UNIVERSITY BEAT

Long Beach State was one match from an NCAA women’s volleyball championship and undefeated season, and the 49ers had plenty of support in a crowd of 10,087 for the title match at San Diego State’s Cox Arena last Saturday.

Only Stanford didn’t cooperate, leaving Long Beach Coach Brian Gimmillaro struggling to explain his team’s first loss after 33 consecutive victories.

“Sometimes you just don’t play normally, and you can’t tell how much it is the other team and how much is you,” he said.

Pivotal to Stanford’s victory was its ability to shut down Cheryl Weaver, Long Beach’s star middle blocker, who had six hitting errors and only seven kills.

Coach John Dunning matched Logan Tom, the national player of the year, against Weaver, and the strategy worked.

“We thought Logan would do a good job on her and she did,” Dunning said. “Cheryl is clearly a key player.”