UCI put in its place

IRVINE — UC Irvine played host to Long Beach State in a Big West Conference women’s volleyball match Friday night. But the objective observer might suggest the Anteaters were clearly out of their league.

For though UCI battled the 49ers to the brink in Games 2 and 3, Long Beach State, winner of eight of its last nine matches, came away with a 30-24, 34-32, 31-29 sweep to solidify its hold on second place, behind conference-leading Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

UCI (16-8, 6-3 in conference) fell back into a four-team chase pack, the members of which would likely be extremely pleased with third place. Even then, an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament would appear iffy, UCI Coach Charlie Brande said.

Long Beach State (16-4, 8-2), a perennial Big West title contender coached by Brian Gimmillaro, dominated the first game, before UCI, with a motivated and large group of student rooters, began firing its collective sling shot at the Goliath that the 49ers present.

“They’re very physical,” Brande said of the 49ers, who feature 6-foot-3 senior middle blocker Alexis Crimes, who leads the team in kills, hitting percentage and blocks. “When you go on the court in a match that you’ve built for and you make a mistake by two inches, and [Crimes] bounces the ball in front of you [hitting it straight down], I don’t care who you are, you’re going to get a little intimidated. And I think it took that first game for us to get through that intimidation.”

UCI stayed within 16-15 before the visitors began to pull away in the opening game, as Long Beach finished the first game hitting an eye-popping .516. The 49ers did not make a single hitting error in 31 attempts, collecting 16 kills.

UCI had 18 kills and hit a respectable .282 as a team in the opening game, but still didn’t have enough.

The second game went back and fourth, before UCI served for the game twice. But Long Beach had the answer each time.

“We just let up a little bit execution-wise the second and third game,” Brande said. “We win either of those with the crowd as enthusiastic as it was, it could have been a different match.”

Having missed its opportunity to tie the match in Game 2, UCI took a 2-0 lead in the third game, when Gimmillaro directed his team to the end line, until security removed one UCI rooter the 49ers coaches said hit several players and one coach with a volleyball during between-game activities.

The ejection seemed to elevate the excitement level of the home faithful, as well as the Anteaters, who went on to lead 5-1.

But Long Beach pulled even at 15, then broke an 18-18 tie with three straight points.

The game was tied at 22, 24, 27, 28, and 29, before a pair of Long Beach kills ended it.

“Obviously, we were overmatched physically, but as a group, I thought we battled,” Brande said.

Freshman Kari Pestolesi led UCI with 18 kills, three aces and 11 digs.

Junior outside hitter Lauren Kellerman chipped in 10 kills and nine digs, while setter Taryn Robertson had 39 assists and four block assists, the latter sharing the team lead with senior middle blocker Kristin Kelley, who added seven kills.

Crimes and freshman Ashley Lee had 13 and 12 kills, respectively, for the winners.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.