Oregon State
Arizona
Shaw Posts Career Night in Volleyball's Five-Set Heartbreaker Loss to Arizona
October 08, 2010 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 8, 2010
Corvallis, Ore. – Junior Dre Shaw (Wailuku, Hawai'i) set career highs for kills and digs in her first career double-double, but it wasn't enough as the Oregon State volleyball team lost a five-set heartbreaker (21-25, 25-16, 25-19, 26-28, 6-15) to Arizona on Friday evening in its Spike Out Cancer night in front of a crowd of 2,357 in legendary Gill Coliseum.
Shaw racked up 19 kills and a team-high 18 digs with senior Jill Sawatzky (St. Andrews, Manitoba) adding a double-double of her own with a team-high 25 kills and 12 digs.
“It was a frustrating match,” head coach Taras Liskevych said. “Whenever we have match point on our opponent, we should really win the match. We just faded, which is tough to see. It was a great performance in the beginning by Dre [Shaw], and Jill [Sawatzky] had 25 kills, which was terrific. We just need to keep our heads in the game.”
The Beavers (8-11, 1-4 Pac-10 took the lead early behind sophomore Camille Saxton's (Balzac, Alberta) tough jump serve, holding Arizona (13-4, 2-2 Pac-10) to mainly sideout points before the Wildcats tied the set up at 17 all. Despite a pair of kills by Shaw and one by Sawatzky, Arizona took the early 1-0 lead.
After seven tie scores, Oregon State took the eventual lead at 11-10 behind Saxton's serving again, earning her second ace of the match on Arizona being out of rotation. The Beavers held the Wildcats to only sideout points to easily cruise to a second set victory with Shaw using the Arizona block to put the set away.
Oregon State's rhythm continued into the third set behind the consistent hitting of Sawatzky and Shaw with four kills each of the team's 13 in the set to take the 2-1 lead. But finding themselves down late in the fourth set, Oregon State battled back take the lead at 26-25, but Arizona tied things up putting the ball on the floor twice to force the match into a deciding set five.
But a slow start in the final set led by six unforced hitting errors gave Arizona the win.
Sophomore Alyssa O'Neil (West Linn, Ore.) and freshman Becky Defoe (Bend, Ore.) both dug up 17 balls, while freshman Mona Kressl (Langenzenn, Germany) earned five of the team's 10 blocks. Saxton and Kressl served up a pair of aces each.
Arizona's Tiffany Owens paced all hitters with 32 kills, while adding a match-high tying 20 digs with libero Candace Nicholson also adding 20.
Oregon State continues its homestand against Arizona State on Saturday evening at 7:00 p.m. in legendary Gill Coliseum.
Oregon State Notes – Junior Dre Shaw set a new career best for kills with 19 and a new best for digs with 18, earning her first career double-double … Senior Jill Sawatzky earned her seventh double-double of the season with 25 kills and 12 digs … Tonight's attendance of 2,357 is the eighth most in school history.
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