Riverside, CA—The UC Riverside Volleyball Team lost a three-setter to No. 18 Long Beach State Saturday evening in Big West Conference action. Prior to the match, the Highlanders celebrated senior day by honoring the three members of the class of 2015: Kecia Ambers, Tyler Dorsey, and Megan Reza. View the photo gallery. Watch the video.

In the first set, the 49ers led wire-to-wire in a 25-11 victory. But in the second, the Highlanders kept it close before ultimately falling, 25-18. There were nine tie scores in the set as UCR rallied back from a 17-12 deficit to tie it at 17. Helena Peric had three kills during the run while Maddie Hubbell added a service ace. Tied at 18 after trading points, the Highlanders could not stop a 7-0 run by Long Beach State as the 49ers went up 2-0 in the match with a 25-18 win.

In the third set, UC Riverside led 4-2 early on, but LBSU scored six straight to go up 8-4. A kill by Peric stopped the rally, but that was as close as the Highlanders would get as Long Beach State went on for the 25-12 victory.

Peric led UCR with a career-high 15 kills while Chisom Okpala had 12 to lead the Beach.

The Highlanders now conclude their 2014 season traveling to Hawai'i on Friday, November 28 for a 10 pm PT match in Honolulu.