Oregon State
4-12, 2-4Pac-12
California
6-11, 0-6Pac-12
OSU Volleyball Wins in Straight Sets at Cal
October 11, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
BERKELEY, Calif. – Oregon State hit .310 as a team and tallied 11 total blocks en route to a straight-sets victory over the California Golden Bears at the Haas Pavilion on Sunday afternoon.
The Beavers (4-12, 2-4 Pac-12) propelled themselves to set wins of 25-17 and 25-20 with .371 and .433 hitting percentages in those sets, respectively. With the score tied at 20 in the third set, the Beavers closed out a strong showing with a 5-1 run to win the set, 25-21, and clinch a three-set victory over the Golden Bears (6-11, 0-6 Pac-12).
“This was an important victory for us at this juncture of the Pac-12 season,” Oregon State head coach Taras Liskevych said. “Outstanding performances by a lot of players today, but I'm really proud of the way we served. We really kept Cal in a tough situation where they weren't able to set their best players – Lillian Schonewise and Lara Vukasovic – because we put so much pressure on them with our serving. I'm very proud of is how we blocked as a team, and it was great to see that we hit at .310 today as a team.”
Among many strong performances, OSU was led by sophomore outside hitter Mary-Kate Marshall, who buried a team-high 17 kills on 40 swings (.400) with a team-high 14 digs, six total blocks and three service aces. Redshirt senior middle blocker Haley Clarke hit .727 with eight kills and a pair of blocks and junior outside hitter Lila Toner added seven kills on .312 hitting.
“What more can you say about Mary-Kate?” Liskevych said. “Everybody knows she's getting the ball and she had only one error that whole match and had 14 digs and three aces – that's a match. Haley is really on a roll. She really played well against Stanford and really played well this afternoon against Cal.”
Redshirt freshman setter McKenna Hollingsworth tallied 36 assists, while freshman libero Kayla Ellis finished the match with nine digs.
The match began with the first set knotted up at three, but OSU used a 5-1 run to gain an early 8-4 advantage in the frame. OSU held that lead throughout the opening frame, as the Beavers hit .371 in the first set and closed on a 5-2 run to take the set, 25-17.
California gained the early upper hand in the second set by opening with a 6-1 lead. However, the Beavers hit .433 in the second set and chipped away throughout the frame, using a 4-0 run from a 13-9 deficit to tie the set up. After three more ties up to an even score at 17, the Beavers took seven of the next nine points to reach set point, and went up 2-0 in the match with a 25-20 second set victory.
OSU opened the third set on a 6-2 run, but California made a run to match the Beavers at six for the first of 10 instances of a tied score in the third set. The set's final tied score came at 20, where the Beavers won five of the last six points to close out the set, 25-20, and seal the three-set win.
“Everybody performed well today,” Liskevych said. “We just have to build upon this as we get down the road playing some tough competition in the Pac-12. We have 14 matches left in the Pac-12 – we just need to keep getting better.”
The Oregon State volleyball team continues its four-game road swing on Wednesday, Oct. 14, with a trip to Seattle, Wash. to face the Washington Huskies. The match is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m. PT. The Beavers bookend the road trip with a 5:30 p.m. PT match at Washington State on Friday, Oct. 16.
For more information on the Oregon State volleyball team, follow the club's official Twitter account at Twitter.com/BeavsVolleyball, by Facebook at Facebook.com/OregonStateVolleyball or on Instagram at Instagram.com/OregonStateVolleyball.
