Oregon State Suffers Sweep to No. 12 UCLA
CORVALLIS, Ore. – In front of Beaver Nation for its annual Dam Change Match, Oregon State volleyball suffered a 3-0 sweep (25-23, 25-14, 25-16) to No. 12-ranked UCLA inside Gill Coliseum Friday night in Pac-12 action. The Beavers dropped to 4-21 overall and 2-13 in league play while the Bruins improve their winning streak to seven.
The nationally-ranked Bruins hit .294 compared to the Beavers, who were led by freshman Mychael Vernon's nine kills, .109 hitting percentage.
Senior Maddie Goings did not appear in tonight's match while 12 other OSU student-athletes appeared in the match. Freshman Kateryna Tkachenko chipped in seven kills while Nya Buckner added five. Junior middle blocker Lindsey Schell added four kills to go along with seven blocks.
On defense, OSU's all-time digs record holder Grace Massey led all players with 14 digs while freshman Emily Bourne added four rejections, one block away from tying a career-high.
The Beavers were outhit in the match 48 kills to 28 and five UCLA players hit for four or more kills in the match. Izzi Szulczewski added 17 assists and seven digs while DiLara Unal added OSU's lone ace.
The 12th-ranked Bruins got out to an early 5-1 start but three straight rejections started a five-point rally from the Beavers as OSU took its first lead of the opening set, 9-8. As the Beavers and Bruins traded points late, UCLA surged when it counted the most with three-straight points pulling ahead 23-20 and finishing it off five plays later at 25-23. UCLA hit .277 in the set compared to OSU's .344 while the Orange & Black also held the 5-0 block advantage, but kills were the difference with 21 from the Bruins.
UCLA put together a 7-2 run to get to 15-10 followed by a block, an OSU error and an ace to bring their total to 18. The Beavers responded with a three-point run of its own to cut the deficit to five. Set point came at 24-14, finishing off a player later at 25-14. UCLA finished with 11 kills, attacking with a .308 clip while holding the Orange & Black to just seven kills off 30 attempts.
In the third set, OSU started with a three-point run after a block and a kill forced a Bruin timeout at 6-1. UCLA began to claw back with a four-point run, evening the score at 8-8. Both teams traded points back and forth midway through the frame but after putting down two straight kills, the Bruins forced the Beavers to call a timeout at 17-14. Schell rejected her game-leading seventh block, pulling the Beavers within two, 18-16, but two UCLA kills and an OSU attacking error forced the Orange & Black to call their second timeout at 21-16. Match point came at 24-16 as the Bruins finished it off one play later. In the final set, UCLA finished with 16 kills to help seal its seventh straight victory.
UP NEXT:
The Beavers remain home Sunday, Nov. 14, hosting USC at 12 p.m. inside Gill Coliseum. OSU hits the road for the last time this season next weekend, traveling to both Washington schools on Friday and Sunday. The final regular-season matches for the Orange & Black will be at home on Nov. 24 & 26 with Senior Night slated for that Friday against the Oregon Ducks at 5 p.m.
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).