October 27, 2007
L.B. State roundup: 49ers on top of Highlanders in victory
Press-Telegram staff reports
The Long Beach State women's volleyball team had a tight second game, but held on to win that game in the 49ers' 3-0 victory at UC Riverside in a Big West Conference match on Saturday night.
The 49ers held the Highlanders to a .104 hitting percentage with 10 blocks, the second-lowest hitting percentage of the year for an LBSU opponent, in their 30-21, 34-32, 30-15 victory.
Quincy Verdin led the 49ers (15-6, 9-2) with 12 kills and just one hitting error for a .647 hitting percentage.
Michaela Hasalikova added 12 kills, and Alexis Crimes continued her season-long streak of double-digit kill games with 10 kills.
No Highlander had double-digit kills, and UC Riverside fell to 5-16 overall and 1-9 in the BWC.
The 49ers return home for a conference match on Tuesday at 7 p.m. against Cal State Fullerton at the Walter Pyramid.
LBSU will host Cal State Bakersfield on Friday at 7 p.m. in one of the team's four remaining nonconference matches.
Men's water polo
No. 2 Cal 10, No. 7 LBSU 5: No. 2 California scored six goals in the third quarter to take control of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match in Berkeley.
The 49ers (14-9, 1-3) led 2-1 at the half, after goals from Jake
Kinne and Reid Tomassi. But the Golden Bears (19-2, 4-0) outscored them 6-1 in the third to go up 7-3 through three quarters.
Ash Blythen, Sean Greiner and Kevin Mundia scored the other goals for LBSU. 49er goalie Steve MacKenzie had 11 saves.
Jeff Tyrell led Cal with three goals.
Cross country
The Long Beach State men's and women's cross country teams each finished in fourth place at the Big West Conference Championships in San Luis Obispo.
Both teams were projected to finish in sixth in the preseason Big West polls released in August.
Sarah Apgar led the 49er women as she finished in sixth with a time of 22:06, followed by Kristina Wilson (22:49) in 17th, Missy Barclay (22:51) in 18th and Carly Harris (22:53) in 21st.
Apgar, Wilson, Barclay and Harris finished in the top-five all-time in LBSU course history for the Big West Championships.
On the men's side, Dylan Jaedtke led LBSU as he finished in 13th place with a time of 25:49. Travis Kuhlman (26:40) placed 27th, Josh Arrieta (27:01), Mark Thomas (27:31) and Steven DeCastro (27:42) finished 35th, 44th and 51st.
The fourth-place finish for the men marked the fourth-best finish in LBSU history.
"I'm very proud of both teams," said distant coach Patrick Cunniff. "The women in particular competed very well. I'm proud of the performances for all of the girls. Sara ran a great race, and I really liked the competitiveness of everyone as I'm excited of the future of that team.
"I think our youth kind of caught up with us for the men on this tough course, and I look forward for the guys in getting better and stronger."