2019 Season Wrap-Up

Photo by: Dave Nishitani/Oregon State Athletics

December 20, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

2019 Season Wrap-Up

By: Athletic Communications

WHAT TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2020
• When the season concluded in November, the Beavers were slated to return starters at six positions.
• Haylie Bennett (25 starts) returns at the opposite hitter position, while Chloe Brown (18) and Maddie Goings (17) will be back as well. In addition, Cecilee Max-Brown, who started eight out of 11 matches she played will be expected to re-take a starting spot.
• Grace Massey, who was voted by her teammates as the team MVP for the second straight season, returns for her senior year at libero.
• Lindsey Schell will be back at middle blocker for the Beavers as the only player at the position with college experience.
• Nya Buckner, who redshirted as a freshman in 2018 and then missed the 2019 season due to injury, and Amya Small, who redshirted this season, are expected to make their OSU debuts in the fall.
• The Beavers' staff added four recruits for the 2020 season. Nevaeh Bray, a middle blocker from Corvallis, Aliyah McDonald, a middle blocker from Pearland, Texas, Ellie Turner, a libero from Austin, Texas and Mychael Vernon, an outside hitter from Ossining, N.Y., will provide reinforcements in 2020. Turner will arrive on campus in January.

THE 2019 SEASON
   The season opened on a positive foot with the Beavers registering a pair of sweeps over UC Irvine and Boston College on the opening day of the season at the Oregon Classic. Newcomers Chloe Brown and Cecilee Max-Brown were named to the all-tournament team.
   Week 2's trip to the Hoosier Invite proved costly for Oregon State which lost a five-set match to Oklahoma was swept by the host Hoosiers before rebounding for a 3-1 win over Yale. Setter Maddie Sheehan played through illness while outside hitters Maddie Goings, Amy Underdown and Brown suffered injuries.
   The Beavers were forced to play at the Redhawk Invitational minus four of their top hitters as Max-Brown joined the ranks of the walking wounded missing the first weekend of five straight due to illness. Kory Cheshire, normally a starter at middle blocker, moved to opposite and eventually to the left-side en route to earning tournament MVP honors. In addition, Shekinah Clarke, who had been finishing rehab on a knee injury was called into action and set career-highs in every statistical category earning all-tournament honors as the Beavers earned three wins over New Mexico, Gonzaga and Seattle.
   Goings returned to the lineup at the UNC/CSU Classic but Oregon State struggled while Brown, Max-Brown and Underdown still sidelined, taking a trio of losses to Northern Colorado, Colorado State and Cal Poly.
   The return of Brown and Underdown to open Pac-12 play was a boon to the Beavers' lineup as they joined Haylie Bennett, who had settled in after regaining the starting opposite role she had held the previous two seasons. OSU rallied from a set down twice to upend No. 24 Oregon to kick off the conference slate at Gill Coliseum. The Beavers returned to action the next evening beating Colorado in four sets to open the Pac-12 schedule 2-0 for the first time since 2004.
   The Beavers struggled against through four straight losses to ranked teams after beginning the Pac-12 season 2-0.
   Max-Brown finally returned to action in a reserve role against USC, on Oct. 18, giving the Beavers the entire arsenal of weapons for the first time since the team was in Indiana, Sept. 6. However, Sheehan, the Beavers' primary setter, suffered a season-ending injury at Washington State the previous weekend. OSU struggled as the Beavers instituted a 6-2 offensive system on the fly.
   Oregon State snapped a six-game losing streak with a win over Arizona in Tucson (10/25). The Beavers came back from a two sets to none deficit for the first time since 2011 as senior setter Montanna Gubrud directed the offense and set what was then her career-high with 39 assists.
   The win over the Wildcats proved to be the last of the season for OSU in 2019. The Beavers played well down the stretch taking Arizona State, Arizona and USC to five sets in back-to-back-to-back matches but could never push through for the victory.

