Long Beach Women Continue to Dominate UCI

IRVINE —  The Long Beach State women’s volleyball team was stressed Friday.

Not in the match. The top-ranked 49ers handled UC Irvine, 15-6, 15-6, 15-12, in just over an hour at Crawford Hall. Long Beach’s concerns were long term, after learning outside hitter Jessica Alvarado might miss the rest of the season.

Alvarado, a first-team All-Big West Conference selection a year ago, broke her left hand in practice Thursday and was in a cast for the Irvine match. She will miss the reminder of the regular season, including the conference tournament (Nov. 21-23 at Long Beach State).

“Jessica is one of the top players in the nation, so it is a big change,” Coach Brian Gimmillaro said. “Whether we get her back or not depends on how deep we go into the [NCAA] tournament.”

The 49ers (24-1, 15-0 in conference play) were expected to go deep into the tournament, possibly even win their third national title since 1989. But Alvarado’s absence could be more than a speed bump.

Dana Builteman filled Alvarado’s role and was solid but not spectacular.

“She’s a good player,” Gimmillaro said. “We have a few games left to work things out.”

Irvine (7-21, 2-13) was a good jumping off point for some late-season training. Long Beach has faced No. 6 UC Santa Barbara, No. 14 Hawaii and No. 19 Pacific in the last two weeks. The Anteaters were a respite.

Irvine has lost 27 consecutive matches to Long Beach since 1985. The Anteaters haven’t even won a game in their last five meetings.

The 49ers rolled through the first two games Friday and led, 6-0, in the third game. Setter Misty May finished with 32 assists, five kills and three service aces.

“Player by player, we are over-matched,” Irvine Coach Merja Connolly said. “When you are up against that, you have to rip every serve and work as a team.”

Irvine did in game three. After failing behind, 6-0, the Anteaters ran off nine points, seven on Long Beach errors. Irvine led, 12-10, before May and Nique Crump (eight kills) rallied the 49ers.