Oregon State
Orange & Black Scrimmage
OSU Battles To Even Orange & Black Scrimmage
August 22, 2015 | Women's Volleyball
By Brooks Hatch
OSUBeavers.com
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Ready or not Hawai'i, here they come.
The Oregon State volleyball team held its final dress rehearsal for the 2015 season on Friday night with an evenly contested Orange and Black intrasquad scrimmage at Gill Coliseum.
The team was split down the middle for the first two sets. The Black team, coached by assistant Emily Hiza, captured the opener 25-23. The Orange team, mentored by associate head coach Mark Barnard, earned a split with a 25-17 decision in the second set.
The Beavers were then divided between the anticipated first and second units for the final two sets. The second unit edged the first unit, 25-22, in the first set, before the first unit outscored the second 8-1 down the stretch to take the second set, 15-10.
OSU opens an ambitious nonconference schedule on Friday night against Wichita State in the first of three matches at the University of Hawaii Tournament. The Beavers leave for Hawaii on Tuesday morning.
Oregon State head coach Taras Liskevych observed from the first row of the grandstand on Friday night and liked what he saw.
“We struggled in passing, so we need to pick that up a little bit,” he said. “When we had the split squad, some [players] played above the level they've shown in practice.
“I think Lanesha Reagan had a really good hitting night” for the second team. “We were pretty athletic at the net. The first unit was a little bit hesitant in its urgency. We really have to go after it.”
A redshirt freshman outside hitter from Snohomish, Wash., Reagan had 12 kills and two aces. Junior outside hitter Katelyn Driscoll had a match-high 13 and three aces; sophomore Mary-Kate Marshall and redshirt freshman Kory Cheshire had 11 kills each and junior Lila Toner added 10.
The 2015 iteration of Beavers volleyball is bidding to become the first team in school history to earn back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament. Last year's team eliminated Creighton and Arkansas-Little Rock in the postseason before falling to eventual NCAA semifinalist Stanford in the Sweet 16.
“We lost some vocal players from last year,” with the graduation of Tayla Woods and Arica Nassar, Liskevych said. “We have to pick up the urgency, spirit and enthusiasm of the first unit.
“We have to [get] people involved in every play. Everybody has to be involved to cover more; we had three balls dropped with nobody going for them.
“We have to be more involved. It's really what you do without the ball” that frequently is the difference between scoring or allowing a point.
“But overall there were some good things. We have good depth, which I'm really happy with,” a point driven home by the competiveness of the final two sets. “Our serving is really tough.”
There are no breaks in the 10-match nonconference schedule leading up to the Sept. 24 Pac-12 and home opener against Oregon. All 10 nonconference matches are on the road and six are against teams either ranked, or receiving votes, in the American Volleyball Coaches Association's preseason Top 25.
The Beavers play three total matches against BYU (No. 11), last year's NCAA runner-up, and Hawai'i (No. 18). The Shockers, Long Beach State and San Diego also received votes and the University of the Pacific, consistently one of the top non-Pac-12 teams on the West Coast, returns almost its entire team intact.
“We have a tough nonconference schedule,” Liskevych said. “We can't take it easy. We have to go after each point.”
For more information on the Oregon State volleyball team, follow the club's official Twitter account at Twitter.com/BeavsVolleyball or by Facebook at Facebook.com/OregonStateVolleyball.
