Oregon State
6-24, 4-16Pac-12
Oregon
16-13, 10-10Pac-12
OSU Falls in 3-0 Setback to Oregon to Close Season
November 28, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
EUGENE, Ore. – The Oregon State volleyball team fell to the Oregon Ducks on Friday night at Matthew Knight Arena in a three-set match, the Beavers' final contest of their 2015 season.
With the result, Oregon State finishes its 2015 campaign with a 6-24 overall record and a 4-16 mark in conference play. The Beavers hit .275 in a 25-21 opening frame that went to Oregon (16-13, 10-10 Pac-12), but fell off in hitting production in the final two sets, dropping sets two and three, 25-20 and 25-21, respectively.
“I thought we played some good defense tonight,” Oregon State head coach Taras Liskevych said. “We've just got to do that for an entire match. Oregon is a very good team, is very well-coached and most likely NCAA Tournament-bound. Oregon had to play well to beat us. Their attackers really attacked the ball well and they dug the ball well. Conversely, we had a lot of good digging on our part. Mary-Kate Marshall had 14 digs – that's terrific.”
For the match, the Beavers hit .138 compared to a .227 rate for the Ducks. The Beavers had four service aces to Oregon's three, but were edged by the Ducks in blocks, 8-7. Each team had 65 digs.
Sophomore outside hitter Mary-Kate Marshall had eight kills with 14 digs. Junior outside hitter Lila Toner posted eight kills on .238 hitting, while redshirt junior outside hitter Katelyn Driscoll hit .222 en route to a team-high 10 kills.
Redshirt junior setter Dana Backlund had 17 assists, while redshirt freshman setter McKenna Hollingsworth had 15 assists while splitting setting duties. Hollingsworth added 10 digs for a double-double. Freshman libero Kayla Ellis closed out her freshman campaign with a team-high 17 digs.
“Our passing and setting in particular as well as our hitting in timely moments need to improve,” Liskevych said. “We know where we're at. We've played a lot of our young players - like Lanesha Reagan, Kayla and Kory Cheshire, who was hurt and didn't play the last month-and-a-half. I think each of those players has a lot of upside. Despite what our record shows on paper, we're not that far away from being pretty good. Take a match like this – it's a matter of two or three points here or there.”
Oregon State and Oregon traded points for much of the first set, including 12 tied scores and four lead changes over the early span. The Beavers took their largest lead of the opening frame at 14-11, and held the advantage until trailing at 19-18. Assisted by a pair of OSU attack errors, Oregon took four of the next five points for a 23-19 lead, and then forced set point at 24-20. A kill from Haley Clarke staved off set point once, but the Ducks took the opening frame, 25-21.
Attack errors bit OSU to open the second frame, as the Beavers misfired four times leading up to an early 7-3 advantage for Oregon. The Ducks held the three-point advantage up to a 17-14 edge, but a kill from Toner and a UO attack error drew the Beavers within one. OSU was within one again at 19-18, but a 3-0 run for Oregon pushed the Ducks' advantage to four at 22-18. Kills from Marshall and Clarke helped the Beavers close within three at 23-20, but Oregon closed with the next two points to win the second set, 25-20.
After beginning the third set with a 5-4 edge, Oregon surged ahead to a 10-5 lead on a 5-1 run, benefitting from a pair of OSU attack errors and a service ace. The Ducks continued to lead by five up to an 18-13 advantage, but the Beavers got kills from Toner and Reagan as well as a UO ball-handling error to cut the deficit to two at 18-16. The deficit remained at two at a 23-21, but Oregon took the final two points to finish off the match with a 25-21 third set.
“I think we just have to use this as a stepping stone towards working hard in the winter and the spring to correct our skill errors,” Liskevych said. “We've just got to get our veteran players to work hard. Next year we're going to have seven seniors - that's a big group of seniors. We should have a veteran team that is ready to go for it.”
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.
