 16 on the night to tie a career high. Mackenzie Olsen recorded her fourth double-double of the season as she dished out 27 assists to go along with 10 digs.
For the 49ers, reigning two-time Big West Conference Player of the Week Nele Barber led the way with 12 kills, hitting at a .370 clip (12-2-27). Peyton Grahovac added 11 kills and Carly Beddingfield had eight. Jenelle Hudson had 39 assists and eight digs while Mykah Wilson paced the defense with a match-high 15 digs.
The Titans dropped the opening set after allowing Long Beach State to hit at a .324 clip (13-2-34) in the frame. Grahovac tallied six of her kills in the first while Barber and Beddingfield added two apiece. Hill notched five kills and hit .455 in the first to lead the Titans. The teams were tied at 10 before the 49ers ran off 10 straight points to run away with the set.
In the second set, the teams traded the lead five times and were tied on nine occasions. The Titans tallied 11 kills with just three errors and led 13-12 at one point before the 49ers rallied for 13 of the last 19 points to secure the set.
The 49ers used a 9-3 run in the third frame to pull away from the Titans and secure the match. Long Beach State hit .310 in the set and got three kills from Beddingfield. Hill notched six kills in the set while Katelyn Nielsen added five of her nine kills in the final frame.
Notes: Olsen leads the team with four double-doubles on the season after leading the Titans with eight last season… Wednesday night's match was 1:18 minutes, the shortest match of the season for the Titans… Hill matched her career high for the third time this season. Her last 16-kill performance came at UC Riverside on Sept. 25, Saturday night's opponent.
