Beavs Use Balanced Effort to Down Cal

Thursday, November 9

Berkeley, CA

7:00 PM

Oregon State

10-15,5-10Pac-12

California

15-11,4-11Pac-12

Oregon St.

California

November 09, 2023 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Athletic Communications

BERKELEY, Calif. – Double-doubles from Amanda Burns and Megan Sheridan and strong defense helped push the Oregon State volleyball team to a four-set win over California (25-22, 18-25, 25-19, 25-22) and snap a two-match skid.

"We wanted to go into this match putting more pressure on Cal with our serve and defense and I felt we did that," said head coach Lindsey Behonick. "Our middles were a presence; Aliyah (McDonald) had a great night on both ends and Lauren (Rumel) was a big factor at the net, too. We are road warriors and this group stayed locked in throughout the match."

The Beavers (10-15, 5-10 Pac-12) saw a pair – Sheridan and Peyton Suess – get double-digits in kills (15 and 13, respectively) and used Burns' career-best 37 assists to outmuscle the homestanding Golden Bears. On the defensive end, Mychael Vernon paced OSU with 14 digs while Ryan White contributed a dozen. Sheridan contributed a season-high 10 digs to seal the double-double. Vernon also led the squad with a trio of aces, with four others each adding one.

While the first set went to Oregon State, the Beavers battled with Cal for the duration as they did not get the needed separation until late. Both sides used sizable runs in the opening stages before OSU found a spark from Rumel and Keira Herron kills to get a 4-0 run for a 21-17 lead. While Cal closed things late when they made it 24-22, Vernon sealed it at 25-22 after needed four set points.

The Golden Bears staved off a sweep as they turned the momentum with a 10-2 run en route to a 25-18 second set win. Like in the first set, neither side got separation until a run was used and the hosts got hot to flip a tie into an insurmountable lead. At the first chance for a Cal set point, the Beavs tried to make a late run with a McDonald kill and a Bears attack error but came up short when Cal's Annalea Maeder killed Burns' serve to even things.

Holding a wire-to-wire lead for the third, Oregon State used a .306 clip to push the Bears to the brink as they took the set by a 25-19 line. The Beavers jumped out to a 4-0 lead – with back-to-back kills from Sheridan – and didn't look back. In the frame, OSU had leads as large as seven and six (on multiple occasions) and let Cal trim it to as low as four. Following two unanswered Golden Bear points to make it 23-19 for the Beavs, a Rumel kill and a White ace secured the set and pushed Cal to the edge.

In a familiar spot – a 2-1 lead into the fourth – Oregon State changed the narrative from its last two times out and finished the match with the set win, taking it by a 25-22 line. Great efforts on both sides – offense with a match-best .324 clip and defense with 17 digs and 10 blocks – helped secure the set. Falling behind early with an 0–4 hole, Oregon State responded with a 13-5 run to flip it. Vital kills from Suess and Vernon, an ace from Sheridan and blocks from McDonald and Rumel helped in the run. With California threatening to make it a five-set affair with a late run of their own when they charged back to be down just 23-22, consecutive Suess kills sealed the win.

The win marked the third consecutive road win, which marks the longest streak in the Behonick era.

Oregon State will venture across the Bay to face Stanford on Saturday, November 11. Action from The Farm is slated for a 3 p.m. start and can be seen on the Stanford Live Stream.

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