Oregon State
12-6,6-2WCC
Pepperdine
12-7,6-2WCC
Beavs Fall in Five to Pepperdine
October 23, 2025 | Women's Volleyball
MALIBU, Calif. – In their return to the road, the Oregon State volleyball team dropped a heartbreaker to Pepperdine on Thursday, falling in five sets.
The Beavers (12-6, 6-2 WCC) battled from a four-point deficit in the fourth set to force the winner-take-all fifth against the Waves. Oregon State finished on the wrong end of a 24-26, 25-23, 23-25, 28-26, 10-15 scoreline.
Oregon State and Pepperdine traded 18 leads and found themselves tied on 44 instances throughout the match that saw three sets go beyond the 25-point threshold.
Annika Hester and Lauren Rumel evenly split 28 kills to pace OSU in kills while two others – Alana Marrs (13) and Maëli Cormier (12) – put up double-digits in the category as well. Jackie Matias dished a season-best 34 assists while Emma Lilo followed with 19 to keep the offense going. Four Beavs dug out at least 11, with Tia Shum leading the way with 17. Marrs – the reigning WCC Freshman of the Week – led the defense with six blocks while Nathalie Scholz tallied five.
Pepperdine struck first in the opening set but had to hold off numerous Beaver runs on the way to a 26-24 win in set one. Oregon State was down by as many as six early (10-4) before ultimately evening it at 24 late. The Waves used a pair of kills at the end to seal the opener. Shum tallied seven digs in the set to keep the Beavers in it.
Oregon State evened it with a wire-to-wire win in set two and were led by a total team effort. While Alondra Paz's set-leading four digs helped force the Waves to just a .091 clip, five Hester kills paired with seven Matias helpers, the Beavs finished off the hosts with a 25-23 set two win. Despite the two-point set win, the Beavers used a 5-0 run at 18-15 to build the necessary separation on the way to securing the frame.
After a set-high 15 ties (and last at 22 apiece), Pepperdine pounced on the third's late momentum for the 2-1 set lead with the 25-23 win. The Waves held Oregon State to a .150 hitting rate with eight Beaver attack miscues while using a .371 one for themselves with just a pair of errors.
Trailing by as many as five at 23-18, the Beavers put on a gritty performance in set four to keep the match going. Facing another hole at 25-26, Marrs flipped the momentum with consecutive kills to give OSU its first set point of the frame before a Waves miscue forced the final set. Lilo and Shum each put up eight digs to lead the defense while Hester used four kills to pace the attack.
Despite splitting the fifth's 14 points, the hosts took control and finished it off with a 5-0 run to seal it at 15-10. The Beavers were held to a .053 clip in the set and committed four attack errors.
The Beavers will stay in southern California and venture to Los Angeles to play LMU on Saturday. First serve against the Lions is set for 1 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.
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