The Barometer Online

Issue date: 11/30/06 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Andrew Burton The OSU volleyball team had trouble communicating on the court this year, and it showed in the matches: the Beavers were winless in the Pac-10, going 0-18.

Sometimes, there's no way around the obvious: it was a rough season for the OSU volleyball team.

The Beavers, under second-year coach Taras Liskevych, expected to get out of the basement of the Pacific-10 with three returning seniors and a talented crop of freshmen. But OSU could never quite combine the experience and youth, finishing the season 0-18 in the Pac-10 and 3-24 overall.

"I feel that certainly the record was not a good record and think we should have done better as a team and I take the blame for that," Liskevych said. "The buck has to stop with me. I feel like I have to figure out a way to get this team to be better and play better."

The Beavers were hampered all season by an inability to communicate in the backcourt and struggled with serve receiving. Their experienced players also struggled: the three seniors, Abby Windell, Brittany Cahoon and Taylor Studzinski just couldn't all play well on the same night. But, Liskevych says, the seniors did a lot for the team off the court.

"They did a really great job getting the team together," he said. "This team has really good team unity and I attribute that to the seniors, particularly Britt and Abby."

And while Oregon State will miss Windell and Cahoon's presence at the net, the group of young kids can only get better.

Rachel Rourke, an outside hitter from Australia, became OSU's go-to player, averaging 4.25 kills per game and terminating the ball 387 times on the season. Rourke was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team.

Lexie Rathgeber, a freshman middle blocker, was also named to a Pac-10 All-Freshman team. Rathgeber led the Beavers in blocking, with 77 block assists and 89 total blocks.

"The freshmen are going to be good," Liskevych said. "They need more seasoning, more skill work and to continue to learn the game of volleyball."

The Beavers will also get help when Camilla Ah-Hoy, a freshman setter, returns next season. Ah-Hoy was lost midway through the year to a torn ACL.

"In spite of having such a miserable year, we kept fighting in all the games and that's good," Liskevych said. "It's tough. But you know that old saying ... you gotta get worse before you get better. And there's nothing but up from here."

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