Beavers Fall in Intense Five-Setter to UCLA

Sunday, October 20

Corvallis, OR

2:00 PM

Oregon State

8-11,6-2Pac-12

UCLA

10-7,5-3Pac-12

UCLA

Oregon St.

Photo by: Dave Nishitani/Oregon State Athletics

October 20, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

By: Athletic Communications

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State volleyball team fought back from a two set deficit but fell to UCLA in a tough five-setter Sunday afternoon at Gill Coliseum.

The loss drops the Beavers' overall record to 8-11 and 2-6 in the Pac-12 Conference, while the Bruins improve to 10-7, 5-3. Set scores were 23-25, 15-25, 30-28, 26-24 and 14-16.

"To get to a fifth set after the start we had was amazing," head coach Mark Barnard said. "We've shown a much better ability fight back when we're behind recently and we're learning from those experiences but we just have to keep working.

"Cecilee (Max-Brown) really showed today that she is going to be very good at this level for the next four years. I'm excited to have her back on the floor. I was also very pleased with Maddie Goings. She really stepped it up today. We started with her just playing in the back row, but when she moved to the front row as well she adjusted extremely well. Of course, Grace Massey was really good again as well. She passed well and dug well. Her ability to read the ball and defend the court is outstanding."

The early going of the opening set saw the Beavers effectively spreading the ball around as each of OSU's starting outside hitters – Amy Underdown, Chloe Brown and Haylie Bennett – recorded kills to make it 4-1. The Bruins tied the score at 8-8 and the teams swapped sideouts to 13-13 at which point UCLA used a 5-0 run to go ahead 18-13. Kills by Underdown and Lindsey Schell closed the gap to 21-20 but the Bruins held on to take the opening set, 25-23.

UCLA bolted out to a 4-0 lead in the second set and held on throughout the set, taking it 25-15 to go up two sets to none.

The Bruins once again took an early lead in the third set, but the Beavers fought back with a pair of Underdown kills to tie the score at 8-8. Eight ties later, another Underdown kill, a UCLA attack error and a kill by Max-Brown gave the Beavers a 19-16 lead. Another errant shot by the Bruins gave OSU its first set point at 24-21. UCLA fought off three straight set points to tie the score at 24-24. The teams continued to trade blows with the Beavers serving for the set at 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 before Max-Brown finally put away her fourth kill of the set to win the set, 30-28.

In the fourth set, the Bruins pushed out to an 11-7 lead but again OSU brought it back as Goings and Max-Brown caught fire with seven kills apiece in the set. The Beavers tied the score at 14 and eventually took their first lead at 17-16 on a block by Brown and Lindsey Schell. Oregon State fell back again to a 19-17 deficit but a 3-1 run capped by a kill from Brown tied the score at 20. Two more Max-Brown kills and a block by Goings and Kory Cheshire gave the Beavers set point again at 24-21. UCLA once again fought back to tie the score at 24 but a service error by the Bruins and a block by Cheshire and Max-Brown finished the set for the Beavers, 26-24.

Oregon State took the lead early in the fifth at 3-1 and the Beavers clung to that two-point advantage to 6-4. But the Bruins weren't done running off four straight to go ahead 8-6. UCLA opened the lead to 13-9, but the Beavers scratched back into it with three consecutive points including back-to-back blocks, first by Cheshire and Max-Brown and then Goings winning a one-on-one battle to pull within one at 13-12. Another kill by Chloe Brown tied the score at 14-14, but UCLA finished the match with two straight to win the set, 16-14, and the match.

Game Notes: Both of the Beavers' setters recorded career-highs in assists with Montanna Gubrud doling out 38 dimes and Mary Kate Lopez connecting for kills 16 times … Maddie Goings registered a team-high 17 kills and added 10 digs for a double-double … Cecilee Max-Brown came off the bench in the second set to tally 16 kills in her first weekend back since September (illness) … Grace Massey tallied a match-high 24 digs … Max-Brown, Kory Cheshire and Lindsey Schell each recorded six blocks in the match.

Next Up: Oregon State is on the road the next two weeks traveling to Arizona (Oct. 25) and Arizona State (Oct. 27) next week and then Stanford (Nov. 1) and California (Nov. 2) the week after.

Season and single game tickets for the 2019 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.

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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