Oregon State Volleyball Team Falls in Four to No. 23 Arizona
Tucson, Ariz. – Senior Jill Sawatzky (St. Andrews, Manitoba) recorded her ninth double-double of the season with a match-high 22 kills and 10 digs, but the Oregon State volleyball team (8-19, 1-12) couldn’t stop the No. 23 Arizona Wildcats (18-7, 7-5), falling in four on Saturday evening.
Set scores were 17-25, 19-25, 25-22, 24-26.
“In sets three and four, we really played well, sustaining our attack and playing in system,” head coach Taras Liskevych said. “We sided out and hit well, and we dug the ball better. We served the ball tough, but had some untimely misses, letting Arizona off the hook in the fourth on missed serves. Great job by Jill Sawatzky and Mona Kressl, and I thought Dre attacked well. And we got the most play out of Martie Massey that we have this season, and Kaitlan Locke did a good job setting while we were running the 6-2.”
Senior Kaitlan Locke (West Linn, Ore.) and sophomore Megan McBride (Auburn, Wash.) shared the setting duties through the first two sets before transitioning back to a 5-1 offense. But despite having three front row attackers at all times, the Arizona offense was able to find the floor more than the Beavers to take the 2-0 advantage.
Coming out of the break, the change paid off with the Beavers leading by as many as eight at two different times. Despite a late run by the Wildcats, Oregon State held on to win narrow the margin to 2-1 behind Sawatzky’s strong play all around, ending the set with her third ace of the match.
Arizona and Oregon State tied things up 15 times in the fourth set, trading seven leads with neither team putting together more than a three point lead. With the score tied at 23 all, the Beavers reached set point first, but Arizona scored the next three straight points to take the fourth set and match, despite Sawatzky’s nine kills in the set alone.
Freshman Becky Defoe (Bend, Ore.) dug up a team-high 11 balls, while freshman Mona Kressl (Langenzenn, Germany) posted a team-high three blocks to lead the defense.
Arizona’s Tiffany Owens paced the Wildcat offense with 19 kills, while libero Candace Nicholson had a match-high 14 digs.
Oregon State returns home to host No. 20 Oregon in the final Civil War match of the season on Friday at 7:00 p.m. The match will be televised via tape delay on FSN.
Oregon State Notes – Senior Kaitlan Locke set a new career best for assists with 12 … Senior Jill Sawatzky tied her season best for aces with three; Sawatzky recorded her ninth double-double of the season with 22 kills, 10 digs … Sophomore Martie Massey set a new career-high for digs with six.
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