Oregon State
California
Volleyball Shows Sparks Early but Comes Up Short against No. 4 Cal
October 09, 2011 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 9, 2011
Corvallis, Ore. – Juniors Camille Saxton (Balzac, Alberta) and Megan McBride (Auburn, Wash.) both recorded double-doubles to lead the Oregon State volleyball team (11-7, 3-5 Pac-12) fell in four (25-23, 19-25, 14-25, 15-25) to the No. 4 California Golden Bears (17-2, 7-2 Pac-12) on Sunday afternoon in Gill Coliseum.
“We showed that we can do it for up to two sets, but we need to do it longer,” head coach Taras Liskevych said. “The biggest thing that we need is for our team to be healthy. We need Dre [Shaw] healthy. We need to terminate the ball – that's the thing that Cal has. They have great athletes that put the ball down on the floor. We're putting a lot of burden on Camille [Saxton], and we need to get someone else who steps up to the plate who will play hard and put the ball down. We've just got to get really good in this next stretch of time to get our team ready and believe against UCLA and USC.”
Saxton was the lone player to earn double-digits in the kills column with 10, adding 17 digs with McBride tallying 26 assists, 14 digs and six blocks.
Oregon State scored first but had to overcome seven tie scores and four lead changes against the Golden Bears. The Beavers led by as many as four at two different times, but Cal knotted the match up at 23 all with three straight kills, prompting Oregon State's final timeout of the set. Kills by freshmen Corinna Mommert (Paderborn, Germany) and Arica Nassar (Menifee, Calif.) gave the Beavers the 1-0 early advantage.
But Oregon State couldn't sustain the momentum into the second set with the Golden Bears jumping out to a quick 3-0 lead. A late run behind the serving of sophomore Becky Defoe (Bend, Ore.) cut Cal's lead to four, but the Beavers were unable to score again, allowing the Golden Bears to tie the match up at one set each.
Coming out of the break, despite three tie scores and two lead changes, Cal used small runs to earn the 2-1 advantage before taking the match.
Defoe backed up Saxton's team-high 17 digs with 16, while Mommert and Nassar both backed up McBride at the net with three blocks each.
The Golden Bears were led by Tarah Murrey with 18 kills, while Robin Rostratter had 23 digs.
Oregon State faces another pair of ranked teams next in No. 2 UCLA on Friday and No. 5 USC on Saturday in Los Angeles.
Oregon State Notes – Junior Megan McBride earned her fifth double-double of the season, 10th career, with 26 assists and 14 digs; McBride set a new career-best for blocks with six … Redshirt freshman Laura Schaudt set a new career-high for kills with six … Junior Camille Saxton earned her fourth double-double of the season, seventh career, with 10 kills and 17 digs.
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