Nov. 4, 2008
Long Beach, Calif. - Despite 23 kills from Brittany Moore and 10 block assists from Sydney McDowell Cal State Fullerton was unable to upset first-place Long Beach State Tuesday night, dropping the Big West Conference match 3-1 (25-19, 15-25, 22-25, 16-25) at the Walter Pyramid.
Fullerton picked up its first set victory over Long Beach since Sept. 16, 2004 behind nine first-set kills by Moore, but ultimately dropped its 52nd straight match to the cross-town opponent. Fullerton dropped to 13-14 overall and 6-6 in league. Long Beach remains atop the conference by improving to 19-4, 8-2.
Moore notched her 13th double-double of the year with a match-high 23-kill, 10-dig effort, while Andrea Ragan picked up her 5th of the year with 34 assists and 11 digs.
Moore also added seven blocks on the night, and with five block assists, tied Alyssa Opeka for the most block assists by a Titan in their career with her 287th block assist.
In addition to Moore's record-tying effort, McDowell's blocking performance was the second-best single match in Fullerton history. The freshman blocker became just the fourth Titan to ever post 10 block assists, and just missed tying Laurie Jakemer's 1980 record of 11 block assists.
With the match tied at 1-1, Long Beach took control in set three, jumping out to a commanding 16-5 lead. Fullerton then rebounded by going on a 9-0 run to get as close as 17-19 before Long Beach scored six times over the next 11 exchanges for the win.
The Titans resumed their third-set momentum in the fourth frame, holding a lead until 11-10. The 49ers tied the match at 11-11, and the Titans relinquished the lead for good after a Cami Croteau service error that gave Long Beach a 13-12 lead.
Caitlin Ledoux led the offensive attack with 13 kills for Long Beach State and was one of three 49ers in double figures in kills.
Nicole Vargas had 20 digs and was the only one on her team in double-digits, while Croteau, for the Titans, led all players with 23 digs in the loss.
The Titans will look to tie their school record for conference wins on Saturday at Titan Gym. Cal State Northridge will be in town and the first serve will begin at 7 p.m.