Oregon State
10-16,8-8WCC
Washington State
16-9,11-5WCC
Beavs Close Gill Slate with Dominant Win over Wazzu
November 22, 2024 | Women's Volleyball
CORVALLIS, Ore. – A well-balanced effort from the Oregon State volleyball team came together for a dominant win in the home finale for the 2024 season over Washington State.
Four – Lauren Rumel (19), Annika Hester (12), Amanda Burns (11) and Vivian Light (10) – put up double-digit kills while a pair – Emma Lilo (28) and Alara Doganyuz (24) – put up at least 20 assists to help push the Beavers to a 25-22, 20-25, 25-13, 25-13 win over the Cougars.
"This Oregon State team you saw tonight had probably the best match of the 2024 season," said head coach Lindsey Behonick. "It was a great finish to the home stretch of the year. When you have four pins hitting double-digit kills, you're destined to win. We had great defense by everyone – backrow and front. It's a testament at the end of the match that we found a way to win … and then some. I'm looking forward to going back out on the road to LA to play the top two teams in the conference."
Oregon State (10-16, 8-8 WCC) used another strong offensive showing with a cumulative .364 clip, including a .609 mark in the third set that ended with a 12-point cushion. The defensive effort carried over as well, as the Beavs limited Wazzu to just a .179 rate, including a .071 clip in the third set. In the lone set the Beavers fell, Oregon State committed seven errors and still held Washington State to a sub-.300 mark (.290).
Defensively, Yasemin Narlioglu had a team-best 20 digs of the entire 51. Starting out strong, she put up six in the opening set to keep the Cougars from coming within the final three to jump out the lead. Lilo and Light followed with six apiece.
In an opening set that saw nine ties and four lead changes, Oregon State finally pulled away after it was deadlocked at 21. A key block by Burns and Kalli Schoening kickstarted a 4-1 run to seal the set win at 25-22. Hester led the offense with a handful of kills while Burns and Rumel each had four and Lilo helped the offense churn with nine helpers.
Washington State evened the match after yet another tightly-contested set, eventually winning 25-20. Despite set-highs with five kills from Rumela and five digs by Narlioglu, the Cougars turned a 19-18 lead into 25-20 after a late run.
Aided by the cushion of an 18-4 run, the Beavers re-took the lead with a second set win in the third at 25-13. With Doganyuz putting up eight helpers in the frame to five different teammates, the offense hit at a match-best .609 clip. The Beavers led by as many as 12 on four occasions on the way to the eventual 12-point lead. Narlioglu and Light led the defense with three digs each to halt the Cougars from chipping away at their deficit.
Emphatically ending the home slate with one last set win, the Beavers closed it with an identical 25-13 line. Despite being tied at five instances, the Beavers took a lead at 6-5 and never looked back on the way to the end. Rumel closed her night with another five kills to lead the potent offense that hit .414 in the third. On the defensive end, Narlioglu's six digs helped keep Washington State to just a .192 rate. Prior to the final differential of 12, Oregon State led by as many as 11 on four instances including at the final match point, before a final Burns kill to send the Gill Coliseum faithful home happy.
The win over the Cougars snapped a skid that dated back to the 2017 season.
Oregon State will head out on the road next week to close out the 2024 season. The Beavers will visit LMU for a Wednesday night matchup set for 6 p.m. that can be seen on ESPN+.
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