Oregon State
6-23, 4-15Pac-12
Arizona
18-13, 8-11Pac-12
OSU Upsets No. 23 Arizona, 3-1, on Senior Night
November 26, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
CORVALLIS, Ore. – After being honored for Senior Night, redshirt senior middle blocker Haley Clarke tallied nine kills on .474 hitting with seven blocks and senior defensive specialist Darby Reeder posted 12 digs, as the seniors led the Oregon State volleyball team to a 3-1 upset over the 23rd-ranked Arizona Wildcats on Wednesday night at Gill Coliseum.
The Wildcats (18-13, 8-11 Pac-12) hit .357 in the match's opening frame, but Oregon State (6-23, 4-15 Pac-12) aced the Wildcats three times against no errors to take an early lead with a 25-23 first set win. Arizona answered with a 29-27 victory in the second set, but the Beavers hit .405 to win the third set, 25-19, before sealing the match with a 25-22 fourth set win.
“This was a great team win,” Oregon State head coach Taras Liskevych said. “Great performances tonight by our two seniors. Haley hitting .474 with no errors and seven blocks is awesome. Same for Darby, who came in there and had 12 digs. They did a great job in their last game at home.”
Oregon State hit .261 for the match, while Arizona finished with a .250 hitting percentage. The Beavers recorded more digs (84-77) and aces (4-3), while each team had 62 assists and nine total blocks. Oregon State limited its serve errors to four, while Arizona committed 12.
Other notable individual performances were highlighted by that of redshirt junior outside hitter Katelyn Driscoll, who recorded a career-high 24 kills on .345 hitting. Sophomore outside hitter Mary-Kate Marshall had 16 kills on .267 hitting with 14 digs. Junior outside hitter Lila Toner rounded out top hitting performances with 10 kills on .217 hitting.
“We had excellent hitting performances, especially by Katelyn and Mary-Kate,” Liskevych said. “Overall, we had good intensity and played good defense. I'm proud of the way we hung in there all match, particularly in siding out and in holding a good hitting team at bay.”
Redshirt junior Dana Backlund tallied 30 assists with 10 digs, while redshirt freshman McKenna Hollingsworth has 23 assists with nine digs. Freshman libero Kayla Ellis posted a team-high 21 digs.
After close play early, the Oregon State volleyball team used three aces, including two by Hollingsworth, to open up a 14-11 Beavers lead and prompt an Arizona timeout. Out of the break, the Wildcats won four straight points to take a 15-14 advantage before the two teams played to a tie at 17. From that point, an Arizona service error and a pair of Wildcat attack errors spurred a 4-1 run to give OSU another three-point lead at 21-18. The Wildcats would tie the frame again up to a score at 23 apiece, but Driscoll finished off the set with a pair of kills to give the Beavers the opening frame.
After falling behind to open in the first set, Arizona opened the second set with an early 10-6 lead. A pair of kills from Toner and a Clarke kill helped bring the score back to a tie at 11 all, a deadlock that held up to a 14-14 score. Another pair of kills from Driscoll led Oregon State back to a three-point lead at 18-15, a lead it held up to set point at 24-21. However, Arizona took the next three points to stave off set point at a deadlock at 24 each. The Wildcats had opportunities to win the set at 26-25 and 27-26 before eventually tying the match with a 29-27 second set win.
Neither team was able to separate for much of the third set, leading up to a tie at 15 all. From that score, Oregon State went on a 3-0 run to take an 18-15 lead. Arizona could only draw within two from there, as a pair of kills from Clarke highlighted a 5-1 run from a 20-18 Beaver advantage in a 25-19 third set win for the Beavers.
After hitting .405 for the previous frame, Oregon State continued to surge behind its momentum, building a 6-2 lead in the fourth set by the time Arizona had exhausted both timeouts. OSU kept its foot on the gas, building a seven-point lead at 10-3, and a nearly double-digit advantage at 15-6. A pair of Beaver attack errors helped Arizona cut the deficit to 15-9, before the Wildcats narrowed the gap to four at 19-15. That was as close as Arizona would get before the very end of the match, as Oregon State took five of the next seven points to force match point at 24-18, before closing the match with a 25-22 match-sealing fourth set.
“We have one more match to go,” Liskevych said. “We just need to play in that one like we did tonight.”
The Oregon State volleyball team concludes the 2015 season at Oregon on Friday at 8 p.m. PT in a Civil War Series match presented by PacificSource Health Plans, McDonalds, Spirit Mountain Casino and Your Local Ford Stores.
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.
