CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State capped a perfect weekend after a five-set win over Arizona (29-27, 16-25, 23-25, 25-16, 15-12) on Sunday afternoon.
Mychael Vernon and Amanda Burns each tallied double-doubles to lead the Beavers (7-11, 2-6 Pac-12) to their second consecutive win of the season. Vernon collected 19 kills and a season-best 21 digs while Burns had 23 assists and 10 kills.
Elizabeth Schuster led in a pair of categories with a season-best 31 assists and four service aces. Coming into the match, Schuster had totaled just three for the whole season. Vernon’s double-double was her seventh of the season, third in league play and second of the weekend.
“I appreciate another great competition from a good opponent in Arizona,” noted head coach Lindsey Behonick. “I knew Arizona was wanting to get another win and they tested very well today to get us to that fifth set. They had good pins and I think that over time, us leaning into our defense and that turned to us serving tougher. It didn’t hurt that Mychael (Vernon) had a great offensive performance, she relied on a lot of the training over the last week-and-a-half and her confidence – as well as the team’s – has grown a lot. It’s not easy to win games, especially this year in the Pac-12 and we’ll take it moment-by-moment and opportunity-by-opportunity.”
Never taking the lead until the 28-27 mark in the opening set and battled four set points, an Arizona attack error put an exclamation mark on a hard-fought first for the home team. Oregon State clawed back from a 4-1 hole and multiple three-point deficits to stay in it and eventually take it. Vernon started her day with an impressive six kills and a .500 clip off 12 attacks to lead the Beaver offense, including a timely one to even things at 27 and fend off a set loss. Defensively, White totaled five of her 23 digs in the opening set. OSU completed the first with a .960 reception percentage and hit .425.
Arizona used a 6-1 run in the late stages of the third to put the Beavs on the brink as they took their second set of the afternoon with a narrow, 25-23 third set win after taking the second by a 25-16 margin.
Utilizing two of her four service aces in the fourth set, Schuster and the Beavers came from behind to take the set and push things to a winner-take-all fifth set. Burns’ offense helped the Beavers hold the lead for the majority of the set as she had four of her kills to go along with two digs. Vernon helped on the defensive end in a big way in the set, tallying seven while White followed with six.
After taking 10 of the fifth set’s first 12 points, Oregon State held on to win it with a 15-12 scoreline. Arizona trimmed their margin to just one at 13-12 off a Suess attack error. Redeeming herself on the very next plays, she completed a kill of a Schuster assist to set up match point before sealing it with one more off a Burns serve.
Oregon State will have their annual Dam Cancer match on Friday night when they host Stanford. First serve from Gill Coliseum is set for 7 p.m. and can be seen on Pac-12 Networks.
OUR MISSIONOregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS)
