Beavers Sweep Vandals in Season-Opener

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Led by senior outside hitter Mary-Kate Marshall, Oregon State swept past Idaho in three sets to open the 2017 season and the Beaver State Classic in Gill Coliseum.

The Beavers (1-0) came out firing against the Vandals (0-1) taking an 8-2 advantage early on forcing an Idaho timeout. The Vandals came out of their huddle composed and closed the gap to 14-13. Second-year OSU head coach Mark Barnard took his own timeout to gather his squad. OSU rolled off six straight points and never looked back the rest of the way.

"This was a good start," Barnard said. "We got better as we went along and that's important. The quality of attack and our serve-receive improved throughout. We still have things to work on but this is a good start."

Set scores were 25-17, 25-18 and 25-10.

The victory marks the second season-opening win in a row and the Beavers have now won season-openers in six of the last seven years.

Marshall led the Beavers with 14 kills on 33 swings with no errors and added a team-leading 12 digs.

"That's Mary-Kate. She's a low error player. Sometimes she doesn't get a lot of kills, but she never hurts us. Today she did a really nice job of putting the ball away."

Junior middle blocker Kory Cheshire was the only other Beaver to post double digit kills with 10 and tied for a team-best two service aces with junior libero Kayla Ellis. Redshirt freshman outside hitter Haylie Bennett recorded seven kills and four blocks in the win.

Of the eight Beavers to play Friday morning, four were freshmen.

"They did very well overall. The freshmen were a bit wide-eyed early, but settled in and it was a good first time out there."

Key Moment: Coming out of OSU's timeout in the opening set holding a 14-13 lead, freshman setter Kylee McLaughlin ran a perfect back-set to Kory Cheshire to start a 6-0 run. The Beavers outscored the Vandals by 29 points the rest of the match.

Game Notes: Oregon State extended its all-time series lead to 12-1 … Four OSU freshmen – Haylie Bennett, Maddie Goings, Grace Massey, Kylee McLaughlin –earned the first playing time of their careers Friday morning … The Beavers trailed only once, at 2-1 in the second set … OSU's biggest run was seven straight points beginning at 17-9 in the third set.

Next Up: Oregon State is back on the court for its second match of the Beaver State Classic at 7 p.m. tonight to host University of the Pacific.

Season and single-match tickets for the 2017 season are available for purchase by visiting BeaverTickets.com or calling 1-800-GO-BEAVS.

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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Players Mentioned

Haylie Bennett

Kory Cheshire

Kayla Ellis

Maddie Goings

Mary-Kate Marshall

Grace Massey

Kylee McLaughlin

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