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 refused to back down Monday night as they forced a fifth set against No. 19 UCLA, but the Beach’s upset bid fell short as they lost 18-25, 25-18, 25-23, 21-25, 15-9 at the Walter Pyramid.
“I’m just so incredibly proud of this group,” Long Beach State coach Natalie Reagan said about the team battling back to force a fifth set. “We wanted the win and there were opportunities for us to have it. But our coaching staff feels like we’re in a really good spot.”
With the Bruins (1-0) opening the season, the Beach took advantage of some of UCLA’s early miscues and Logan King continued to shine as she had five kills in the opening frame to give LBSU a 25-18 lead. King was named the Big West freshman of the week and followed up her 17-kill performance last night with another 17-kill night.
“That was obviously a hard match and I think we fought really hard,” King said. “So, to lose that game it’s not the outcome anyone wanted, I think personally for myself there’s a lot of things in that game that I would like to improve on.”
The visiting Bruins started to get into a rhythm in the second set and after 11 ties, UCLA pushed ahead with a 4-0 run and never looked back as they took the second set, 25-18.
“There’s some runs that if we can stop the bleed a little bit sooner and make a little bit of a better decision,” Reagan said about what the team can take away from the match. We’re figuring some stuff out.”
In the third match Zayna Meyer, former LBSU setter and 2023 Big West Setter of the Year, got UCLA into a rhythm as they took a 14-11 lead and 20-16 lead. Meyer didn’t start the first two sets, but immediately found her hitters as Maggie Li and Marianna Singletary finished with match-high 18 kills apiece.
Long Beach State showed their grit as they went on a 4-0 run to tie the match at 20. However, The Bruins pulled away to take the 2-1 lead thanks to back-to-back kills from Singletary.
In the fourth set, the Beach found a big lift from Boise State transfer Anabel Kotzakov who had five of her 17 kills to help Long Beach State force a fifth set with a 25-21 win.
Kotzakov is quickly adjusting to how fast LBSU wants to play and it showed with her connection with setter Madi Maxwell. Maxwell
“There was definitely an adjustment period,” Kotzakov said. “The offense Long Beach runs is so fast compared to any other team. I definitely took me a little bit of time to get used to it but I feel like once I did get it, it’s so great. It really helps us.”
The Bruins jumped out fast in the fifth set taking advantage of some hitting errors to take a quick 8-2 lead and the Beach couldn’t complete the comeback.
LBSU will now hit the road as they head to Portland State, before wrapping their trip against Santa Clara and San Francisco. The Beach will be back home on Sept. 12 when they take on another Big 10 opponent in Oregon.
