No. 9 Wisconsin Downs Beavers

The Beavers return to action next Friday at 7:00 PM for their home opener against San Diego State.

Photo courtesy: OSU Beavers

CORVALLIS - The season opening road trip for the Oregon State volleyball team (1-6) concluded Saturday night with a 0-3 loss to No. 9 Wisconsin (22-30, 20-30, 28-30). Despite being down two games to none, the Beavers fought valiantly in an effort to force a fourth game but the Badgers were just too much.

“We had high hopes for this trip,” head coach Taras Liskevych said. “We stumbled with inconsistent play at UNLV and exaccerbatted that with not putting away Loyola and South Dakota State when we had match point in each match. But I’m proud of the way the team has continued to fight during this losing streak.”

Oregon State which had used a two-setter system in the first six matches of the season, switched to a one-setter system against the Badgers. The new lineup included three freshman (Camilla Ah-Hoy, Rachel Rourke and Lexie Rathgeber) plus rookie Tricia Yoshimura earned her first action at the libero position.

OSU struggled in its new offense early on never really contesting the first two games. But the Beavers came out of the break for game three ready to challenge the Badgers. Trailing 9-15, the Beavers began a comeback fueled by an improved block, including three rejections by Rathgeber, and a pair of kills by Abby Windell to take the lead at 18-17. The teams went back and forth with the Badgers pulling ahead at 27-24, but two kills by Kristin Murray brought the Beavers back to 28-28 before falling 28-30.

“We have been playing around with a 6-2 (two setter system) and a 5-1 (one setter system) and we’re getting closer to making a decision on how best to play with this team,” said Liskevych. “But it would really be helpful to have Rourke healthy to truly see our potential.”

Brittany Cahoon, who finished the match with eight kills and 11 digs, earned a spot on the Wisconsin Inn Towner Invitational All-Tournament team.

Windell (hand) and Ali Walker (wrist) both played against Wisconsin after missing recent matches with injuries suffered in Madison.

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports