Volleyball Makes it Four in Row

Friday, October 20

Corvallis, Ore.

6:00 PM

Oregon State

15-7, 5-5Pac-12

Arizona State

10-11, 0-9Pac-12

Arizona State

Oregon State

Photo by: Karl Maasdam/Oregon State Athletics

October 20, 2017 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Athletic Communications

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The red-hot Oregon State volleyball team won its fourth straight match Friday evening with a four-set defeat of Arizona State. It is the second straight Pac-12 sweep for the Beavers and their first four-match win streak in conference since 1990.

With the win, OSU evened its conference record at 5-5 to finish the first half of the Pac-12 season. The Beavers are now 15-7 overall. Arizona State falls to 10-11 and 0-1 in conference play. Set scores were 27-29, 25-17, 25-16 and 25-23.

"Arizona State played very well tonight, and we played not as well as I had hoped," head coach Mark Barnard said. "But credit to ASU, we were only allowed to play to a certain level. The difference is that we finished out a tight match. We weren't playing very well but we got it done. These four matches we've gained a new level confidence by being able to finish."

Arizona State, which entered the match seeking its first conference win of the season, came out firing early in the match. Oluoma Okaro recorded eight kills in the first set to pace the Sun Devils. The set included 20 ties and six lead changes as the teams battled for an edge. ASU ultimately came away with a 29-27 decision to take the opening stanza.

Trailing one set to none, the Beavers responded in the second set with Mary-Kate Marshall providing the fireworks with seven kills. OSU also picked up their service game a notch recording a trio of aces from Kory Cheshire and Maddie Goings. Middle blockers Cheshire and Maddy Gravley, who were on fire throughout the match, each terminated on half of their attacks in the period and the Beavers took the set going away, 25-17.

OSU took a quick 2-0 lead in third set before stumbling to a 5-2 deficit and into a timeout. From that point the Beavers went on an 18-7 run to take a commanding 20-12 lead as setter Kylee McLaughlin varied an extremely effective offense. Cheshire put away all four of her attacks while Marshall recorded five kills to go with a pair of aces in the set.

Oregon State led the fourth set from the outset pushing its lead to five at 20-15. However, the Sun Devils were persistent fighting back to tie it up at 22-22 and again at 23-23. The Beavers were able to hold off the Devils with a pair of timely kills from Cheshire and one from Marshall to score the final point and win the final set, 25-23.

The sweep of the Arizona schools this week marks the Beavers' first sweep of those programs since 1996, when the Beavers accomplished the feat in Corvallis.

Game Notes: Kory Cheshire recorded a career-best 15 kills … Maddy Gravley bested her personal mark with 11 kills … Mary-Kate Marshall led the Beavers for the 20th time in 22 matches with 22 kills … Grace Massey finished with a career-best 25 digs, the most by an OSU player since 2015 … OSU had four players with double-digits in digs –Massey (25), Maddie Goings (13), Kylee McLaughlin (11) and Marshall (11) … the sweep of the Arizona schools this week marks the first sweep of those teams since 1996 … the Beavers' four-match conference win streak is their longest since a five-match streak in 1990.

Next Up: The Beavers return to Gill on Friday, October 27 and Saturday, October 28 at 6:00 p.m. to first face Utah and then Colorado.

Season and single-match tickets for the 2017 season are available for purchase by visiting BeaverTickets.com or calling 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 Skylar Erhardt 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/OregonStateVolleyball or on Instagram at Instagram.com/BeaverVBall.

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