Oregon State
Texas Tech
Volleyball Falls To Texas Tech In Nanook Classic Opener.
September 10, 1999 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 10, 1999
FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Sarah Bjeldanes had a career-high 25 kills, but Texas Tech had six players in double-figures as the Red Raiders defeated the Oregon State volleyball team, 3-1, in the opening match of the Nanook Classic at the Patty Center Friday evening. Game scores were 15-6, 15-13, 13-15 and 15-9.
"It was a disappointing loss," said coach Nancy Somera. "We did a lot of things right, but we just had a lot of letdowns during the match."
Bjeldanes registered 20 kills for the third straight match and Angie Shirley added another 21 for the Beavers, but Lori Gardner had 20 kills of her own to lead a Texas Tech offense that hit .365 for the match.
OSU (3-2) started off slowly, hitting just .156 in the opening game. After a 5-5 tie, Tech scored the next six points and 10 of the next 11 to win the game, 15-6.
The Beavers picked up the offense in game two but lost a 9-4 lead after a Red Raider comeback tied the score at 13-13 and went on to win the game.
OSU jumped out to an 11-4 lead in game three, but the Red Raiders (6-1) once again staged a comeback. With the score at 14-11, in favor of the Beavers, Tech got back-to-back kills from Skydra Orezen and Jenny Donohoo to get the opposition within a point. But Bjeldanes then put the ball away to give the serve back to the Beavers and Gina Schmidt slammed down one of her 14 kills to give the game to OSU.
Texas Tech opened up game four with a 8-4 lead, but back-to-back kills from Shirley and Schmidt and an ace from Nikki Neuburger put the Beavers within two. That was the closest OSU would come in the game, as Tech hit an impressive .471 (25k-1e-51a) as a team, by far its best game of the match.
OSU had 83 kills on the night, its best output of the season. The Beavers also had a season-high 65 digs, led by Bjeldanes' career-high 16. Krista Kinsman added 12, and Jessica Papell had 11.
OSU outkilled Texas Tech by one and had 17 more digs than Tech.
"Statistically, we had a great match, but it's the things that go on in a match that stats don't show, like coverage, miscommunication errors and the ability to make adjustments," Somera said. "As we get better, a match like tonight would have been a win and instead of a loss. But, this team is committed to getting better, and that's all I can ask."
Brandi Bonnarens finished the match with 66 assists, ranking seventh-best on the all-time single-match assists list for OSU. She tied her career-high with eight kills as well. Michele Solomon hit .412, with a career-high nine kills and just two errors in 17 attempts.
The Beavers play Ball State at 7 p.m. PDT Saturday, September 11 as the Nanook Classic continues.
Match Results - Nanook Classic, Day One
Texas Tech 15 15 13 15 Oregon State 6 13 15 9
