Big West Athlete of the Week: Haleigh Hampton

Women's Volleyball Haleigh Hampton receives Big West Athlete of the Week for the second time this season. The sophomore middle blocker led Your 49ers this past weekend with two victories on the road against Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara. The team now holds a 8-2 record in the Big West Conference and continues to lead the conference standings.

Hampton led the 49ers in kills, in the game against Cal Poly Hampton tallied a season's best 20 kills, just one shy of her career record of 21. At UC Santa Barbara Hampton had 19 kills, and led the team to a four-set win over the Gauchos. She also leads the conference in blocking, and is among the leaders for both hitting percentage and kills per set in conference matches.

Your 49ers return to the Walter Pyramid this weekend to host UC Riverside on Friday and Cal State Northridge on Saturday. UC Riverside was the last team in the Big West to defeat Your 49ers, and the women's volleyball team will be looking to secure the win at home.

First serve is set to go off at 7PM, GO BEACH!

'Niners in the News

Check out ESPNLA's feature on Junior Nadia Link's incredible journey back to college soccer! 

Check out the LA Time's feature on senior point guard Casper Ware and his preseason nod for the Wooden Award!

Check out Bob Keiser's piece in the Press Telegram about senior Caitlin Le doux's return to the court!

Women's Volleyball NCAA Tournament

The Long Beach State Women's Volleyball Team has an exciting week ahead: this Friday, the 49ers, led by 1st-Team All-Big West honorees Haleigh Hampton, Caitlin Ledoux, and Ashley Lee, will face off against #18-ranked University of San Diego in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament at the Galen Center.

Did you know that this is the 24th consecutive year Long Beach State is competing in the tournament? The 49ers are one of only four schools to achieve this amazing feat.

The team has enjoyed a successful season, with Head Coach Brian Gimmillaro becoming only the eighth Division I coach to ever reach 700 career wins. Just this past weekend, the 49ers took three consecutive wins in the Mizuno Thanksgiving Tournament against Notre Dame, Akron, and Seattle University at the Walter Pyramid.

Although the Toreros won a match against the Long Beach State team in early September, the 49ers have have had an incredible season, winning 14 of their last 16 matches.

Long Beach State (25-7) will face off San Diego (23-5) at 5:00 PM this Friday, December 3 at the Galen Center (USC Campus). All Long Beach State students will receive free admission to this match. Just present a valid school I.D. at the Galen Center Box Office on game day to redeem their free ticket. For all other ticket needs, please call (213) 740-4672.

Weekend Recap: (11/11-11/14)

With so many Long Beach State teams in action over the weekend, it may have been hard to keep up with all the scores, game stories, media links, photo galleries and highlight videos, but that's what we are here for!

Nov. 11
The women's volleyball team got the weekend started early for Long Beach State with a home sweep of Cal State Northridge. Caitlin Ledoux led the 49ers with 16 kills while hitting .371. A combination of a strong offense, and a defense that held the Matadors to a .039 hitting percentage allowed the 49ers to easily cruise to their fourth straight victory.

Photo courtesy of Daily 49er

Nov. 12
After beating UCI to clinch the Big West tourney title, the Long Beach State women's soccer team headed to Palo Alto, Calif. to take on Santa Clara in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Though LBSU out shot the Broncos 22-5 in the match and dominated time of possession, Santa Clara forward Bridgett Miller was able to slip a shot past Emily Kingsborough in the 84th minute to give Santa Clara the 1-0 victory and end the 49ers' season.

In depth women's soccer recap by Daily 49er
Photo gallery from Palo Alto by Daily 49er

Back in action on Friday night was the women's volleyball team, who made quick work of UC Riverside, winning in straight sets for the second consecutive night ending their regular season home schedule on a high note. The 49ers were led by Janisa Johnson, who tallied 19 digs.

Nov. 13
Both the men's and women's hoops teams took the court for the first time on Saturday, though on opposite ends of the West Coast.

The women's team faced off with Pac-10 foe Oregon State in Corvalis, Ore. and suffered a 71-39 setback. Ashley Bookman scored a career high 12 points to lead The Beach.

