USC Beats Oregon State in 5-Set Thriller

Match Stats

• USC def. Oregon State 3-2 (25-27, 23-25, 25-15, 25-23, 15-12)
• USC moves to 18-10 (10-7 Pac-12); Oregon State falls to 11-18 (4-14 Pac-12)
• Los Angeles, California
• Attendance: 678

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Courtesy USC Athletics:

LOS ANGELES — USC women’s volleyball senior middle blocker Elise Ruddins collected 23 kills and hit .677 to power the Women of Troy (18-10, 10-7 Pac-12) to a five-set come-from-behind win (25-27, 23-25, 25-15, 25-23, 15-12) over Oregon State (11-18, 4-14) at Galen Center on Friday, Nov. 18. Ruddins’ career performance marked the first time a Trojan middle blocker had as many kills since All-American Emily Adams had 23 in 2003.

Ruddins finished the night with a career-high 25.0 points on 23 kills and four blocks, but wasn’t the only Trojan to turn in an impressive match. Junior setter Reni Meyer-Whalley logged her eighth double-double of the season with 24 assists and a career-high 23 digs to lead all players. She also served one of the Trojans’ six aces. Senior setter Alice Pizzasegola also had her eighth-career double-double (second of the season) with 29 assists and 12 digs.

Junior middle blocker Jordan Dunn turned in a career-high 11 blocks (one solo) and added four kills to her final line for 10.0 points. Junior outside hitter Sarah Livingston, who came off the bench to replace an injured Alyse Ford, had a career-best 6.0 points and a career-high six blocks to go with three kills. Ford came out of the match in the second set but finished with four kills and nine digs.

Senior libero Taylor Whittingham had 21 digs and two service aces including one to clinch the fourth set for the Women of Troy. Sophomore defender Victoria Garrick dug up 15 balls and had a service ace. Junior opposite hitter Brittany Abercrombie had eight kills (1e, 30att, .233) and added a pair of blocks. Despite injury, junior opposite hitter Niki Withers collected six kills and had two blocks. Freshman outside hitter Khalia Lanier tallied 15 kills, nine digs, and two service aces for 17.0 points.

For the Beavers, Mary-Kate Marshall led with 15 kills (6e, 58att, .155) to go with 10 digs, and five blocks. Lila Toner and Lanesha Reagan each added 10 kills but hit .071 and .000 respectively. Reagan logged a double-double with 22 digs and also added five blocks. Oregon State had 17.0 blocks in the match led by eight each from Maddy Gravley and Kory Cheshire. The two also added nine kills.

The Beavers erased a seven-point deficit (20-13) to catch the Trojans at 24-all and knotted the score in the first set for just the third time. Oregon State had set point twice before Toner completed the 27-25 win with her kill. Oregon State controlled the tempo in the second set and led by as many as three points at 14-11. The Trojans managed to tie the score for the 14th time at 22-all, but the Beavers scored on three of the final four rallies to take a 2-0 lead in the match with a 25-23 win.

The Trojans led the third set from wire to wire and finished with a 10-point victory, 25-15. Off the bench, Withers came in and scored her first kill on a crosscourt shot for a 7-2 lead to force an OSU timeout, but it was Dunn and Abercrombie who teamed to block Marshall for the Trojans’ first 10-point lead at 17-7. The Beavers fought to trim the lead to five at 18-13 thanks to a 6-1 run, but USC got back-to-back kills from Withers to go up, 23-14. Ruddins crushed a quick set from Pizzasegola for set point before Lanier dropped her serve to the floor in front of Kayla Ellis to seal the win.

Oregon State got out of the gate in a hurry and opened the fourth set with a 5-0 lead. The Trojans slowly chipped away and caught the Beavers for the tie at nine-all. USC got ahead momentarily, but were caught again at 15-all before Oregon State took a four-point lead at 19-15. The Women of Troy then scored five in a row of their own thanks to a kill by Livingston, back-to-back blocks by Withers and Dunn, and a kill by Withers. The teams traded barbs and Oregon State took the lead at 23-22, but Lanier went off-speed for a kill to tie the score at 23; Abercrombie scored on a crosscourt shot for set point, and Whittingham served a ball to the deep corner for the ace and put a 25-23 win in the books for the Trojans.

The fifth frame was a battle that saw seven tied scores before the Women of Troy prevailed, 15-12. Oregon State led by as many as three points at 5-2, but three straight points by the Trojans evened things at five-all on a second ace by Lanier. USC inched ahead several times, but the Beavers tied the score each time until a long serve put the Trojans on top at 10-9, and for good. Whittingham’s ace on the next rally forced a second Oregon State timeout and put the Women of Troy in the driver’s seat. Leading, 12-10, the Trojans’ final three points all came from Ruddins on quick-sets from Meyer-Whalley once, and twice from Pizzasegola. Her final attack sealed the deal for the Women of Troy who came back from an 0-2 deficit to win for the first time since 2011.