SENIORS
• The Oregon State volleyball program honored six student-athletes prior to its final home weekend of the season. The Senior Night ceremony celebrated Makenna Browne, Serena Bruin, Kory Cheshire, Shekinah Clarke, Montanna Gubrud and Amy Underdown.
• Browne is expected to graduate in the spring with a degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from OSU's Honors College with a minor in chemistry.
• Bruin is slated to earn her degree in psychology in June.
• Cheshire already has her undergraduate degrees in sociology and psychology from when she graduated last December. She will finish her Master of Arts degree in interdisciplinary studies with education, adult and higher education and sociology as her disciplines in the spring.
• Clarke will collect her double-degree in human development and family sciences as well as public health in June.
• Gubrud will graduate in the spring with a degree in business administration.
• Underdown will graduate in December with a degree in sociology with an option in crime and justice.

ACES
• Opposite hitter Haylie Bennett was selected to the Pac-12 All-Conference Honorable Mention team.
• Libero Grace Massey was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 30 following a 2-0 opening weekend of the Pac-12 season. Massey registered a then-career-best 32 digs against Oregon in a five-set Civil War win.

ALL-ACADEMIC HONORS
• Eight Oregon State volleyball student-athletes were named to the Pac-12 Fall Academic Honorable Roll. The fall honor roll replaces the Pac-12 All-Academic teams of the past.
• Kory Cheshire earned Pac-12 academic honors for the third time.
• Haylie Bennett, Makenna Browne, Grace Massey and Lindsey Schell are all two-time recipients of conference academic awards.
• Nya Buckner, Maddie Sheehan and Amy Underdown received their first career academic nods.

CAREER RECORD BOOKS
• Junior libero Grace Massey bookended the 2019 season with impressive individual accomplishments ... in the season-opener against UC Irvine, she registered the 1,000th dig of her career becoming the 16th player to accomplish the feat in OSU history ... in the finale, Massey became the third player in school history to collect the 1,500th dig of her career.
• Senior Kory Cheshire completed her career with 305 total blocks in her career ranking 13th all-time ... in addition, she tallied 244 block assists which also ranks 13th in school history ... and she amassed 61 solo blocks to rank 16th in OSU history.
• Junior Maddie Goings tallied the 1,000th kill of her career in the season finale becoming the 16th attacker in OSU history to reach that milestone ... Goings also has 844 career digs to rank 23rd in OSU history.
• Junior opposite Haylie Bennett entered OSU's record books this fall as well and currently ranks 30th in school history with 736 kills ... she has also been part of 234 blocks in her career to rank 22nd.
• Sophomore setter Maddie Sheehan's season was interrupted by injury but she has 1,467 assists in her career and ranks 10th in OSU history.
• Senior setter Montanna Gubrud finished her two-year career at OSU with 801 assists to rank 15th in OSU history.

MASSEY DIGS IT
• Grace Massey finished the season with 524 digs in 2019, which ranks as the third-most by a junior in OSU history and is the fifth-most in a single season by an OSU player.
• That averages out to 4.30 digs/set which also ranks third among juniors and is sixth in OSU single season history.

BENNETT FIRING BULLETS
• Junior opposite Haylie Bennett returned from an injury-marred 2018 campaign this fall and proved to be the Beavers most consistent offensive force earning Pac-12 All-Conference Honorable Mention.
• Bennett began the season on the bench, but resumed her starting role when injuries ravaged the Beavers early in the season, and she never gave it up after.
• Bennett led the Beavers with a career-high 333 kills (3.00 k/s) in 2019.
• Her 333 kills is the 10th-most in OSU history by a junior.

GOINGS GOING GONE
• Junior Maddie Goings, who moved to the right side to begin the season ended up playing all over the court due to injuries, tallied 302 kills in 2019 (2.88 k/s), to rank second on the team in kills and third in kills per set.
• Goings registered 56 kills at the Hoosier Invite for a 4.67 k/s clip en route to earning all-tournament honors.

