WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL / NCAA TOURNAMENT : No. 3 Long Beach State Easily Defeats George Washington

In another strong showing for the West Coast, No. 3-ranked Long Beach State barely broke a sweat in a three-game sweep of visiting George Washington in the second round of the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament Saturday night at Long Beach.

The 15-3, 15-8, 15-5 victory, which snapped the Colonials’ 22-game winning streak, took barely an hour to complete. It was the 26th 3-0 result posted by the 49ers. Long Beach (28-2) used only half of its regular offense and was simply more athletic than its counterpart.

“The last part of our season just didn’t prepare us for the type of opponent we saw tonight,” George Washington Coach Susie Homan said. “Long Beach is a different type of team than we see day in and day out.”

George Washington (28-8) struggled against the superior blocking of Long Beach and made 26 errors in 104 attempts, hitting only .077. The 49ers, with Danielle Scott and Nichelle Burton combining for 27 kills, hit .366.

Long Beach was challenged only once, when the visitors ran off an 8-4 lead in the second game. But the 49ers, who made several ball-handling errors, regrouped and ran off the final 11 points. The run was keyed by three kills from middle blocker Traci Dahl and a couple of kills from Scott, including the go-ahead ball that made it, 9-8, in favor of the 49ers.

Long Beach plays host to the Northwest Regional next Friday and Saturday and will meet the winner of tonight’s Ohio State-Idaho match.

In another second-round game, Cary Wendell led No. 6 Stanford over No. 13 USC, 15-11, 15-7, 13-15, 15-5, before 2,577 at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion.

Wendell had 21 kills, hitting .415, and also had 18 digs to lead Stanford, the defending national champion.

Wendell was helped by Marnie Triefenbach, who had 19 kills and 21 digs.

USC’s Kelly Kuebler had 21 kills and 10 digs as the Trojans finished their season 22-9.

Stanford (22-6) will play the winner of today’s second-round match between UCLA and New Mexico in the semifinals of the West Regional next Friday.