The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
The Long Beach State women’s volleyball team has made it a habit of protecting their homecourt throughout Big West action this season.
So, when the No.3-seed Beach headed into their rubber match against the No.2-seed Cal Poly – LBSU was ready to put their undefeated Big West home record on the line with the chance to advance to the Big West Tournament championship game.
However, after taking the second set to tie the match – Long Beach State lost to Cal Poly 25-22, 23-25, 25-23, 25-17 on Friday night – which snapped the Beach’s 11-match win streak at home.
“An incredible set three of volleyball, I think one of the best sets probably of the whole season,” Cal Poly coach Caroline Walter said. ”Long Beach hit at 500, we hit 515. That’s fun volleyball, and both sides passing the ball well, attacking at high clips. I’m very proud of the way our service passers settled in. I think Long Beach is the best serving team in the conference, and they are aggressive from the service line.”
In the third set, there were 12 ties and six lead changes as the Mustangs were able to take the victory in the momentum-changing set. Chloe Leluge had a team-high 17 kills to set a career high and helped Cal Poly’s potent attack keep the Beach on their heels as they tried to punch their ticket to the finals on Saturday against UC Davis.
“I just think as a middle I really rely a lot on the setter and the passes and I think both of those were there tonight,” Leluge said.
For LBSU, it was another tough loss to Cal Poly in the Big West tournament semifinals.
Long Beach State coach Natalie Reagan said in retrospect that the women’s volleyball team probably have been going through a rebuilding year this season after losing nine seniors and losing four starters to the portal.
“Instead these girls are setting records,” Reagan said. “They’re winning 20-plus games against good teams, they’re taking UCLA to five sets. They’re taking sets off top five teams. I’m just so floored and impressed with this group, and I know that they’ll continue to do great things.”
Elise Agi had a team-high 17 kills for the Beach while Madi Maxwell had 39 assists.
With multiple 5-year players and a potent attack, Cal Poly had an answer for each LBSU run and kept the momentum thanks to some timely serving from Kendall Beshear who has a match-high three aces.
“Honestly, they have some ballers on that team,” Maxwell said. “You can’t lie, you see it. They have some really good athletic volleyball smart players, and those are the really hard players to stop. They’re a really good team to match up with.”
With a talented freshman class and some key returners expected to be back, Reagan and LBSU are looking forward to what this group will be able to do next season with another offseason under their belts.
