Ducks Carry Nine Match Winning Streak Into First Pac-12 Road Action

This Week
No. 21 Oregon heads south this week for its first taste of road conference play against Arizona State and Arizona, and does so on an impressive nine-match winning streak. The Ducks will take on Arizona State on Friday at 6 p.m. PT on Pac-12 Networks, looking to build on their recent success against the Sun Devils. Oregon has won 14 of the last 16 matches against ASU, including the last two after winning in straight sets last season. ASU currently has a 37-22 advantage in the all-time series. The Ducks will then head to Tuscon to face Arizona on Saturday at 6 p.m. The Wildcats have won the last two meetings against the Ducks, winning in straight sets in 2015, and hold a 44-18 all-time advantage, but the Ducks have won 10 of the last 19 matches.

Live Coverage
Oregon's match with the Sun Devils on Friday will be broadcast on Pac-12 Networks, with Kate Scott (pxp) and Al Scates (analyst) on the call. Saturday's match against the Wildcats will have a live stream available through arizonawildcats.com. Live stats for both matches can be found on the volleyball schedule of goducks.com.

Weekly Notes
The Streak
The Ducks' nine-match winning streak includes five consecutive sweeps, 18 straight set wins and 27 wins in their last 28 sets. During the streak, Oregon has hit an impressive .356 as a team while holding opponents to a combined .129 hitting percentage. The Ducks have hit better than .298 in each of the nine wins and have held opponents under .183 in all nine matches, including two matches under .100. Oregon also has a .933 serving percentage compared to a .873 marks for its opponents during the run. Individually, Ronika Stone and Taylor Agost have led the Ducks during the streak with hitting percentages of .443 and .442, respectively, while Jolie Rasmussen has averaged a team-best 3.23 kills per set. Lindsey Vander Weide has 3.21 kills per set and a .343 hitting percentage in the nine wins, and Amanda Benson has paced the defense with an astounding 5.71 digs per set.

Ducks Rank Among the Nation's Elite
Oregon's offense has been stellar through its first 11 matches, evident by the Ducks' standing in multiple national statistic categories. Jim Moore's club is second in the nation in kills per set at 15.06, trailing only San Diego (15.62), while leading the Pac-12 in that category. The Ducks' .321 team hitting percentage leads the conference and is third nationally, putting them as one of only five teams in the nation to hit better than .300 as a team. Setters Maggie Scott and August Raskie have been stellar at setting up the Ducks' hitters as they have paced Oregon to a mark of 13.86 assists per set, tops in the Pac-12 and fifth in the country. Individually, Ronika Stone (.424) and Kacey Nady (.385) are third and fourth in the conference in hitting percentage, respectively, while Taylor Agost (.367) is tenth. Defensively, the Ducks are 46th nationally with 16.19 digs per set, led by Amanda Benson who leads the conference and is 20th in the country with 5.22 digs per set. Benson is the only player in the Pac-12 averaging more than 5.00 digs per set.

Oregon Opens Pac-12 Play With Sweeps of Oregon State and California
The Ducks got their conference schedule off to a strong start last week, picking up back-to-back sweeps of the Beavers and the Golden Bears. Oregon used a balanced effort to down the Beavers, with freshmen Jolie Rasmussen and Ronika Stone leading the way with 11 kills each. Amanda Benson paced the defense with a season-high 23 digs, Stone had six blocks, and August Raskie recorded her first career double-double with 26 assists and 11 digs. Lindsey Vander Weide carried the Ducks over California on Friday, tying her career-high with 25 kills (.524) while recording her fifth double-double of the season with 15 digs. Vander Weide's 25 kills are the most in the Pac-12 this season in a three-set match.

Up Next
After taking on ASU and Arizona, Oregon will return home for four consecutive matches at Matthew Knight Arena, starting with Washington at 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 7, on ESPNU.

Vander Weide Continues to Prove She's an All-Around Player
Often referred to on the outside as an "offensive weapon," sophomore Lindsey Vander Weide has made it clear so far this season that she is much more than just an outside hitter. Vander Weide has rarely come off the court this year, serving as a six-rotation player while passing from the back row on a consistent basis. Vander Weide is tied for fourth in the Pac-12 with five double-doubles this season, and has posted double-digit digs in nine matches this season, including seven of her last eight. The sophomore also has a service ace in all but two matches in 2016, with multiple aces in four different matches.

