Oregon State
5-19, 3-11Pac-12
Stanford
17-5, 11-3Pac-12
OSU Volleyball Falls to No. 7 Stanford, 3-0
November 08, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State volleyball team fell to the seventh-ranked Stanford Cardinal in three sets on Sunday afternoon at Gill Coliseum.
Oregon State (5-19, 3-11 Pac-12) fell in a close opening frame, 25-23, before dropping the final two, 25-21 and 25-18. Stanford (17-5, 11-3 Pac-12) hit .378 and .441 in the final two respective sets and finished the match hitting .365, while the Beavers hit .248 for the match.
“Stanford is a very good team,” Oregon State head coach Taras Liskevych said. “I thought we served aggressively and had them out of system a lot. When Stanford is in system, they are very difficult to stop. We just have to keep plugging away.”
Redshirt junior Katelyn Driscoll led OSU offensively with 11 kills on .320 hitting. Sophomore outside hitter Mary-Kate Marshall (.212) recorded 10 kills and four digs. Junior outside hitter Lila Toner (.227) had nine kills and three blocks, while redshirt freshman outside hitter Lanesha Reagan hit .294 with seven kills.
“All four of our outsides hit positive numbers,” Liskevych said. “If anything, to beat a team like that we have to take some risks. You have to really go after them.”
Each of redshirt freshman McKenna Hollingsworth and redshirt junior Dana Backlund had 15 assists and a service ace. Freshman libero Kayla Ellis had a team-high 10 digs with an ace.
After hitting .407 against California on Friday, Oregon State kept its hot play going, seizing an early 8-3 lead and extending it to six at 17-11. The Beavers were aced and committed three attack errors en route to a tie at 21, and another Beaver error gave Stanford the lead at 22-21. Kills from Marshall helped Oregon State knot the set back up at 23 apiece, but the Cardinal took the final two points of the set to take the opening frame, 25-23.
“In my mind, there could have been a different outcome if not for the sequence in the first set in which we didn't get the ball over the net three times in a row,” Liskevych said. “We keep saying to our team that you have to learn that you can't go through the match making the same mistakes over and over again.”
The score remained close for most of the early second set up to a 15-14 edge for Stanford. A service error and attack error by OSU helped push the Cardinal advantage to 18-14, but the Beavers answered with a pair of blocks en route to a tie at 19. Stanford regained the edge at 21-20, then took four of the final five points to win the set, 25-21, and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Stanford carried the momentum of the second set over through the third set, opening the frame with a 12-6 lead. Oregon State trimmed the lead to two at 14-12, but Stanford took 10 of the next 13 points to serve for match point at 24-14. The Beavers fought off match point three times, but ultimately fell to the Cardinal after a 25-18 third set.
The Oregon State volleyball team hits the road next weekend for a pair of Los Angeles area matches. The Beavers are set to face USC on Thursday, Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. PT, and UCLA on Sunday, No. 15 for an 11 a.m. PT match.
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.
