Aggressive Bears Comeback Against Oregon State

Thursday, September 19

Greeley, Colo.

7 PM

University of Northern Colorado

6-5,0-0Big Sky

Oregon State

6-3,0-0Pac-12

Oregon St.

Northern Colo.

9/19/2019 10:36:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

UNC volleyball came back for a 3-2 win over Oregon State on Thursday

By: By Ryan Pfeifer, UNCBears.com

GREELEY – A change of mindset and more aggressive play helped Northern Colorado Volleyball earn the comeback 3-2 (23-25, 25-23, 16-25, 25-18, 15-5) win over Oregon State on Thursday night in Homewood Suites Classic. The Bears improved to 6-5 on the season by winning the fourth set 25-18 and dominated the fifth set 15-5.

Northern Colorado had a balanced attack on Thursday night with four players finishing the night in double-figure kills. Sophomore Kailey Jo Ince continued her breakout season for the team with her match-high 19 kills. Taylor Muff added in 17 of her own and Jadyn McCartney and Lauren Hinrichs ended the night with 12 and 11, respectively.

To start the match UNC was too high error with 10 attack errors in the first set and another nine in the third, allowing Oregon State to build a 2-1 lead.

While the Bears dropped the third set 25-16, the momentum started to turn towards them as they went from passive swings to more aggressive. Ince led that charge scoring eight of her 19 kills in the set.

Momentum completely swung the Bears way late in the fourth set with a 4-0 run to go from up three at 16-13 to up seven at 20-13. Ince started the run with a kill and Kyndall Feather kept it going with her aggressive serving.

Taylor Muff made sure there would be no doubt in the fifth set scoring four of the team's first five points with two kills and two aces. The Bears started the set on a 5-1 run and never looked back, easily defeating the Beavers 15-5.

Coach Oates Outlook
Overall thoughts on the match
"It was a resilient match for us. We did not play well consistently, but we played well enough to find a way to win. It was about the serve and pass game. If we served and passed well we were controlling the scoreboard, if not they controlled the scoreboard. Luckily for us in the fifth set we got some lucky plays on (Taylor) Muff's serve to get us going."

What changes helped the team from being so high error early on
"It's counter-intuitive when we are playing a high error game. It's really tentative mistakes that we are making when that is happening. I thought KJ really showed a good example of that tonight. She showed her big arm more and more as the match went on and made fewer errors as it went on. I thought the same was true with Lauren (Hinrichs). She was really aggressive and ended up as one of our top percentage hitters tonight. We have to stay aggressive to limit our errors"'

On facing another Top 40 team in Cal Poly Tomorrow
"In some ways this match was a must-win for us tonight. It does become harder tomorrow night against Cal Poly. As I told the team I am not sure Cal Poly is better than Oregon State, but they are not going to give us as many free points as we got tonight. So we are going to have to earn more tomorrow and not make the unforced errors like we did tonight."

Inside the Box Score
- In only her second match back from a hand injury, Taylor Els recorded 28 digs for the Bears.
- Daisy Schultz had a well-rounded game with 52 assists, eight digs, four blocks and three kills.
- UNC ended the night with nine service aces, almost double the Beavers.

What's Ahead
Northern Colorado makes it three straight days with a match hosting Cal Poly tomorrow inside Bank of Colorado Arena at 7 pm MT. Tickets for the match and all UNC volleyball matches can be purchased at UNCBears.com/Tickets, by calling 970-351-4849 or visiting the UNC Box Office inside the Campus Commons.

To stay up to date on all things UNC Volleyball, visit UNCBears.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @UNC_BearsVB.