CS Long Beach Women Going to Final Four

Third-ranked Cal State Long Beach rallied several times to defeat fourth-ranked University of the Pacific, 3-1, and win the NCAA Northwest Region women’s volleyball championship Friday night.

Long Beach (30-2) advanced to next week’s final four at the University of New Mexico. The 49ers will play second-ranked Stanford, which beat them in five games in the season opener. Stanford won the Mideast Region title Friday with a 3-1 victory over host Illinois.

The 4-15, 15-12, 15-11, 15-7 victory was the third consecutive loss by Pacific (27-6) to Long Beach this season.

Friday night, after falling behind in each of the first three games, the 49ers took an 8-4 lead. Junior outside hitter Danielle Scott led the 49ers with a personal-best 31 kills.

The Tigers never allowed Long Beach, which has won only eight of the teams’ 23 meetings, to get into its offense in the first game. Three kills by Charlotte Johansson helped Pacific outscore the 49ers, 11-2, to close the game.

Pacific took a 6-0 lead in game three but, led by two kills by reserve Yukie Nagasawa, Long Beach caught the Tigers at 7-7. Later, Scott, off a back set from Sabrina Hernandez, closed the game with a kill.