Volleyball Moves to 2-0 in Win Over Pacific

Friday, August 25

Corvallis, Ore.

7:00 PM

Oregon State

2-0

Pacific

0-2

Pacific

Oregon State

Photo by: Dave Nishitani/Oregon State Athletics

August 25, 2017 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Athletic Communications

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State defense set the tone early in the Beavers' three sets to one win over Pacific Friday night at Gill Coliseum.

Oregon State head coach Mark Barnard said his squad needed to work on blocking following Friday morning's match with Idaho. The Beavers responded Friday evening by establishing a presence at the net for the outset. OSU rejected Pacific attackers 13 times in the four-set match including turning back the Tigers five times in the opening stanza.

"Our block really held up well tonight," Barnard said. "We were much better than earlier in the day. We also served really well early on and then got it back together later in the match. When we were on with our serve it really kept them out of system and when they were out of system it was much easier going."

The Beavers, who moved to 2-0 with the victory, were firing darts from the service line registering 12 aces against the Tigers (0-2).

"We were really on and playing very well in that first set," Barnard said. "Then we let it get away from us in set two and had to pull back together later. With our youth we can do some really amazing things, but we may ebb and flow a bit too."

OSU dominated the opening set 25-8, before dropping its first set of the year 21-25 in the second. The Beavers closed out the match in sets 3 and 4 with scores of 25-18 and 25-14.

Senior Mary-Kate Marshall led the Beavers with 16 kills and added four service aces, while Kory Cheshire added 10 kills and six blocks. Maddy Gravley posted a career-best eight kills and tied Cheshire for the team-lead with six blocks. Junior libero Kayla Ellis led three Beavers in double-digits with 19 digs.

The victory makes Oregon State 2-0 to start the season for the first time since 2014.

Key Moment: Trailing 11-9 in the third set, and with the momentum behind the Tigers, OSU called a timeout. The Beavers would seize the momentum scoring 11 of the next 17 points forcing UOP to use both of its timeouts. OSU was unfazed by the breaks and went on to take the third set 25-18.

Game Notes: Oregon State improved its all-time series record with UOP to 3-9 … Of the nine players to see action against Pacific, five were freshmen or transfers … Junior middle blocker Maddy Gravley tallied a career-best 8 kills to go with six blocks … Fellow middle blocker Kory Cheshire recorded 10 kills for the second time on the day and added six blocks … Mary-Kate Marshall led the Beavers with 16 kills for the second straight match and served of four aces … The last time OSU opened the season 2-0 was in 2014.

Next Up: The Beavers are back in action tomorrow at 7 p.m. to take on Kansas State to close out the Beaver State Classic.

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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