Freshmen Fab Four
Oregon's highly-touted freshman class has delivered on expectations thus far in their first season of collegiate volleyball. Ronika Stone has been stellar, leading the team in both hitting percentage (.424), total blocks (40) and blocks per set (1.38), while providing the team with a noticeable infusion of energy. Stone's .424 hitting percentage is currently third in the Pac-12. Jolie Rasmussen has been very impressive on the offensive end, averaging 3.05 kills per set while hitting .265, and has also shown some ability in serve receive with 1.00 dig per set. Willow Johnson has provided versatility with her left-handed swing on the right side, hitting .309 with 2.15 kills per set while also averaging 0.65 blocks per set. Brooke Van Sickle, the heir apparent to Benson at libero, has been all over the court in her first season, and has averaged 1.23 kills per set and 1.66 digs per set.

Amanda Benson Earns Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week Honors
Senior libero Amanda Benson was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 12, after helping lead the Ducks to a 4-0 week and a sweep in the Nike Invitational. Over the four matches, Benson dug 65 balls, 5.00 per set, while committing only four receiving errors and serving as a fixture in the Ducks' defense. It was Benson's second career Pac-12 weekly honor.

Benson Chasing UO Digs Records in Final Season
In her senior season with the Ducks, libero Amanda Benson has a couple of UO career digs records within her sights. Benson is currently second on the all-time digs per set list at 4.60, trailing only Katie Swoboda (5.11). Benson is also second on the all-time total digs list with 1,759 for her career. Benson needs 439 digs this season to reach Swoboda's all-time mark of 2,198. Benson currently leads the Pac-12 with 5.22 digs per set. Elsewhere in the UO career record book, junior setter Maggie Scott is eighth with 7.93 assists per set and eighth with 2,141 assists. Senior Kacey Nady is currently fourth with a career attack percentage of .319.

Moore Closing in on 600 Career Wins
In his 12th season with the Ducks and 28th overall, head coach Jim Moore is just 14 victories away from reaching the 600 mark as a head coach. 234 of those wins have come while at the helm at Oregon, where he has boasted a .676 winning percentage over his 11-plus years. Moore collected a combined 84 wins over four years between Chico State and Northern Michigan before arriving in Eugene, and 84 over four years at Texas, Friday's opponent. Moore started his coaching career at Northern Michigan where he accumulated 123 wins in his first stint with the program before moving to Kansas State, where he won 61 matches over three seasons.

Vander Weide Named Preseason All-Pac-12
Coming off of a phenomenal freshman season, sophomore outside hitter Lindsey Vander Weide was recognized by the conference's coaches by being selected to the preseason All-Pac-12 team. The Turlock, Calif. native earned All-Pac-12 honors and Pac-12 All-Freshmen Team recognition last season, as well as Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors twice throughout the year. Vander Weide led the Ducks with 410 points in 2015, finished second on the team with 356 kills, 3.21 kills per set, 253 digs and 21 service aces, and third with 59 blocks.

Ducks Picked Fourth in Pac-12 Preseason Coaches Poll
After a sixth place finish in 2015, the Ducks were picked to finish fourth in the league this season in a poll of the conference's coaches, receiving 95 total points in the poll. Stanford was the consensus at the top of the poll, receiving nine of the 12 first-place votes and 119 points total, while UCLA and Washington each received a first-place vote to round out the top three.

Ducks Land No. 2 Recruiting Class in the Nation
A year after assembling the nation's fourth-best recruiting class, the Ducks welcome a four-player class in 2016 that was ranked No. 2 in the nation by both prepvolleyball.com and volleyballmag.com. The quartet of hitters Jolie Rasmussen and Willow Johnson, middle blocker Ronika Stone and libero/outside hitter Brooke Van Sickle is the Ducks' top-rated class ever. Stone is the top-rated indiviudal recruit in UO history, slotted at No. 10 on prepvolleyball.com's prestifious "Senior Aces" list. Stone was a first-team Under Armour All-American, while Rasmussen was a second-team All-American and No. 20 on the Senior Aces list. Johnson was an honorable mention All-American and ranked 27th in the 2016 senior class, and Van Sickle came in at No. 88 among the Senior Aces while also earning first-team All-American honors.

Ducks Looking to Earn Sixth Straight NCAA Berth
Oregon enters 2016 with its sights set on returning to the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight season. The Ducks faced off with Wisconsin in the first round of the dance last season, and reached the NCAA Regional round in 2014 after serving as a host school in the first two rounds. The Ducks battled with Nebraska in the second round of the tournament in 2013, a year after the program's most successful season in history in 2012 when it reached the national championship game against Texas. The Ducks started the five-year run in the tournament in 2011 in the first round against Colorado State.