CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State volleyball team will close the penultimate homestand of 2024 with a home match against Gonzaga on Thursday night.
THE MATCHUP
October 31 Saint Mary’s 7 p.m. ESPN+
NUMBERS TO KNOW
.632 – Zaria Thornton hit at a .632 clip, totaling 14 kills on 19 swings in the win over Saint Mary’s.
2 – This is the second one-match week of both the month and the season for the Beavers.
6 – Oregon State sits at sixth in the WCC in service aces with 114 through 75 sets. Vivan Light’s 26 paces the Beavers.
8 – Yasemin Narlioğlu’s 3.56 digs/set rate in league play places her seventh in the conference.
9 – Annika Hester ranks ninth in the WCC in both points (69.5) and points-per-set (3.66) during league play.
10 – Oregon State and Gonzaga will meet for the 10th time in history.
26 – Emma Lilo tallied 26 assists in each match last weekend, leading the team on both instances.
THE WEEK’S OPPOSITION
• Oregon State closes the homestand with a single match this week against Gonzaga.
• Two weeks ago, the Beavers took the opening match of the season series over the Bulldogs with a five-set win in Spokane by taking the last two frames.
• It’s the first rematch so far in 2024.
series renewals
• Oregon State and Gonzaga will meet for 10th time ever and the second time in 12 days.
• The Beavers lead the series by a 7-2 margin and have won the last two meetings.
• Thursday night marks the first tilt in Corvallis since 2003’s season opener.
• Two weeks ago, Annika Hester led the Beavers’ offense with 25 kills while Yasemin Narlioğlu’s 19 digs paced the defense.
looking back at Last Week
• The Beavers opened the week with a four-set win over Saint Mary’s. Zaria Thornton had a career-best 14 kills and two other freshmen – Emma Lilo (26) and Alara Doğanyüz (20) – led in assists.
• OSU’s attempt to defeat the league leader fell short in five as LMU took the last two sets on Saturday.
A New Era Underway
• For the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, OSU is an affiliate member of the WCC before returning to a rebuilt Pac-12 in 2026-27.
• Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, Gonzaga, San Diego State and Utah State will join OSU and Washington State in the Pac-12 on July 1, 2026.
Aces wild
• With a month of league play behind Oregon State, a pair of Beavs are in the top 10 in service aces.
• Emma Lilo (22) sits in sixth while Vivian Light is at eighth with 20 across all matches.
• In league play, Iris Coba has tallied nine, which ranks eighth.
• Light’s five-ace match at Portland last month ranks atop the league’s single-match performances in WCC action. It ranks as tops in the league during four-set matches.
• Lilo’s five-ace outing against San Francisco two weeks ago is the most in a five-match set this season.
• With 22 to her credit this season, Lilo leads the Beavers in service aces.
Anni’s on a roll
• Over the last five matches, Annika Hester has been an offensive force.
• The Falmouth, Maine, product has put up 89 kills to just 33 errors on 198 swings.
• Defensively, she’s posted 16 digs and put up 13 blocks, including three solo ones.
• In five-set wins over San Francisco and on the road against Gonzaga, she tallied 20 and 25 kills, respectively.
• Across all action, she’s sixth in the WCC with 3.16 kills-per-set and seventh in kills with 237.
Amazing Emma
• Standing at 520 assists, Lilo entered OSU’s top 10 for assists in a single season by a freshman. She currently sits in 9th place, just 27 away from sole possession of eighth.
• She’s totaled 20-plus assists in all nine league matches this season and has tallied 40+ on two instances, including 48 in her collegiate debut in the first match of 2024.
League honors
• Oregon State’s pair of preseason conference-honored student-athletes were Hester and Rumel
• The Beavers were picked to finish fourth in the conference by the league’s coaches in the preseason poll.
• The fourth-place selection is the highest for the Beavers in the Behonick era.
THE WORLD TO CORVALLIS
• For the second consecutive year in the Behonick era, the Beavers will have three international student-athletes.
• OSU has a pair from Turkey – Alara Doğanyüz and Narlioğlu – along with Iris Coba (Italy).
• Oregon State is one of five league schools with at least three international student-athletes.
OUR MISSIONOregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS)
