Corvallis, Ore. – The Colorado Buffaloes Women’s Volleyball team defeated the Oregon State Beavers on Friday, November 3, 2023.
In a match that saw Beavers fall in three of five sets, the match was tightly contested the entire way through.
Oregon State came away with set number one 25-17, opening the first leg of the match with a kill by Megan Sheridan and then an ace from Mychael Vernon. While OSU led for the entirety of the first set, Colorado was able to keep the score close early on. OSU’s lead stood at 10-9, but the Beavs would not be denied.
From there, Oregon State went on an 8-3 run and never let Colorado close the gap. The set concluded with another kill from Sheridan.
The Beavers entered the contest with a 9-13 record, including 4-8 in PAC-12 play, while the Buffaloes walked into Gill Coliseum at 13-10 overall and a 5-7 record in conference play. After the match, OSU’s record fell to 9-14 and the Beavs two-game winning streak was snapped.
The second set was a nail-biter from start to finish, with neither team ever holding a lead greater than four points. When the Beavers took a 13-9 lead after a kill by Peyton Suess, the Buffaloes responded with four straight points to tie the set at 13. A service error from the Buffaloes’ Morgan Riddle and two kills from OSU appeared to create momentum for the home team and brought the score to 16-13, but Colorado had other plans.
The Buffs put themselves in a position to take the set with a 21-20 lead thanks to a kill from Colorado’s Maya Tabron. The Beavers ceased to back down and took the next point to put the teams in a tie. The teams exchanged the next four points, and with the second set tied at 23, two kills by Colorado sealed the second set for the suddenly stampeding Buffaloes.
The Oregon State student crowd gradually inserted itself as a force in the game, consistently jilting the Buffs’ servers with loud chants. When the second set was tied at 20-20, a student yelled during Colorado’s Amanda Burns serve, and the attempt went straight into the net.
The opening of the third set was more of the exciting same, as the first 30 points were split down the middle and the two teams found themselves diving and rolling for every point. A kill from Oregon State’s Lauren Rumel was followed by the Beavs reeling off two more points, but the Buffs took three of the next four.
Looking at the 19-18 lead, Oregon State won the next four points with consecutive kills from Vernon followed by an error from Colorado. Another kill, this time from Sheridan, saw the Beavers put themselves in position to close out the third set with a 23-18 lead. Sheridan logged another kill and pushed OSU’s lead to 24; two kills from Colorado’s Tabron were not enough to keep the Buffs in it, and Sheridan clinched the third set for OSU with a kill.
The fourth set saw both teams voraciously battle for every set, dig, and kill. With the student section and fans cheering the Beavs and jeering the Buffs at every turn, the set was tied at 10-10 before a kill by OSU’s Amanda Burns.
After this, a lone fan started a chant that the rest of the crowd picked up. It wasn’t enough, as Colorado responded by taking the longest point of the match off of a Beaver error that sailed just outside the line.
A pair of aces from Colorado’s Taylor Simpson, as well as multiple errors from the Beavs, helped propel the Buffs to a 16-11 lead. A kill from OSU’s Vernon was the lone break in what ended up being a 9-1 Colorado run. Trailing 19-12, Oregon State managed to take three of the next four points, for a fourth set score of 20-15 in favor of the Buffs.
The next seven points were traded between the teams before OSU scored two straight to make it 22-18. A kill from Tabron brought the Buffs within two points of closing out the fourth and forcing a fifth set.
Colorado ensured that the match would go the full five sets after a pair of errors from the Beavs ended it at 25-18.
In the fifth, the Buffs took the opening two points with a pair of consecutive blocks on the Beavers’ attempted spikes. Splitting the next four points combined with excellent defensive play helped Colorado establish an 8-3 lead.
The Beavs were unable to cut down the lead.
Yet another split had Colorado leading 10-5. A pair of kills from OSU’s Suess and Aliyah McDonald helped bring the Beavers within two points, the fifth set score standing at 10-8.
Then the Buffs charged into the W column.
Taking five of the next six points, Colorado won the match with an ace from Avery Bolles.
It was an exhilarating win for the Buffs and a deflating defeat for the Beavs, who held a two-sets-to-one lead.
For the match, Mychael Vernon led the Beavs with 20 kills and 25 points, while Maya Tabron led the Buffs with 18 kills and 21.5 points.
After the game, the Beavs’ Peyton Suess was interviewed by Orange Media Network, stating “We did a lot of good things and we did some things that we need to improve on.”
“This week we really honed in on our out-system swinging. Everyone is just fighting for wins in this conference, so we’ve played them before, we’re familiar with them…We know they’re coming in hungry, so I think we just have to bring it to them,” said Suess.
The Beavers will play their next game in Corvallis against Utah on Sunday, Nov 5, at noon.