Up next, the Trojans host No. 19 Oregon (18-8, 11-6 Pac-12) on Saturday (Nov. 19) at 5 p.m. PT for what will be USC’s Senior Day as the program honors Alice Pizzasegola, Elise Ruddins, and Taylor Whittingham. The Trojans and Ducks will be streamed live for free at Pac-12.com/live and via the Pac-12 Networks’ new Plus platform on Twitter.

For more information on the USC women’s volleyball team and a complete schedule and results, please visit USCTrojans.com. Fans of the Women of Troy can follow @USCWomensVolley on Periscope, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram.

MATCH NOTES

• USC improved to 52-9 all-time against Oregon State and has won four straight over the Beavers. By pulling out the win, the Trojans avoided losing to OSU at home for the first time since 1996.
• The Women of Troy came back to win a match after losing the first two sets for the first time since Aug. 26, 2011, when they defeated Minnesota (University Park, Pa.), 23-25, 24-26, 25-13, 25-21, 15-7. Until tonight’s win, USC was 0-19 in 0-2 matches since that victory.
• The Trojans had a season-high 15.0 blocks; reached double digits in blocks in a match for the 11th time this season and improved to 12-1 when out-blocking their opponent.
• Senior MB Elise Ruddins had a career-high 25.0 points and scored a season-high 23 kills. The 23 kills are the most by a USC middle blocker since three-time All-American Emily Adams had 23 kills in a match against UCLA on Sept. 19, 2003.
• Freshman OH Khalia Lanier recorded her 26th double-digit points match of the season.
• Senior libero Taylor Whittingham registered her 24th match this season in double digits for digs (21).
• Whittingham’s 21 digs gives her 1,673 career digs and puts her within 30 digs of third place in USC’s all-time record books (Katie Haller, 1990-93; 1,702 digs).
• Senior setter Alice Pizzasegola put up her eighth-career double-double (second this season) with 29 assists and 12 digs.
• Pizzasegola’s 29 assists give her 2,519 career assists and move her into 10th place in USC’s career record books ahead of Hayley Crone(2,516 assists; 2011-14).
• Junior setter Reni Meyer-Whalley had her eighth double-double of the season with 24 assists and a career-high 23 digs.
• Junior MB Jordan Dunn put up a career-high 11 blocks; the most by a Trojan in a single match since All-American MB Alicia Ogoms had 11 in 2015.
• Junior OH Sarah Livingston came off the bench to score a career-high 6.0 points with a career-high six blocks.

Courtesy Oregon State Athletics:

LOS ANGELES – Mary-Kate Marshall, Lanesha Reagan and McKenna Hollingsworth all recorded double doubles but the Oregon State volleyball team dropped a five-set match to USC Friday night at the Galen Center.

Set scores were 27-25, 25-23, 15-25, 23-25 and 12-15.

Marshall topped the Beavers with 15 kills, adding 10 digs for her sixth double double of the season. She added five blocks to her stat line.

Reagan, meanwhile, finished with her team-leading 12th double double of 2016. The redshirt sophomore tallied 10 kills and a career-best 22 digs. She finished with 40 digs on the year in two matches against USC after recording a then-career best 18 in the first matchup.

Reagan, like Marshall, had five blocks.

Hollingsworth was the first Oregon State (11-18 overall, 4-14 Pac-12 Conference) player to a double double Friday, and finished the match with 25 assists and 14 digs. She now has seven double doubles on the year.

The match saw both teams play aggressive at the net, with Oregon State finishing with 17 blocks to 15 for USC (18-10, 10-7). Kory Cheshire and Maddy Gravley each set career bests with eight blocks to tie for the team lead.

Oregon State hit .112 on the night, held the Trojans to a .170 clip, due in large part to the 17 team blocks. OSU was also bolstered by Kayla Ellis’ 14 digs, which helped the Beavers to 75 as a team. USC, however, finished with 99.

Lila Toner finished with 10 kills and Katelyn Driscoll had a season-best six.

The Beavers on the first set in comeback fashion, coming back from a seven-point deficit at 20-13 to win it 27-25. The Beavers held USC to a .135 hitting percentage in the first set.

Set two saw 14 ties as the teams traded points for most of the frame. The Beavers, however, usually found themselves up a point after the back-and-forth scoring, and won the set after one of Marshall’s 15 kills.

Oregon State returns to action Wednesday afternoon when visiting California in Berkeley. First serve is slated for 3 p.m. PT. Live stats and live video can be found by visiting osubeavers.com.

For more information on the Oregon State volleyball team, follow the club’s official Twitter account at Twitter.com/BeaverVBall, by Facebook at Facebook.com/OregonStateVolleyball or on Instagram at Instagram.com/BeaverVBall.