Beavers Fall to Loyola 3-2

The Beavers return to action Friday night against South Dakota State at the Wisconsin Inn Towner Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin.

Photo courtesy: OSU Beavers

CHICAGO, Ill. - The Oregon State volleyball team (1-3) suffered a tough five-game loss falling 3-2 to Loyola (30-28, 34-32, 26-30, 29-31, 14-16).

The Beavers took an early two games to none lead and served for the match in games four and five before taking the loss.

“We have inconsistencies in play,” said head coach Taras Liskevych. “Tonight we struggled on the outside positions and we didn’t pass well in a timely manner. But give credit to Loyola. They played hard and were very emotional throughout the match and did a great job to comeback in the fourth game.”

Loyola, which had never previously faced a Pac-10 team, came out of the locker room in a frenzied state putting pressure on Oregon State from the beginning.

Although games one and two were close the Beavers fought off the pesky Ramblers, who served tough all night, by putting up a strong block.

Senior Brittany Cahoon led the Beavers’ offense with five kills in the first game and the Ramblers’ risky serving resulted in seven service errors.

The second game was even tighter with OSU clinging to a 34-32 victory with Kristin Murray and Rachel Rourke contributing five kills apiece. With the Beavers trailing 28-29, Murray posted three kills and a block to send her team to the locker room with a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Beavers struggled in the third game with breakdowns in the serve-receive game, limiting the offense and the hitting percentage plummeted as the Loyola blockers were able to get involved.

Despite another five kills from Cahoon, OSU fell behind 17-23 and never recovered.

OSU’s offense continued to struggle in the fourth game with only Rourke, who provided six kills in the game, providing a consistent threat.

The Beavers’ block resurfaced with another four blocks, with Murray and Cahoon each supplying two rejections. OSU served for the match in game four, 29-27, but a timely block by the Ramblers of a Murray attack sent the serve back to Loyola.

The Ramblers rattled off three straight points on a pair of kills by Melissa Craig and Sarah Elmer to steal the game.

Oregon State came out for the fifth game strong taking an early 3-0 lead on a tough serve by Ashley Evans and a Murray kill.

The Beavers held the lead at 8-5 when the teams switched ends of the court and stretched the lead to 12-8 forcing Loyola’s second timeout.

After the break, OSU’s passing broke down again limiting the Beavers offensive options and the Ramblers took advantage.

Oregon State served for the match at 14-13 but a kill by the Ramblers’ Audrey Davis tied the score and ultimately a tough serve by Kathryn Langheld was passed into the rafters for an ace to send the Beavers to the loss.

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