Diving, passing and meteoric spikes, the Oregon State Women’s Volleyball match had it all in their 3-0 sweep of the Gonzaga Bulldogs on Oct. 9 at Gill Coliseum.
For the first time since 1998, the Beavers have won 11 out of their last 12 games enroute to a 11-4 record, and being one of three West Coast Conference teams to be undefeated in conference play (5-0).
The first set came off pretty strong, with a block converting into a starting point for the Beavers, but the Bulldogs had some fight in them as well, fighting for a small lead. However, the consistent push led the Bulldogs to call a timeout soon into the match.
The score went from nine apiece, to 17-15, Beavs on top in what felt like mere minutes. The Bulldogs were there every step of the way though, exploiting every miscommunication and catching Beaver players out of rhythm before they could dive.
The Beavers then fought their way to 20-16, with a challenge being thrown on a Lauren Rumel kill that just barely landed in, sending it to 21-16. With some big kills from freshman Opposite Maeli Cormier, OSU sealed the first set.
But that was just the warmup; the second set was the real war. The set started with the Bulldogs grabbing two quick points and the Beavs having some slight defensive miscommunications. After being down 0-4, freshman Middle Blocker Alana Marrs brought life back into the team with a monster kill.
Head Coach Lindsey Behonick highlighted the Beavers ability to recover from miscommunication. “It seems we readjusted well, really quickly.”
After that, OSU locked in on defense, clawing back to a one-point deficit at 5-6. Digs came left right and center, led by reigning WCC defensive player of the week Tia Shum. When the Bulldogs braced for their next point, there she was, sliding in to give a chance at the point.
Retribution for those spike attempts was most certainly spearheaded by the Beavers, with Marrs and graduate student Opposite Annika Hester blocking the Bulldogs from making it over the net. The set was closed out to raucous applause by the crowd for the Beaver’s incredibly hard-fought set.
After the game, Shum finished with 14 digs, and sophomore Setter, Emma Lilo led the team in assists with 18. The defensive and setting abilities were definitely the stars of that set.
Coliseum. The Beaver Women’s Volleyball team proceeded to beat Gonzaga in all three sets of the match on Oct 9, 2025.
The stone was placed down in the 3rd set. Marrs started off the set with back-to-back kills, Rumel and Alondra Paz got kills and digs respectively, and redshirt freshman Opposite Bridget Gould hitting a spike to the dome of an off-guard Bulldog. The Bulldogs were calling timeouts left and right at this point, but it was only delaying the unavoidable.
At this point, the only points the Bulldogs scored were the ones allowed via error, or just great offensive plays. A big gap of points was being built, and there was nothing Gonzaga could do to stop it.
In the final plays of the game, Rumel and Hester brought OSU up to set point for the game. The Bulldogs did their best to fight back and defend, and after a valiant effort, nothing was able to stop Cormier from absolutely smashing the ball into a game-winning kill.
Behonick pointed out the strength of the team’s culture when asked about the reason the team circles when they score a point. “(It’s) cool how engaged our whole team is when they go to the center (of the court)”.
OSU will now travel down south to face one of the remaining undefeated teams in conference play in San Diego, who has only lost one game since Sept. 8. The teams face off at noon on Oct. 11 at Jenny Craig Pavilion.
