OSU Starts Strong But Falls to No. 17 UCLA
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State volleyball team (18-11, 8-10 Pac-12) started strong Saturday night when battling No. 17 UCLA (19-10, 10-8 Pac-12), but were eventually felled by the Bruins 3-1 (19-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-16).
“That’s a very good team,” said head coach Terry Liskevych. “The key to the match was we started serving tough and passing well, but in the middle of the second set it switched and UCLA was serving very tough and keeping us out of system. We have to be able to sustain the high level of play that we were at during the start of the match.”
The Beavers would lead for the majority of the first set. After trading points early the Beavers took a 4-3 lead and maintained that advantage for the duration of the set. The Beavers used runs of 6-1 and 5-1 to pull ahead of the Bruins. With the Beavers holding a 23-19 lead standout freshman Mary-Kate Marshall took control of the set, putting down back-to-back kills before finally finishing the set off with a solo block. The Beavers had no hitting errors in the first set, hitting .461.
Continuing the momentum from the first set, the Beavers jumped out to a 6-2 lead. The OSU block was working well early in the set, with Laura Schaudt and Arica Nassar teaming up for a block and then Schaudt and Amanda Brown teaming up for a pair of blocks. The Beavers continued to lead in the second set, taking a 15-10 lead, but the Bruins would regroup and go on a 10-3 run to take a 20-18 lead. The Beavers would make a late push, with kills from Nassar and Marshall, but the Bruins took the set 25-20 and sent the teams to the break with the match tied 1-1.
The Bruins jumped out to a 7-2 lead coming out of the break. The Beavers continued to battle, closing the gap, but each time they did the Bruins would go on another run. The teams traded points late in the set. The Bruins took a 2-1 lead in the match after taking the set 25-18.
The Bruins took another early lead in the fourth set, taking a 10-3 advantage. The Bruins hit .310 in the final set, putting down 19 kills. UCLA finished the set 25-16 to secure the 3-1 victory.
Marshall led the Beavers with 19 kills, hitting .267 with only three errors. She also added 13 digs for her 13th double-double. Laura Schaudt had 12 kills and a career-high eight blocks, while also adding three digs to her final line.
Tayla Woods dished out 40 assists and had 15 digs, earning her 16th double-double of the season. Darby Reeder continued her strong season, digging a match high 20 balls.
The Beavers enter the final weekend of the regular season with the most wins by an OSU team since the 1996 season. They will travel east to face No. 19 Colorado Wednesday, Nov. 26 at 2 p.m. Pacific Time. To complete the regular season the Beavers will face No. 14 Oregon Friday, Nov. 28 at 3 p.m. for Senior Night.