Long Beach State Wins Thriller Over Pitt In Five
.346 hitting in fifth game seals second win of the day for the 49ers.

Nov. 23, 2007

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LONG BEACH – Down two games to one, Long Beach State responded with a 30-25 win in game four and finished off Pittsburgh with a 15-11 game five win to take their second match of the day and improve to 24-6 on the year. The 49ers finish the regular season tomorrow against No. 8 Florida at 7 p.m.

The 49ers dropped the first and third games against the Panthers, but rebounded for an exciting five game win in the last match of the day. Improving their hitting to .297 and .346 in the final two games, Long Beach State survived 16 Pittsburgh blocks and .192 overall hitting to get the win.

Helping the cause the most was Quincy Verdin, who led the team with 16 kills on .286 hitting to lead the 49ers in kills, while Crimes added 15 and Ashley Lee finished with 13 kills for Long Beach State. Pittsburgh was led by senior outside hitter Diana Andreyko, who had a match-high 23 kills.

Coming out strongly against a sluggish Long Beach State team, Pittsburgh took the lead at 4-3 and never again relinquished the edge in a first game win. Pitt hit .310 in the opener while holding the 49ers to just .103 on the way to a 30-25 win.

The second game reversed the story of the first, as Long Beach State responded with an improved effort to take a convincing 30-21 win. Long Beach State hit .317 with just two attack errors while the Panthers ended with 10 to help the 49ers come away with a win in a game they never trailed after opening a 12-4 lead.

After the break, Pittsburgh again had the hot hand, opening the game with a 4-0 run until Long Beach State was able to pick up their first point off of a Verdin kill. With that momentum, the 49ers fought back to tie the game at 12, but another four-point streak from the Panthers would end any chances for Long Beach State in the third game.

With their backs against the wall, the 49ers responded with two solid performances in the remainder of the match. Game four was keyed by a three point run late after a 21-21 tie to get the win, and with that momentum the 49ers took an early 6-4 lead in the fifth and final game and never again game up the lead, using solid backline work from Cynthia Buggs, Nicole Vargas and Talaya Whitfield.