GUBRUD, SHEEHAN SET THE TABLE
• Senior setter Montanna Gubrud finished the 2019 season as the Beavers' primary setter and registered 662 assists for the season, which ranks as the 10th-most by a senior in program history.
• Gubrud, who transferred into the program in 2018, averaged 6.62 assists per set, which is ninth in OSU history for a senior.
• Sophomore setter Maddie Sheehan's season was cut short by injury, but her 494 assists in 2019 goes down as the eighth-most by a sophomore in school history.

TH-UNDERDOWN FOR 1,000
• Senior outside hitter Amy Underdown registered the 1,000th kill of her collegiate career against UCLA (10/20).
• Underdown tallied 537 kills during her first two seasons at Northeastern before transferring to Oregon State.
• She led the Beavers, in 2018, her first season at OSU with 406 kills. Her 406 kills are the eighth-most by a junior in OSU history.
• Underdown finished the 2019 season with 163 kills giving her 1,106 career kills during her college career.

MAX-BROWN BRINGS HEAT
• Freshman Cecilee Max-Brown began the season by earning a starting spot at outside hitter. However, after earning Oregon Classic all-tournament honors and recording her first college double-double at the Hoosier Invite, she came down with an illness that sidelined her for the next five weeks.
• Max-Brown returned to action at home against USC (10/18) and made her first conference start two days later against UCLA posting 16 kills.
• She accounted for 58 kills across 20 sets (six matches) for 2.90 kills/set (second on the team) before being sidelined again, this time for the remainder of the season.
• Her 2.90 k/s goes down as the sixth-best rate among freshman in school history.

TEAM AWARDS
The team held its annual senior banquet during Senior Weekend in November where team awards were handed out at the time:
• Merritt B. Jensen Coaches Award - Montanna Gubrud
• Most Value-Full Player - Haylie Bennett
• George and Ruthann Root Most Improved Award - Taylor Quinn
• Most Valuable Player - Grace Massey
• Weight Room Warrior Award - Kory Cheshire
* The Most Improved, MVP and Weight Room Warrior awards were voted on by the players.

NEWCOMER CONTRIBUTIONS
• The Beavers welcomed five newcomers to the fold in 2019 - sophomore transfer OH Chloe Brown and freshmen S Mary Kate Lopez, OH Cecilee Max-Brown, DS Taylor Quinn and MB Amya Small.
• Brown and Max-Brown made an immediate impact on the squad winning both of the starting outside hitter spots. The pair of newbies led the Beavers in the opening weekend at the Oregon Classic with both earning all-tournament team honors.
• Brown missed several matches due to injury but finished the season in a revamped lineup as one of the Beavers' primary passers.
• Max-Brown was sidelined by illness twice and missed the majority of the season. She was extremely effective when on the court registered 2.90 kills/set.
• Quinn has quiet early in the season earning extensive playing time late in the year and registering a season-high 17 digs in the second Civil War against Oregon in Eugene.
• Lopez spent the early portion of the season trapped behind a pair of more experienced setters. She worked in a 6-2 offense at midseason earning her first extensive playing time and set a personal mark with 16 assists against UCLA.
• Stuck behind a trio of veterans at middle blocker, Small redshirted in 2019 but also battled injuries during the season.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS
• Oregon Classic - New starting outside hitters Chloe Brown and Cecilee Max-Brown were named to the Oregon Classic All-Tournament Team in their OSU debuts. Brown led the Beavers with 12 and 13 kills respectively and registered the first double-double of her career.
• Hoosier Invite - Maddie Goings set a career-high with 26 kills against Oklahoma and totaled 56 in the Beavers' trip to Indiana. Goings was named to the all-tournament team.
• Redhawk Invitational - Kory Cheshire garnered MVP honors and Shekinah Clarke earned an all-tournament nod as the Beavers swept the competition. Cheshire set a career-high with 17 kills against Gonzaga and 23 digs against New Mexico, while Clarke registered a career-high 15 kills against the Lobos.