The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2024-25 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
Baseball players will put on a weighted donut on their bat for warm up swings in the on deck circle. When they take it off and get to the plate, the bat feels lighter and easier to swing.
The non-conference schedule against multiple ranked teams was the donut for Long Beach State women’s soccer this year, and how the Beach is swinging for the fences.
LBSU (4-4-1, 1-0-0) beat visiting Cornell 1-0 on Friday in the non-conference finale before dominating UC Riverside in the Big West Conference opener on Sunday evening at George Allen Field.
LBSU hosts Cal State Northridge on Thursday at 7 p.m. and visits UC San Diego on Sunday.
Women’s Volleyball
The Beach (6-4) hosted a trio of games last weekend to finish off the non-conference schedule and made history in the process. LBSU beat Washington State and Pepperdine after losing to Washington. The 25-20, 25-14, 25-11 victory over Washington State is the first in program history.
Once again, senior outside hitter Natalie Glenn filled the stat box with a double-double performance in the two victories. She is averaging 3.79 points and 2.81 digs per set.
LBSU travels to UC Davis and UC Riverside this week to open Big West Conference action.
Men’s Water Polo
A trip to the MPSF Invite in Berkeley saw LBSU drop three of four matches, but the Beach (7-5) showed great resilience and potential in narrow losses to No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 USC and No. 7 Pepperdine. LBSU lost to USC in overtime 13-12.
Senior Evan Cain led the team with 12 goals in the four games, and he scored four goals in the loss to USC.
In the lone victory over UC Davis, 12-10, Bruno Chiappini scored five goals and dished out two assists while Cain netted a hat trick.
No. 10 LBSU hosts Air Force on Friday at 6 p.m. at Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center, and visits No. 4 Pepperdine on Saturday.
Men’s Basketball
Cross Country
The LBSU women finished 11th while the men finished 18th at the UC Riverside Invitational last week. Louise Stonham finished third at 20:22.7 while posting an all-time Top 10 6k time. Levi Jones was the top finisher for the men.
Women’s Golf
Also last week, junior Janae Leovao was LBSU’s top finisher in Washington at the Chambers Bay Golf Course. She carded a trio of under-par rounds and was third overall at 6-under par. LBSU took third place in the 16-team field.
Men’s Golf
LBSU played six competitive rounds in who tournaments last week in a busy start to the season. The Beach finished third in both tournaments while senior Charlie Forster finished in the Top 5 in Fort Collins and Alejandro de Castro Piera in the Top 5 in Albuquerque.
