Expectations stay sky high with Long Beach State women’s volleyball as the team goes into its second season with head coach Natalie Reagan. Last year, the Beach finished with the record of 19-11, good for fourth in the Big West, but lost in the second round of the Big West Tournament to Cal Poly.
Graduations and transfers hit the Beach hard as they lost a major core of their team from last year. Senior outside hitter Abby Karich, outside hitter Natalie Glenn, libero Jenna Giambi and middle blocker Kameron Bacon played pivotal roles for the Beach last season, along with setter Zayna Meyer, now playing for UCLA. Their kills combined contributed to half of The Beach’s total kills last year.
With the huge turnover of Long Beach State players, the Beach signed 10 new student athletes on its roster.
“It’s been a really fun spring and it’s been a great time to train for the group and get to know each other and understand what gaps we are filling with different personnel,” Reagan said. “We always intend to recruit for a balanced roster but we don’t want to fit a square peg in a round hole so we let our girls show us what roles they’re going to fill.”
The second year head coach said the team’s vibes are high as the team defines itself and fall training camp rolls round. She mentions Sidney Hamaker, Nieko Thomas and Izzy Mahaffey as key players for the Beach.
Freshman middle Hamaker was her high school career kills and aces leader, won Southwest Prairie Conference MVP and won first-team all conference. Freshman libero Mahaffey averaged 3.3 digs per set her senior year of high school and ended her season with 344 digs. Senior middle Nieko Thomas played at Abilene Christian and played 17 matches with 86 kills, 35 blocks and 30 digs.
Senior outside hitter Elise Agi is a key returner for Long Beach State and is one of three seniors on the roster. Agi averaged 3.59 kills per set in 2023, led the team with kills 19 times and earned All-Big West honors.
“This is probably the season I’ve been most excited for. This group of girls is so special and I think having a ton of new faces and changes can be difficult but it’s been smooth sailing,” Agi said. “We have a group of girls that are extremely committed to what we’re trying to do. They come everyday to the gym and just grind and they’re filled with curiosity.”
Agi sat out last season with a medical redshirt due to an injury and she said that taught her more about herself and perseverance.
“The last two years have been a little rough with injury but I’m grateful more than anything to kind of go through that,” she said. “I’m just excited to be on the court and any opportunity I have whether it’s the weight room, practice, spending time with the girls or in matches. I’m really excited to just win and be with this group and continue to stay present every single day.”
Two Long Beach state international players, redshirt freshman Logan King and sophomore middleblocker Pola Bujnarowska, were selected to play overseas this offseason. King is currently competing with team Canada for the U21 National Team and Bujnarowska came off of her Polish U20 Training Camp.
Long Beach State also rebuilt with a new coaching staff around Reagan, specifically with assistant head coach Naseri Tumanuvao, alum Jordan Molina and Michael Ma.
“We’re really excited about the growing staff here,” Reagan said. “We brought in Naseri in March or April and Naseri comes with a lot of experience […] but most importantly, he’s just a great human so we’re happy to join forces with awesome people.”
The million dollar question is if Long Beach State can play consistent volleyball for longer, which Reagan said she talked about last year and continues to be another key focus this year.
Long Beach State will be tested early on in the season with home games against NCAA regional finals runner up Stanford and NCAA regional semi-finals runner up Oregon.
“Our schedule is really strong and that’s intentional for us and we want to play the best and be prepared,” Reagan said. “We want to make sure we’re preparing ourselves to play in front of a packed crowd in November, so the more we can pack the crowd in September and get people here and get them playing in that environment, is going to be a bigger advantage for us.”
The Beach hosts The Big West tournament and looks to not only win The Big West Championship but also punch its ticket to the NCAA tournament, which Long Beach State hasn’t done since 2014.
LBSU hosts Stanford August 29 in their season opener and will welcome UCLA on Sep. 1. Oregon comes to town Sep. 12 and the team opens Big West play on the road at UC Irvine Sep. 26.
