Lady Beavers Down Utah State in Five Sets
The Beavers handed the Aggies their first loss at the brand new Kirby Court at Wayne Estes Center.
(LOGAN, Utah) — The Oregon State volleyball team (2-0, 0-0 Pac-12) faced off against the Utah State Aggies (1-1, 0-0 MW) Saturday morning and took a five-set win, 16-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-17, 15-10.
The Beavers handed the Aggies their first loss at the brand new Kirby Court at Wayne Estes Center.
“It’s a good comeback win for us,” said head coach Taras Liskevych. “It’s good early in the year to be tested and come away with a win. It showed resilience on our part to come back.”
The two teams traded points early in the first set, but the Aggies eventually took a 5-4 lead and then widened the lead at 10-7 before pulling away and taking the first set 25-16. The Aggies had eight block assists in the first set. The Beavers hit -.029 in the first set, with nine kills on 35 attempts with 10 errors.
The second set saw the score tied up five times with two lead changes. The Aggies led by as many as three points midway through the set, but the Beavers would take the lead back and eventually take the set 25-21. The Aggies had nine kills on 46 swings, for a .000 attack percentage while the Beavers had nine kills on 48 swings for a .062 percentage.
The Beavers jumped out to a small lead in the third set coming out of the halftime break, but the Aggies would tie things up at 6-6, the score was tied 13 times in the set, with seven lead changes. Eventually the Aggies took a 23-21 lead and secured the final two points to take the set 25-21.
“Arica Nassar and Emilie Wilmes were both big for us off the bench” Liskevych said.
Wilmes came off the bench in the fourth set for three big kills on just four swings, including back-to-back kills for her first points as a Beaver. The Beavers ran away with the fourth set, with only one hitting error on 29 swings, they totaled 14 kills for a .448 percentage.
The Beavers jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the fifth set, but again the Aggies tied things up, with the score 3-3 the teams traded points till 9-9 in the set. Utah State took a 10-9 lead, but it would be the last point they scored in the match as the Beavers would score six points in a row to take the set 15-10 and the match 3-2.
Mary-Kate Marshall led all hitters with 21 kills on 62 swings. The freshman has 33 kills through her first two matches, for a 4.12 average per set. Nassar finished with 12 block assists, the second most in a match by an individual in school history. She also added eight kills on the night.
Tayla Woods had the lone double-double in the match for the Beavers, finishing with 44 assists and 14 digs, she also did well at the net, with one solo block and five block assists. Darby Reeder had 24 digs at libero against the Aggies. She added a kill, three assists and an ace to her final line.
“We know what it takes to win,” Liskevych said. “It’s just a question of persevering. The pre-conference season is critical as it shapes how we play as a team. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, but we have the personnel to be pretty good.”
The Beavers will return to the court later Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. PT when they face off against the Idaho State Bengals. The Bengals lost to Utah State Friday evening in four sets, 25-20, 23-25, 28-30, 14-25. The Bengals will play the Saint Mary’s Gaels immediately before playing the Beavers.
Source: Oregon State Athletics
