Beavers Knock Off No. 24 Ducks in Epic Five-Setter Fashion

Thursday, September 26

Corvallis, OR

5:30 PM

Oregon State

7-5

Oregon

4-6

Oregon

Oregon St.

Photo by: Dave Nishitani/Oregon State Athletics

Beavers Knock Off No. 24 Ducks in Epic Five-Setter Fashion

September 26, 2019 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

By: Athletic Communications

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State volleyball team (7-5, 1-0 Pac-12) made its debut in dramatic fashion with a five set victory over No. 24 Oregon (4-6, 0-1) Thursday evening at Gill Coliseum.

With a crowd of 2,618 in attendance, the Beavers overcame a rough start to knock off the Ducks for the first time since 2014. Oregon State defeated Oregon with scores of 9-25, 25-19, 20-25, 25-18 and 15-13.

"This feels unbelievable. We hadn't beaten them in a long time," head coach Mark Barnard said. "Just to start the way we did getting mauled in the first set, but to bounce back and let that first set roll off our backs was impressive."

While the entire match was hard fought, the final set was outstanding. The Beavers jumped ahead 2-0 on a block by Serena Bruin and Haylie Bennett followed by a kill for Maddie Goings. But the Ducks responded with a 5-0 run to go up 6-3. OSU answered back with another block by Bennett and Lindsey Schell during a 3-0 spurt to even the score at 6-6. It was a back and forth affair until Oregon began to pull away at 11-8 forcing an OSU timeout. Sideouts by each team brought about the Beavers' final timeout trailing 12-9. After an OSU hitting error out of the timeout making it 13-9, the Beavers mounted their comeback. Goings and Bennett registered back-to-back kills to force a UO timeout with OSU still trailing 13-11. Then a block by the Bruin/Goings tandem and a kill by Bennett tied the score at 13-13. The Beavers, who tallied six blocks in the final set, denied the Ducks twice more as Bruin and Bennett teamed up on consecutive points to give the Beavers the win, 15-13.

The first set was ugly for the Orange & Black. OSU fell behind early 4-1 but kept things close up to 8-6. But the Ducks used a 6-0 run to make it 17-8 and then pushed on with another 6-0 run to take the set 25-9.

The Beavers quickly flushed the opening game grabbing a four point lead early that would hold to 14-10. Oregon fought back to narrow the gap to 15-14, but OSU rebounded with 7-0 burst to make it 22-14. UO fought back late to close the gap but it was too little, too late with the Beavers taking the set, 25-19. Bennett registered six kills during the set and Goings added five.

The third set was tight with nine ties. Oregon finally capitalized a couple OSU errors to open a lead at 15-11. Neither team could muster more than consecutive points the rest of the way and the Ducks won the set, 25-20, to regain the lead in the match.

Oregon State came out like gangbusters in the fourth looking to erase the two sets to one deficit. OSU grabbed a 9-5 lead and refused to allow the Ducks to get closer than two points. The Beavers used a 10-2 run centered around kills by Bruin and Chloe Brown coupled with a Bruin/Brown combo block to pull ahead to 20-12. The Beavers would go on to close out the set, 25-18, to force the fifth.

Bennett paced the Beavers offense with 16 kills and Goings added 14, while Bruin chipped in with a match-high seven blocks. Grace Massey anchored the back row with a career-high 32 digs.

"Every day in practice we have to go out and re-earn your spot because we have so much depth," Bennett said. "So we know every day that there is someone beyond you that is just as good, so everyday you're fighting for your spot but at the same time we're really supporting each other. We have a really good thing going here."

Game Notes: The Beavers' win over the Ducks marks the first since 2014 … It is the Beavers' first win over a ranked team since beating then-No. 23 San Diego last September … Grace Massey recorded a career-best 32 digs and ties for the 8^th-most in OSU single match history … Maddie Sheehan notched her fifth double-double of the season with 33 assists and 16 digs … The Beavers, who two weeks ago were forced to play at the Redhawk Invitational in Seattle without four of their top options at outside hitter, got Chloe Brown and Amy Underdown back from injuries. They joined Goings who returned to the lineup last week. Freshman Cecilee Max-Brown remains sidelined by illness.

Next Up: Oregon State is back in action Friday to host Colorado. The match is slated for a 6 p.m. first serve and will air on Pac-12 Oregon and Pac-12 Mountain.

Season and single game tickets for the 2019 Oregon State volleyball season are now available for purchase via BeaverTickets.com/Volleyball and 1-800-GO-BEAVS.

Oregon State volleyball fans are encouraged to join Off the Bench, the program's new donor club. Click here for more information or call Alex Gary in Our Beaver Nation at 541-737-2370.

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.

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