Oregon State
Illinois State
Volleyball Falls in Final Match of the Corvallis Invitational
August 28, 2010 | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 28, 2010
Corvallis, Ore. – Senior Jill Sawatzky (St. Andrews, Manitoba) had a match-high 20 kills, nearly tallying her second double-double of the day, but the Oregon State volleyball team fell to Illinois State (25-19, 22-25, 21-25, 18-25) on Saturday evening in the final match of the Corvallis Invitational.
“We need to improve our blocking and become more effective,” head coach Taras Liskevych said. “We let too many hitters use our block. And if we can continue to serve aggressively, but consistently, we're going to get a lot more teams out of system. Tonight I thought Jill [Sawatzky] did a great job for us offensively.”
Sawatzky tacked on a pair of aces and three blocks to her all-around game, earning her the Beavers' lone All-Tournament Team selection.
Both teams opened the match trading points with seven ties and four lead changes before the Beavers took the eventual lead a 14-13, continuing to build on it behind 11 kills by outside hitters freshman Kelsey Zimmerman (Bend, Ore.) and Sawatzky to widen the gap by as many as six to take the early 1-0 lead.
The Beavers took 2-1 lead but trailed for the rest of the second set, threatening at 21-23, but not able to control three unforced errors ending the set with Illinois State tying things up at one each.
Coming out of the break, sophomore Megan McBride (Auburn, Wash.) served the Beaver to a quick 5-0 lead with three straight aces, causing Illinois State to burn its first timeout. But the Redbirds caught the Beavers at the 18-18 mark, using tough serving and kills by outside hitter Shannon McGlaughlin to take the 2-1 advantage.
The two teams continued to battle it out in a deciding set four with Illinois State taking the eventual lead just before the halfway mark.
Mallory Leggett led the Illinois State offense with 17 kills, while libero Jenny Menendez had a match-high 17 digs.
Oregon State heads on the road next for a single match at Portland State on Tuesday, Aug. 31 at 7:00 p.m.
Oregon State Notes – Sophomore Megan McBride set a new career best for aces with five.
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