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Back-and-forth fight leads to Beaver volleyball victory

Libero Kiera Herron (#25) celebrates with teammates in victory over No. 19 Arizona State at Gill Coliseum on Oct 13, 2023.
Libero Kiera Herron (#25) celebrates with teammates in victory over No. 19 Arizona State at Gill Coliseum on Oct 13, 2023.
Lily Middleton

After nine straight losses, the Oregon State Beavers have won their first game since September 8 beating the No. 19 Arizona State Sun Devils 3-2 on Oct. 13 at Gill Coliseum.

After trailing 18-15 in the first set, the Sun Devils stormed back to a 25-20 win, going on a 10-2 run to secure the first best of five set.

Set two went to the Beavers, winning 25-23 after some thrilling back-and-forth rallies that seemed like they went on forever.

The story of the night was the kill battle between OSU star outside hitter Mychael Vernon and Sun Devil stand-out Marta Levinska. Vernon had 19 kills while Levinska just edged her out with 22.

A huge momentum shift was seen after Lauren Rumel got a nice spike, followed up by a huge block that ended up putting the Beavers ahead 17-9 before the Sun Devils could blink. It was too much for Arizona State to come back from as the Beavers took set three 25-18.

ASU had a dominant fourth set winning easily 25-13 to force a fifth set. Starting by scoring three straight points, the Sun Devils didn’t look back as they led the entire set.

The fifth set started in favor of the Sun Devils, but a long rally saw the Beavers take their first lead since the third set, a 10-9 win.

Arizona State went time and time again to their star player Levinska, but a few hitting errors propelled the Beavers to take the lead, as she missed a serve, and hit the ball into the net twice giving the Beavers an advantage.

Levinska continued solid play with a commanding spike, this slam was the last the Sun Devils could do as Amanda Burns put the game on ice with a kill to win the final set of the game 15-11. 

The Sun Devils can’t let the loss get to their heads, as they have a short drive down south to take on the Ducks in Eugene on Sunday at noon.

While this is the first Beaver win in over a month, it is also their first win over a top-25 opponent since September of 2019 when they beat Oregon.

The Beavers will stay in Corvallis to face the Arizona Wildcats on Sunday at noon in Gill Coliseum.

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