Oregon State
Long Beach State
Volleyball Outlasts No. 22 Long Beach State to win LBSU Baden Classic
September 10, 2011 | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 10, 2011
Long Beach, Calif. – The Oregon State volleyball (8-2) outlasted the No. 22 Long Beach State 49ers (5-4) in a five-set nailbiting contest (10-25, 25-20, 25-23, 19-25, 15-12) on Saturday evening to nab the Long Beach State Baden Classic title in front of a crowd of 1,186 in Walter Pyramid.
Junior Camille Saxton (Balzac, Alberta) was named the tournament Most Valuable Player, while redshirt freshman Tayla Woods (Corvallis, Ore.) and freshman Arica Nassar (Menifee, Calif.) were All-Tournament. Sophomore Becky Defoe (Bend, Ore.) earned Best Libero honors.
“I'm so proud of these young women for not hanging their heads after the first set where we were completely dominated by Long Beach State,” head coach Taras Liskevych said. “They scouted us well, blocked our hitters, got us out our rhythm passing, but we just really continued to grind it out and play well. We hit -.200 in the first set, and the only other bad set we had hitting was set four, but we again came out and dominated the hitting column in set five.
Outstanding performances by our outside hitters and middle hitters and blockers, particularly Arica [Nassar] and Camille [Saxton] – who really came back after set one. To come back the way we did is terrific, and it's a big win for us. Beating a ranked team at its home is the kind of victory that will get us ready for the challenges of the Pac-12.”
Saxton and Nassar both posted career nights in the kills category with Saxton earning 22 and Nassar tallying 16. Senior Dre Shaw (Wailuku, Hawai'i) also reached double digits in the kills column with 13.
Defoe and Woods led the defensive efforts in the backcourt with 14 digs each, and Woods and Nassar both posted four blocks.
After struggling to open the match, Oregon State quickly rebounded to take the early lead and battle to back-to-back set wins to hold the 2-1 advantage. Saxton was the go-to hitter for the Beavers in the third, finding the floor 10 times on 21 swings with no errors of the team's 19 total kills.
Long Beach responded by tying things up in the fourth, but Oregon State went on small runs in the fifth with five more big kills by Saxton and four by Shaw, including the match-winner, to put the match away in favor of Oregon State.
The 49ers were paced by outside hitter Caitlin Ledoux with 21 kills with Lauren Minkel earning a match-high 18 digs.
Oregon State opens Pac-12 play next, facing Arizona State at home on Friday, Sept. 16 at 7:00 p.m.
Oregon State Notes: Junior Camille Saxton set a new career-high for kills with 22 … Freshman Arica Nassar set a new career-high for kills with 16 … Redshirt freshman Tayla Woods earned her fourth career double-double with 43 assists and 14 digs … Senior Dre Shaw earned her fifth double-double of the season, sixth career, with 13 kills and 13 digs … Oregon State is now 2-0 away, 3-2 in five-set matches and 1-1 against Long Beach State all-time … Long Beach State is now 0-3 against Pac-12 opponents this season … This is Saxton's first MVP honor, second All-Tournament accolade this season.
Support Oregon State University Athletics by making your tax deductible donation to the Beaver Athletic Student Fund. For more information follow this link or call 541-737-2370. Former student-athletes are invited to join the Varsity O Facebook Page for upcoming Alumni events.
Follow Oregon State Athletics on YouTube.
