University of Oregon
Utah
Volleyball Outlasts Utah
10/04/15 | Women's Volleyball
EUGENE, Ore. ? It was the second match in less than a 24-hour span that came down to the wire for the No. 22 Oregon volleyball team and this time the Ducks prevailed over Utah in five sets 23-25, 25-22, 25-20, 19-25, 15-11, Saturday.
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How it Happened: The Ducks (8-5, 2-2 Pac-12) rebounded from a late-night five-set loss against Colorado on Friday, as Martenne Bettendorf returned to form as well. The senior set a career high in kills (25) while hitting .316, getting back over .300 for the first time since the Ducks finished their road trip at Texas State, Sept. 8.
“That's what we need from Martenne,” said head coach Jim Moore. “We need her to do that. She stepped up when we needed somebody to step up.”
In each of the first two sets, the two teams were tied at 22 and while the Utes pulled ahead in the first, two late kills from freshman Lindsey Vander Weide secured the set for the Ducks in the second set. The Ducks handled the third set with relative ease, going up 17-10 and holding off a late Utah surge to win 25-20.? The Utes returned the favor in the fourth set with a 25-19 win.
In the shortened fifth set, Oregon was its most productive offensively, hitting .500 as a team with a balanced attack. Freshman middle blocker slammed two of her five kills to the floor in the final set as the Ducks went from a 7-7 tie to a 15-11 win, capped fittingly by a Bettendorf kill.
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What it Means: Oregon is now 2-2 in Pac-12 play, and will have to see where that stacks up after the majority of teams play Sunday. After the match Coach Moore called it a win “we had to have” after learning a tough lesson against Colorado. The Ducks have already matched their total of four five-set matches from last season. The young squad went 2-2 in those matches and is now as experienced as any ?team in the conference with the match on the line.
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Notes and Numbers: Amanda Benson led the team with 21 digs, marking the third time in the last four match she has reached 20 digs...Sumeet Gill finished with a career high seven blocks...the total is second-best by a Duck this season behind Kacey Nady's eight against George Washington...Taylor Agost reached double-digit kills for the second night in a row (17)...Maggie Scott (56 assists, 10 digs) and Martenne Bettendorf (25 kills, 11 digs) each recorded double-doubles.
Quoteworthy:
Head Coach Jim Moore
“I really think this is what we needed...We have to be put in this situation because we've been handling it so poorly. So I told them at the beginning of the fifth set, we need this.”
Martenne Bettendorf on adjustments from last night...
“Last night we all talked after the game, and said ?we have another game tomorrow, we need to come into the game ready to play'. We were ready to play for Colorado yesterday, we started out really good, and we just couldn't finish it out. So we knew today, we had to finish it out, and that's what we did on the last game.”
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What's Next: Oregon will go to the Bay Area next weekend for a match against California, Friday, Oct. 9, and Stanford, Oct. 11. Both matches will be televised on the Pac-12 Networks.
Players Mentioned
