Oregon State Defeats Sacramento State, 3-2

Oregon State sophomore Rachel Rourke set the tone earning a double-double with 20 kills and 11 digs, adding a pair of service aces.

Sophomore Bree Knitter recorded a career-high 10 block assists in the win over Sacramento State. Photo courtesy: OSU Athletics

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Sophomore Bree Knitter had five block assists in game five, including the final block, to give Oregon State the 3-2 edge (30-19, 27-30, 30-28, 19-30, 15-9) Friday evening against host Sacramento State at the Sacramento State Invitational.

The Beavers (4-3) tallied 17 total blocks to the Hornets’ (6-3) 13, with Knitter collecting a career-high 10 block assists.

“It was a well-fought match,” Oregon State head coach Taras Liskevych said. “They were a very good defensive team, and they just forced us into errors because they kept ball in play. I thought we served aggressively throughout the match, even though we missed some timely serves.”

Sophomore Rachel Rourke set the tone earning a double-double with 20 kills and 11 digs, adding a pair of service aces.

Freshman Jill Sawatzky added 13 kills, while sophomore Lexie Rathgeber had 11.

Defensively, junior Jennifer Fitz paced the team with 19 digs, while in her second start at libero, junior Ashley Evans added 15.

The Hornets challenged the Beavers in game one tying the score 11 times and leading until Oregon State tied up the match at the halfway mark 15-15.

Senior Kristin Murray served nine straight points to put the game away, after earning the sideout point on one of her eight kills with the assist from junior setter K.C. Walsh. Walsh had 49 assists in the match.

A pair of close games ensued with Sacramento State holding the advantage through game two.

And in game three, the Hornets struck first again, gaining the lead early.

Oregon State tied the game 15 times and after five lead changes, held on to force a three attack errors in the final four points to take a 2-1 lead.

Jennifer Ferguson and Missie Stidham both recorded double-doubles for the Hornets.

Ferguson tallied a team-high 21 kills and 20 digs, while Stidham had 16 kills and a team-high 28 digs.

Lindsay Haupt rounded out the Sacramento State players with double digit kills with 14.

Oregon State faces Cal State Northridge next in the Sacramento State Invitational on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m.

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports