CORVALLIS, Ore. – Despite three totaling double-digits in kills, errors stymied the Oregon State volleyball team as they fell in five (25-17, 11-25, 25-21, 21-25, 13-15) to California on Sunday afternoon.
The Beavers (7-14, 2-9 Pac-12) committed 34 errors as they saw a 2-1 set advantage slip away as the Golden Bears fought back to win the fourth and fifth frames to take the match.
Mychael Vernon led the Oregon State offense with 23 kills, while Peyton Suess followed with 15 and Megan Sheridan added 13 herself. Amanda Burns tallied her fourth double-double as she accounted for 36 assists and 15 digs while Liz Schuster her first with 19 assists and 11 digs. Ryan White paced the defense with 20 digs and Keira Herron had a career-best 18 on the day.
With seven Vernon kills in the first set, Oregon State used a wire-to-wire lead to take the first frame with a comfortable 25-17 margin. After taking 10 of the first 14 points in the set, the Beavers stretched a lead as high as 11 following four consecutive kills from Sheridan and Vernon.
The Golden Bears responded with a set win of their own by finishing the second on an 8-0 run to even things with the hosts and quiet Gill Coliseum at 25-11.
Taking the lead back with a 25-21 third set win, Oregon State used five of the first six points and 11 of the first 20 for momentum. When Cal crept up to tie it at 17 and then again at 18, the Beavers used kills from Suess and Sheridan and a Vernon block as a push for the set win.
In a set that saw both sides lead by three at some point, Cal pulled away to force a winner-take-all fifth by an identical 25-21 line. Leading by just four at the late stages, the Golden Bears fended off a late OSU attack for the set win, securing it with a Mikayla Hayden kill from an Annalea Maeder assist.
Cal completed the comeback with a 15-13 set that capped a back-and-forth fifth. Oregon State couldn’t battle all of the way back from a two-point deficit to finish the match. After the Beavers took a slim, 11-10 lead, Cal used a 5-2 run to seal the win off a Vernon attack error.
Oregon State will head back on the road for their next matches in the state of Washington. On Friday, the Beavs will match up with Washington with a first serve time of 7 p.m.
