Beaver Volleyball Starts Strong But Stopped by No. 23 Ducks

www.osubeavers.com

(Corvallis, Oregon) - The Oregon State volleyball team (8-20, 1-13) started strong, taking the first set, but it was stopped in four by the No. 23 Oregon Ducks (18-8, 6-8) on Friday evening in front 3,287, the third largest crowd in school history.

Set scores were 25-23, 18-25, 14-25, 19-25.

“We came out playing very well, in siding out particularly,” head coach Taras Liskevych said. “We just didn’t turn it around at sustain that. We had a difficult time adjusting our defense. It was a great display of serving by Heather Meyers. Mona Kressl had a good night, but we just needed to get more balls to her.”

Senior Jill Sawatzky (St. Andrews, Manitoba) killed a team-high 11 balls, adding eight digs and a block. Freshman Mona Kressl (Langenzenn, Germany) added nine kills of her own.

The Beavers scored first in the opening set on a Duck serving error before the two teams tied the score eight times. Oregon State took the eventual lead at 11-10 before building it to as many as six at 21-15. A balanced attack by Oregon State with six players with at least one of the 13 team kills with Sawatzky and sophomore Camille Saxton (Balzac, Alberta) leading the way with three.

But the Beavers were unable to sustain hitting .375 heading into the second and third sets, only finding the floor nine and 10 times the following sets, hitting three and 14 percent to Oregon’s 19 and 36 percent.

Finding itself down in the fourth by as many as eight, Oregon State put together a pair of short runs behind the serving of sophomores Alyssa O’Neil (West Linn, Ore.) and Tami Brown (Eugene, Ore.) to come back to within five, but a kill by Heather Meyers closed the match.

Saxton led the defense in the backcourt with 11 digs, while freshman Becky Defoe (Bend, Ore.) dug 10 balls. Kressl blocked a match-high seven balls of the team’s 12 total blocks.

Oregon’s outside hitter Meyers paced the Duck offense with 20 kills, while libero Haley Jacob had a match-high 18 digs.

Oregon State stays home next weekend to host the LA schools next weekend. The Beavers will host USC on Friday at 7:00 p.m. before UCLA on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. After Sunday’s match, the three Oregon State seniors will be honored.

Oregon State Notes – The attendance of 3,287 is the third most in school history, only the previous two Civil War matches drew more people.

Source: Oregon State University