Photo courtesy of Press Telegram

Back at the Pyramid, men's hoops welcomed the No. 25 San Diego State Aztecs, the first ranked team to venture in to Long Beach since 2004. A record 5,143 people were in attendance at the game, the largest crowd ever to watch a sporting event at the Pyramid.

The game was a back and forth affair throughout the first half, featuring runs by both teams including a 7-0 spurt by the 49ers capped off by a transition dunk by T.J. Robinson, assisted by Casper Ware to end the half tied at 42.

But as the game wore on, fatigue began to set in for the 49ers, and the Aztecs took control of the game with a 15-3 run to close out the game over the last 5:48.

T.J. Robinson led the 49ers with 19 points and 9 rebounds, while Casper Ware shot 50 percent from the field chipping in 15 points and dishing out 4 assists. Greg Plater notched 10 points.

Check out the following media links for much more from the game:
Press Telegram game recap by Frank Burlison
Press Telegram photo gallery
Daily 49er recap by Steve Lyons

Big West Athlete of the Week: Caitlin Ledoux

Caitlin Ledoux led LBSU to two key victories over the weekend, averaging 4.22 kills and 2.44 digs per set while hitting .21 and along the way earned Big West Player of the Week honors.

Check out her Thanksgiving themed Athlete of the Week video below.

LBSU Athlete of the Week: Michelle Osunbor (10/25/2010)

This week women's volleyball middle blocker Michelle Osunbor takes home the LBSU athlete of the week honors.

Michelle had a career game against rival Cal State Fullerton last weekend. She led the 49ers to a victory with a personal best 13 kills. Osunbor also had 5 blocks in the game.

The impressive win against CSUF helps the women's volleyball team extend their 57 game win streak against the club.

Hear what Michelle has to say about her performance and her upcoming Halloween costume!

Athlete of the Week: Ashley Lee

This weeks athlete of the week is Ashley Lee.

The woman's volleyball setter had an impressive game against UC Riverside as she became the first player of the year, in the nation, to have a quadruple double. The 49ers had two wins over the course of the weekend, Ashley was highly influential in both. She made 39 assists and had 13 digs.

In addition to being named LBSU athlete of the week, Lee was also named Big West Conference Player of the Week, and National Player of the Week by Collegiate Volleyball Update and the American Volleyball Coaches Association. This is the 8th time an LBSU player has been named National Player of the Week. Lee becomes just the fourth setter in club history to earn the honor, joining former 49er greats Misty May, Keri Nishimoto, and Jillian Mazzarella

Here the Black and Gold Insider catches up with the LBSU star:

Spike Out Breast Cancer Match: Women's Volleyball

October. Visons of pumpkins, falling leaves, and trick-or-treaters on Halloween come to mind.

But did you know that October is also National Breast Cancer Awareness Month? Now in its 26th year, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month promotes awareness, shares information on the disease, and provides greater access to screening services. Though many advances have been made in breast cancer awareness and treatment, there remains much to be accomplished. Please join the Long Beach State Women's Volleyball Team as they promote Breast Cancer Awareness.

On Friday, October 8th, as the Long Beach State faces off UC Davis, wear a pink shirt, and receive a ticket for only $3!

When: Friday October 8th, 7PM

Where: The Walter Pyramid

Who: Long Beach State vs UC Davis

$3 tickets will be available to those sporting pink shirts at the Pyramid Ticket Office day of the game.

For more information, please call (562)985-5063

Athlete of the Week: Caitlin Ledoux

Leading 49er women's volleyball to a pair of 3-0 sweeps vs. LMU and Cal State Fullerton, hitting an outstanding .352 in her last two matches and tallying her 1,000th career kill: all in a weekend's work for athlete of the week Caitlin Ledoux.

We caught up with Caitlin, a junior from Phelan, Calif., and asked her about reaching the 1,000 kill milestone, her pre-match supersitions, what music pumps her up before a match and more. Check out the video below to hear her answers.

 

Again, congrats to Caitlin for reaching 1,000 kills. Women's volleyball, currently ranked No. 21 in the nation, will hit the road this weekend for Big West matches against UCSB and Cal Poly. GO BEACH!