The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
Coming off their first back-to-back losses since September and with Big West-leading UC Davis ahead on Friday, Thursday night’s matchup against UC Riverside gave Long Beach State an opportunity to get back to playing “Long Beach volleyball.”
That brand of volleyball was on full display in the Walter Pyramid, as the Beach dominated UC Riverside in a 25-14, 25-9, 25-13 sweep to clinch a spot in the Big West Tournament, which will be hosted in the Pyramid over Thanksgiving week.
“‘We talk a lot about playing Long Beach volleyball and that includes doing the small things. It’s about the controllables, the communication—things like that,” said Beach coach Natalie Reagan after the match. “I thought we did a good job of that.”
The Long Beach attack hit .380 on the night while holding the Highlanders to -.029 hitting. The Beach had three players in double figures, as Rhiann Sheffie and Logan King both had 11 kills while Elise Agi had 10.
Sheffie fueled numerous extended scoring runs in the first set for the Beach, even delivering four straight kills at one point. The senior racked up eight of her 11 kills in the first set while hitting a staggering .889 in the frame. Sheffie was also in on a match-high six blocks.
“At first I wasn’t really aware of how many kills I was getting,” she said. “I was just out there having fun, and I think the support of my teammates helps me feel freed up and have that fun. I was just out there with that mentality of balling out and playing with each other while keeping the vibes good.”
It has become an occasional theme for the Beach to let up midway through matches against Big West opponents, but that was far from the case on Thursday. LBSU opened each set with sizable leads, including a 6-0 burst to start the second. The Beach went on to take the set 25-9 — their largest margin of victory this season.
“We talk a lot about throwing the first punch and closing the door, and I thought we did that very well,” Reagan said. “Even in that second set there were some points we wanted back, and it’s easy to get complacent in that environment. So for us, just staying on the pedal and making sure the standard was there was really important.”
The Beach didn’t let up in the third set, using a 13-2 run to pull away to another comfortable lead. That run saw four kills from Agi, who had five of her 10 kills in the third set. Milani Lee subbed in during at the end of the frame and recorded the game-winning ace at match-point.
“Milani’s serve is a nightmare to pass,” said King of her fellow second-year teammate. “It was so nice to see her do what she does at practice which is pound people with serves. That’s like Milani. In practice she’s doing that so it’s so nice to see on the court.”
Alongside her match-high in kills, King also led the match with .526 hitting. Izzy Mahaffey had a match-high 15 digs, while setter Madi Maxwell spread the ball around with 32 assists, adding three kills and four blocks.
The site for the Beach’s Senior Night match against UC Davis is up in the air with heavy showers in Friday’s forecast. If rain forces the move out of the Pyramid, the Beach will play the match inside the university’s historic Gold Mine gym.
“We’ll get some sleep and wake up to do it all over again,” Reagan said. “There’s going to be some potential head on a swivel tomorrow, so how we handle that will be really important, but it really is just resetting for a really difficult opponent at our home court. It’s gonna be really exciting.”
LBSU will have a pair of away matches following Friday’s bout with UC Davis, traveling to UC San Diego and Hawai‘i to close out the regular season. The Big West Tournament will then begin with the first round on Wednesday, Nov. 26.
