Long Beach State Sweeps Arkansas to Advance

Defending national champion Long Beach State defeated Arkansas, 15-6, 15-6, 15-11, Saturday night at the Pyramid and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.

Anja Grabovac had 16 kills and Cheryl Weaver and Veronica Walls added 14 each to help the 49ers (29-3) sweep the inconsistent Razorbacks (30-7). Setter Keri Nishimoto had 53 assists and seven digs.

Long Beach will play Colorado State (30-2) Thursday in Honolulu.

Arkansas (30-7) hit only .184 to Long Beach’s .313, had 11 service errors and made numerous unforced errors. But even a perfect effort against the defending champions may not have been good enough.

“I thought I saw true, Long Beach State volleyball tonight,” 49er Coach Brian Gimmillaro said. “We played our style.”

Long Beach, on the strength of six unforced Arkansas errors and five Razorback service mistakes, raced to a 10-1 lead in the first game. Arkansas rallied to within 12-5, but the 49ers responded with back-to-back points.

It was much of the same in the second game as the 49ers caught fire early and cruised to a win. Long Beach used a solo block and back-to-back kills off the Razorback block by Grabovac for an 8-0 lead. Arkansas cut it to 9-4, but Long Beach ran off six of the next eight points, three on unforced Arkansas errors and two on blocks by Weaver.

Arkansas grabbed a 6-5 lead in the third game on a service ace by Ashanti Taylor, but Weaver responded with a block on a kill attempt by Yarleen Santiago. Then two unforced Arkansas errors got the 49ers off on an 8-0 run.

*

Stephanie Hagan had 16 kills and Lindsay Berg had 14 digs and four service aces as Minnesota defeated USC, 3-15, 4-15, 16-14, 15-10, 15-10, at the Lyon Center.

Minnesota (27-8) advances to play Penn State (32-1) in the quarterfinals. USC, led by Antoinette Polk’s 18 kills, ends its season at 21-9.

Trojan interim Coach Jerritt Elliott was at a loss to explain the Golden Gophers’ comeback from a 2-0 deficit.

“I’m numb. I really don’t know what went wrong,” Elliott said. “In games one and two, we played phenomenal volleyball. But Minnesota did an excellent job, they rebounded, found a way to win and got some confidence.”

Said Minnesota Coach Mike Hebert: “I’ve got to think this was one of the great comebacks in NCAA history. I’m not sure that I’ve been part of a match where we’ve been down so far, not only in the score, but we weren’t playing well early on.”

*

Kristee Porter had 18 kills and Ashley Bowles added 15 digs to lead UCLA to a 15-5, 15-5, 17-15 first-round victory over Eastern Washington at Pauley Pavilion.

Ohio State defeated Notre Dame, 13-15, 15-10, 16-14, 15-7, in the first match. UCLA (26-3) and Ohio State (17-11) played for the right to advance to the quarterfinals, where a matchup against Pepperdine (26-3) awaits. The Waves defeated Michigan State, 15-5, 15-9, 12-15, 15-5, at Malibu.

UC Santa Barbara (28-5), which eliminated Loyola Marymount on Friday, will play Nebraska (27-5) in the quarterfinals.

The semifinals are Dec. 16 and the final is Dec. 18 at Honolulu.

*

Columbia of Missouri defeated Westmont, 15-2, 15-1, 15-3, in the semifinals of the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics semifinals at Fresno.

The Warriors (28-10) were led by Tena Mensonides’ four kills. Defending national champion Columbia (30-0) has won 84 matches in a row.