Oregon State Wins Pac-10 Volleyball Opener

Oregon State (8-5, 1-0 Pac-10) earned its first conference win since the Beavers defeated Arizona State at home on Nov. 25, 2005.

Senior Kristin Murray set a new career-high with 21 kills her Friday evening double-double. Photo courtesy: OSU Athletics

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Senior Kristin Murray had a career-high 21 kills, posting a double-double, in Oregon State’s 3-2 win over the Washington State Cougars (32-30, 30-32, 25-30, 30-21, 16-14) Friday evening in Gill Coliseum to open up Pac-10 play.

Oregon State (8-5, 1-0 Pac-10) earned its first conference win since the Beavers defeated Arizona State at home on Nov. 25, 2005.

Washington State’s record drops to 9-6, 0-1 Pac-10.

The match will be replayed on FSN NW at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday.

“It was a good turn in the tables being behind during the fifth game, and being able to come back and win it,” Oregon State head coach Taras Liskevych said. “Last weekend we were snake bitten a little bit because we had five game losses in Stockton against Loyola Marymount when we were winning 13-8, and again at Pacific we lost in five, so it was good to be able to turn the tables tonight to win.”

Sophomore Rachel Rourke led the team offensively with 23 kills, while freshman Jill Sawatzky was the third player in double digits for kills.

Sophomore Bree Knitter bested her career-high with 10 kills, while adding six blocks.

Junior Ashley Evans posted her third straight 20-plus digs match with 23 to lead the defense. Murray and Rourke both added 12.

The Beavers found them down by as many as six in game one at the 12-6 mark, but the team went back to what it knows best – blocking.

Junior K.C. Walsh came up with a pair of clutch block solos that kept Oregon State in the game and also tallied the game-winning kill on a tight shot at the net.

In game two, Oregon State reached 20 first with a two-point margin over the Cougars.

The Beavers let Washington State back into the game with the Cougars building a six-point lead before battling back to tie things up at 29 all.

A pair of errors finished off the game tying things up with each team taking a game.

Oregon State came out of the break not able to find its rhythm on either side of the ball with the Cougars building a 10 point lead before the Beavers burned their second timeout.

Oregon State went on a 7-2 run to put itself back in the game, narrowing the margin to five at 23-18.

Junior Lauren Rinderknecht tallied a pair of big kills in the third game, adding four digs coming off of the bench.

In a crucial game four, the two teams went back and forth both hovering each other with each team never building more of a lead than three until Oregon State built a four point lead at 23-19, never looking back to tie it up at two each.

The outside hitters found the floor led by Murray with six kills, Sawatzky with five and Rourke adding four. The team hit .429 with 21 kills, only allowing three errors.

Game five saw six ties with Washington State taking its one lead at 12-8, the largest of the game.

The Beavers took one point at a time, working their way back into the game to tie things up at 14-14.

Murray’s consistent serving and all around play coupled with Sawatzky’s final swing helped put the match away for the team.

The Cougars were paced on offense by Jackie Albright with 18 kills. Brittany Johnson added 17. Kelly Hyder had 32 digs to lead the defense.

Oregon State hosts No. 8 Washington (12-0) to round out the Pac-10 opening weekend Saturday evening at 7:00 p.m.

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