Beavers Rally Late, Come Up Short

With the win Arizona State moves to 10-8 overall and 2-5 in the Pac-10, while Oregon State falls to 3-13 overall and 0-7 in conference play.

Photo: OSU Athletics

CORVALLIS - Oregon State made a valiant comeback attempt in the third game seeking to force a fourth game, but came up short against Arizona State.

Abby Windell held a block party during the Beavers’ rally turning away the Sun Devils four times.

“I told the team that I am proud of the way they came back in the third game because when you’re down like that it could go the other way,” said head coach Taras Liskevych. “I firmly believe that we can win. If we finish any of those games it turns the momentum and then we’re in the match.”

Freshman hitter Rachel Rourke scored 18.0 points, terminating the ball a match-high 15 times. Windell finished with 14.0 points with nine kills and six total blocks.

OSU had been forced into using both of its timeouts before stemming the tide trailing 2-10. Still trailing 12-22 the Beavers began the rally behind strong serving by Brittany Cahoon and Kristin Murray. During a short stretch, Oregon State used Windell, a senior middle blocker, at the setter position while posting a more formidable block.

Having had some success with the unorthodox lineup the Beavers ignited a spark and charged back from a 19-28 deficit.

Back-to-back blocks by Windell and Rourke forced the Sun Devils to take a timeout at 23-28. However a controversial ball handling call on OSU setter Ashley Evans gave ASU the serve with the score 24-29.

The Beavers got the sideout with a kill from Rourke, who followed with her second service ace of the night. Windell and Murray combined on another block to close to within two points at 27-29, but the rally ended there with the Sun Devils on top 27-30.

Senior hitter Nina Reeves paced the Sun Devils’ offense with 16.5 points on 13 kills. Junior libero Sydney Donahue collected a game-high 27 digs for ASU.

Oregon State leaves the Pacific Northwest for the first time since the first trip of the season, when they travel to the Bay Area for matches against No. 6 Stanford, Thursday, and No. 7 California, Friday.

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