Beavers Take Utes to Five

Friday, November 16

Corvallis, OR

7:00 PM

Oregon State

11-18, 1-16Pac-12

Utah

16-13, 8-10Pac-12

Utah

Oregon State

Photo by: Dave Nishitani/Oregon State Athletics

November 16, 2018 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Athletic Communications

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State volleyball team took Utah to five sets before coming up short Friday night at Gill Coliseum.

Amy Underdown notched 26 kills, the most in her OSU career, to lead the Beavers' offense and senior defensive specialist Kayla Ellis tallied a season-best 21 digs to lead four OSU players with 10 or more digs.

The loss drops the Beavers to 11-18 and 1-16 in Pac-12 play, while the Utes improve to 16-13, 8-10. Set scores were 20-25, 25-22, 14-25, 25-22 and 10-15.

"The team is still fighting. We started slowly and then got going again," head coach Mark Barnard. "We were on a little volleyball rollercoaster tonight. We had an opportunity and didn't take advantage."

Utah started the match quickly opening an 8-4 lead in the early going. The Beavers, still trailing 13-6 pushed back with a 4-1 flurry to close the gap to 14-10. However, OSU was never really able to threaten the Utes in the opening period despite eight kills by Underdown in the set.

OSU ripped off the first three points of Set 2 with a pair of kills by Underdown and an ace by Grace Massey. The Beavers pushed the lead out to 7-3 on a kill by Maddy Gravley before Utah pushed back with three in a row. Oregon State continued to battle through a series of sideouts until Utah tied the score at 13-13. However, the Beavers refused to yield the lead eventually using back-to-back blocks by Lindsey Schell to go up 20-16. The Utes climbed back to tie the score at 22-22 but Underdown answered putting a ball on the floor followed by a Maddie Goings kill. Gravley closed the set with a solo block to give the Beavers the set, 25-22, tying the match.

The third set was close until Utah used a 7-1 burst to take the lead at 10-4. Goings recorded back-to-back kills but the Utes continued to put pressure on the Beavers opening the lead to 15-7. OSU tried to mount a comeback with consecutive kills from Underdown backed by a Daniela Vargas kill off an overpass but it wasn't enough. Utah went on to secure the third set, 25-14.

The Beavers opened the fourth set with kills from Schell and Vargas before settling into a series of sideouts. Tied at 9-9, OSU went on an 8-4 run to open a lead at 17-13 capped by a rare Kayla Ellis kill off an overpass by the Utes. Utah made it a two-point game at 20-18 but OSU pushed out again to 22-18. A pair of kills and an attack error by the Beavers brought the Utes to within one at 23-22 but Oregon State held on to finish the set, 25-22, forcing a fifth set.

Utah used three straight aces to take an early 5-1 lead in the deciding set forcing Oregon State into a quick timeout. OSU closed the gap to two points at 7-5 on a fortuitous kill by Maddie Sheehan, on a play in which she poked the ball over the net landing it just inside the tape. The Utes once again moved out to a 11-6 lead which the Beavers were unable to overcome falling 15-10 in the fifth set.

"Amy (Underdown) did a great job attacking from the back row especially in the fourth set and Kayla (Ellis) played really well too."

Game Notes: Amy Underdown recorded 26 kills, the most in her OSU career … Underdown and Maddie Sheehan both recorded double-doubles. It is the team-leading 12th double-double of the season for Underdown … Daniela Vargas tied her career-high with 16 attacks and tied her season-best with five kills … Kayla Ellis registered her season-high with 21 digs to lead four Beavers in double figures … Maddy Gravley led the team with six blocks.

Next Up: Oregon State is back on the Gill Coliseum floor Sunday at 11 a.m. to host Colorado. The match is OSU's #GoBeavs Day/Fan Appreciation match. All fans in attendance can be entered in a drawing for prizes and season ticket holders in attendance will receive free popcorn.

Single game tickets for the 2018 Oregon State volleyball season are 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.

OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).