Marshall Hits .448, Posts 15 Kills in Setback
November 19, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Sophomore outside hitter Mary-Kate Marshall buried 15 kills on .448 hitting, but it was not enough to overcome the hot hitting of the No. 2 Washington Huskies, as the Oregon State volleyball team fell in three sets in a Wednesday night Pac-12 match at Gill Coliseum.
The second-ranked Huskies (25-2, 15-2 Pac-12) held the lead for the entirety of the opening set, opening the match with a 25-19 first set win before controlling a 25-10 second frame. Oregon State (5-22, 3-14 Pac-12) bounced back to hit .333 in a closely contested 25-21 third set, but could not overcome a .515 hitting percentage by the Huskies in the final set.
“They're a great team that sides out very well,” Oregon State head coach Taras Liskevych said. “In the beginning of the match, they hit a lot of finesse shots that we just couldn't get a handle on. They hit at a very high percentage and served very tough. We conversely didn't have our usual tough serving. Before the match, we knew we had to serve the ball tough or else we were not going to fare well in this match.”
For the match, the Huskies hit .396, while the Beavers hit .190. Washington also held the serving advantage, as both team committed five serve errors but the Huskies out-aced the Beavers, 6-1. The Huskies edged the Beavers in digs, 41-37, but won the battle of the blocks, 9.5-3.
Marshall added four digs to her stat line. Junior outside hitter Lila Toner hit .308 en route to five kills and as many digs.
“Mary-Kate had a great match,” Liskevych said. “She really hit the ball well and ended up with a great hitting percentage. That was as well as I've seen her swing in a while and we need her to keep doing that. Lila attacked the ball well, too, but our other outsides were off attacking.”
Redshirt junior Dana Backlund and redshirt freshman McKenna Hollingsworth posted 16 assists each, with Backlund adding six digs and Hollingsworth tallying eight. Freshman libero Kayla Ellis matched Hollingsworth with eight digs.
Wednesday's match opened with close play, but from a 6-5 Washington advantage, the Huskies went on a 7-0 run to take a 13-5 lead in the first set. Oregon State matched Washington point-for-point for the remainder of the set, but could not draw closer than within five at 24-19, as the Huskies won the next point to take the opening set.
After opening the second set with a 3-2 edge, Washington continued its hot start, going on an 8-1 run to take an 11-3 lead in the frame. Oregon State closed the gap to seven at 15-8, but from an 18-10 Washington lead, the Huskies won the final seven points remaining in the set, taking a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-10 second set win.
“We couldn't side out,” Liskevych said. “They were serving the ball tough and we got stuck in a couple of rotations. You have to play good sideout volleyball, which we did in the third set. We found some holes in the beginning of that third set and hit down the lines better.”
In a comparatively bounce-back third set for Oregon State, the Beavers opened the frame with a 5-4 lead as the two teams played a back-and-forth frame that included three ties and a pair of lead changes. The Beavers only trailed by one at a 21-20 deficit, but Washington got a pair of kills and a block en route to forcing match point at 24-20. The Beavers stifled match point once on a Haley Clarke kill, but the Huskies answered with the next point to close the match with a 25-21 third set win.
The Oregon State volleyball team continues its three-match homestand with a 6 p.m. PT match against the Washington State Cougars on Friday. The Beavers close their home slate with a Senior Day match vs. the Arizona Wildcats on Wednesday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. PT, and conclude the 2015 season in a road Civil War match with the Oregon Ducks on Friday, Nov. 27 at 8 p.m. PT.
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.
