Volleyball falls to Arizona State, Arizona
The Daily Barometer
Issue date: 11/13/06 Section: Sports
The Oregon State spikers struggled with their attack efficiency Friday night, falling to Arizona in three games 30-27, 30-18 and 30-24.
With the loss, Oregon State falls to 3-20 overall and 0-14 in the Pacific-10, while Arizona improves to 12-15 overall and 3-12 in the conference.
The Beavers found themselves trailing 13-22 in game one before coming alive to make things interesting. Consecutive kills from Brittany Cahoon, Kristin Murray and Lexie Rathgeber got OSU back in the game. Shortly after that, a block by Murray and an attack error forced Arizona to call a timeout with the score 18-23. However, a series of Oregon State errors put the Beavers into a 18-28 hole. OSU again had an answer as outside hitter-turned-setter Taylor Studzinski recorded two kills to force Arizona's final timeout at 23-28. The Beavers continued to fight holding off four straight game points as Kaitlyn Myers tallied three consecutive kills, but the effort was too little, too late and the Beavers fell 27-30.
Murray led the Beavers with 11 points on 10 kills and two total blocks. Defensive specialist Jennifer Fitz tied her career-high with 14 digs and Rathgeber led OSU at the net with four total blocks.
OSU also dropped its game to Arizona State Thursday night, despite a career-high 28 kills from freshman outside hitter Rachel Rourke. The Beavers fell in four games 30-17, 29-31, 30-26 and 30-17.
"This is a work in progress," said head coach Taras Liskevych. "We won a game tonight and that's a start but we need to keep working on our passing. We had a couple untimely serving errors that killed us in game three and that was the game."
The Beavers gained a 12-11 lead in the second game on a stuff-block by Rourke and held on to win the game. OSU used a pair of Rourke kills, one by Cahoon and an ace by Ashley Evans to push the lead to 27-22. Slowly the Sun Devils crept back into the game tying the score at 29-29 and stirring up the crowd of 1,704 before Rourke tallied her seventh kill of the game to go up 30-29. A scrambling rally by the Beavers resulted in an overpass that ASU's Tierra Burnley attacked at the middle of the net. But Evans raced by the play with one arm raised, rejecting Burnley's offering as the ball bounded to the back-left corner of ASU's court to send the Beavers to the locker room even at one game apiece.
Oregon State trailed 20-23 in a close contest late in game three but back-to-back service errors by Murray and Ali Walker sandwiched potential momentum changing kills by Rourke. With the Beavs trailing 22-26 and unable to capitalize, OSU dropped the game and eventually the match.
Rourke totaled 30.5 points on 28 kills and three total blocks. Murray joined Rourke in double figures with 13 points on nine kills, three aces and a block. Evans led three Beavers with 15 digs. Rourke's 28-kill match ties her for 10th most ever by an Oregon State player.
OSU returns to Gill Coliseum next week for the final home games of the season. The Beavers will be challenged by California on Thursday at 7 p.m. and then face Stanford on Friday at 7 p.m. on Senior Night.
With the loss, Oregon State falls to 3-20 overall and 0-14 in the Pacific-10, while Arizona improves to 12-15 overall and 3-12 in the conference.
The Beavers found themselves trailing 13-22 in game one before coming alive to make things interesting. Consecutive kills from Brittany Cahoon, Kristin Murray and Lexie Rathgeber got OSU back in the game. Shortly after that, a block by Murray and an attack error forced Arizona to call a timeout with the score 18-23. However, a series of Oregon State errors put the Beavers into a 18-28 hole. OSU again had an answer as outside hitter-turned-setter Taylor Studzinski recorded two kills to force Arizona's final timeout at 23-28. The Beavers continued to fight holding off four straight game points as Kaitlyn Myers tallied three consecutive kills, but the effort was too little, too late and the Beavers fell 27-30.
Murray led the Beavers with 11 points on 10 kills and two total blocks. Defensive specialist Jennifer Fitz tied her career-high with 14 digs and Rathgeber led OSU at the net with four total blocks.
OSU also dropped its game to Arizona State Thursday night, despite a career-high 28 kills from freshman outside hitter Rachel Rourke. The Beavers fell in four games 30-17, 29-31, 30-26 and 30-17.
"This is a work in progress," said head coach Taras Liskevych. "We won a game tonight and that's a start but we need to keep working on our passing. We had a couple untimely serving errors that killed us in game three and that was the game."
The Beavers gained a 12-11 lead in the second game on a stuff-block by Rourke and held on to win the game. OSU used a pair of Rourke kills, one by Cahoon and an ace by Ashley Evans to push the lead to 27-22. Slowly the Sun Devils crept back into the game tying the score at 29-29 and stirring up the crowd of 1,704 before Rourke tallied her seventh kill of the game to go up 30-29. A scrambling rally by the Beavers resulted in an overpass that ASU's Tierra Burnley attacked at the middle of the net. But Evans raced by the play with one arm raised, rejecting Burnley's offering as the ball bounded to the back-left corner of ASU's court to send the Beavers to the locker room even at one game apiece.
Oregon State trailed 20-23 in a close contest late in game three but back-to-back service errors by Murray and Ali Walker sandwiched potential momentum changing kills by Rourke. With the Beavs trailing 22-26 and unable to capitalize, OSU dropped the game and eventually the match.
Rourke totaled 30.5 points on 28 kills and three total blocks. Murray joined Rourke in double figures with 13 points on nine kills, three aces and a block. Evans led three Beavers with 15 digs. Rourke's 28-kill match ties her for 10th most ever by an Oregon State player.
OSU returns to Gill Coliseum next week for the final home games of the season. The Beavers will be challenged by California on Thursday at 7 p.m. and then face Stanford on Friday at 7 p.m. on Senior Night.
Note: writers will not reply to comments.
Be the first to comment on this story
Comments by registered users are approved by default.