Beavers Come Up Short in the Fifth at Utah

Thursday, October 11

Salt Lake City, UT

6:00 PM

Oregon State

10-9, 0-7

Utah

10-8, 2-5

Oregon State

Utah

Photo by: Mark Hoffman

October 11, 2018 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Athletic Communications

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Oregon State volleyball team rebounded from an early 2-0 deficit to force a fifth set before falling at Utah Thursday night.

With the loss, the Beavers fell to 10-9 and 0-7 in Pac-12 play, while Utah improved to 10-8, 2-5. Set scores were 18-25, 30-32, 25-22, 25-20 and 13-15.

Haylie Bennett and Maddie Goings led the Beavers' offense with 19 kills apiece. Defensively Grace Massey accumulated 20 digs while Kayla Ellis and Maddie Sheehan each registered 14 digs each.

"We had a chance to win tonight and we haven't been in that position in a while," head coach Mark Barnard said. "Our first set was as poor as I've seen, but to come back and play so well from the second half of the Set 2 through the fifth was a huge positive. We served well tonight and put a lot of pressure on Utah. Unfortunately our middles were ineffective offensively and defensively which hasn't been the case for us this year."

Oregon State struggled in the opening set and trailed 24-15 before a four-point burst supplied the Beavers' first sign of life.

After dropping the first set, 25-18, the Beavers continued to scuffle in the Set 2 trailing 16-10. At that point something clicked and OSU, behind the serving of Kayla Ellis, rolled off nine straight points. Goings tallied a couple kills, Lindsey Schell and Maddie Sheehan combined on a pair of blocks and Ellis scored on back-to-back aces during the flurry. The Utes fought back into it tying the score at 22-22. The teams traded sideouts the rest of the way and OSU had four set points, but Utah eventually took the set 32-30 to gain a two sets to none advantage.

The Beavers weren't finished though. Tied at 8-8 in the third set, the Beavers went on a 9-1 run with Goings and Bennett each recording kills, Maddy Gravley registering a block and Goings adding on back-to-back aces. Utah continued to fight as well, narrowing the gap to 23-21, but timely kills by Sheehan and Serena Bruin gave OSU the set, 25-22.

Oregon State continued to ride the momentum taking an early 7-2 lead in the Set 4. Another 6-1 spurt by the Beavers put OSU up 13-4. Utah finally changed the course trailing 17-7 working its way back into the match to close the gap to 22-20, but OSU scored the last three points to force a fifth set.

The Beavers and Utes fought for each point in the final stanza with neither team able to game more than a single point advantage until Utah scored three in a row to go up 10-8. The Beavers answered with a pair of Goings kills, but the Utes pulled away again to make it 13-10. Utah gained its first match point at 14-11. OSU fought off the first match point scoring on a Utah attack error to make it 14-12. A long rally followed with Utah eventually winning the point. However, at the behest of his players, Barnard challenged the ruling on the court and was rewarded with another life, when the replay showed a Utah player had touched the net during the play giving the Beavers leaving OSU down 14-13. Utah registered the final point to secure the match 15-13.

Game Notes: Sophomore opposite hitter Haylie Bennett tied for the team lead with a career-high 19 kills … Maddie Goings added 19 kills of her own to go with 10 digs for her seventh double-double of the season … Amy Underdown added her team-leading eighth double-double with 13 kills and 10 digs … freshman setter Maddie Sheehan posted career-highs in assists (49), kills (8), digs (17) and tied her personal mark with five blocks … Grace Massey lead the squad with 20 digs, while Kayla Ellis added 17.

Next Up: Oregon State remains in the mountain time zone and will travel to Boulder to face Colorado on Sunday on Pac-12 Mountain.

Season and single game tickets for the 2018 Oregon State volleyball season are now available for purchase via BeaverTickets.com/Volleyball and 1-800-GO-BEAVS.

Oregon State volleyball fans are encouraged to join Off the Bench, the program's new donor club. Click here for more information or call Alex Gary in Our Beaver Nation at 541-737-2370.

As a ticketed event, Oregon State volleyball matches will now adhere to the Athletic Department's Clear Bag Policy, which was implemented in the spring as an additional security measure and to provide fans a more consistent and efficient entry process. For more information on the policy, click here.

For more information on the Oregon State volleyball team, follow the club's official Twitter account at Twitter.com/BeaverVBall, by Facebook at Facebook.com/BeaverVBall or on Instagram at Instagram.com/BeaverVBall.

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