University of Oregon
12-5, 5-3Pac-12
USC
13-6, 4-3Pac-12
Ducks Fall To USC In Four Sets
10/14/16 | Women's Volleyball
Four-Set Loss To Trojans Hands Ducks Back-To-Back Losses For Just The Second Time This Season
EUGENE, Ore. - No. 16 Oregon volleyball lost consecutive matches for just the second time this season, falling to USC in four sets, 30-28, 22-25, 20-25, 21-25, in front of 2,008 on Friday night at Matthew Knight Arena.
How It Happened: The Ducks (12-5, 5-3 Pac-12) outlasted the Trojans (12-6, 4-3 Pac-12) in a battle of a first set, but were unable to keep pace late in sets over the next three. Taylor Agost was the offensive standout for the Ducks, putting down 12 kills on 27 swings without an error (.444), while Ronika Stone also impressed with 12 kills (.385) and a team-high seven blocks. Lindsey Vander Weide also put down 11 kills while digging nine balls. Maggie Scott recorded her second double-double in as many matches, dishing out 29 assists to go with 10 digs. Amanda Benson led the Ducks with 26 digs, and Stone and Jolie Rasmussen each added a pair of aces. The Ducks were out-hit by the Trojans, .214 to .175, and finished tied with USC with 13 total blocks. The Ducks struggled in sideout opportunities, finding success on just 54 of 102 opportunites (52 percent).
Set 1: The match opened with the Ducks and Trojans trading points through the first few rallies before Oregon scored three straight to take a 11-7 lead and force a USC timeout. The Ducks would score the next two points out of the break to push their run to 5-0 before the Trojans broke it up with a kill by Khalia Lanier. Oregon extended its lead to 18-13 to prompt USC into its second timeout, but the Trojans came out with three unanswered to cut the Oregon lead to 19-16. USC scored its fourth straight point after an Oregon timeout, but a Trojan service error led to three straight Duck points before the Trojans responded with three points in four rallies to get within two at 23-21 and force Oregon's second timeout. USC's run would extend to 5-0 to tie the set, 23-23. The two teams would then trade dramatic possessions, with the Trojans fighting off an initial Oregon set point and the Ducks surviving four USC set points to play to a 28-28 tie, with a Vander Weide kill knotting up the score. The Ducks would take advantage of back-to-back Trojan attack errors to win the set in exciting fashion, 30-28. Agost and Stone led the Ducks with four kills each, Vander Weide had three blocks and Benson dug eight balls.
Set 2: The start of the second set mirrored the majority of the first, with the two teams playing to a 10-10 tie before the Trojans later scored four points in five rallies to go up 15-14 at the media timeout. USC would extend its run to 7-2 after to force the Ducks into a timeout with a 19-16 lead. Jim Moore would take his second timeout a point later, and the Ducks would respond with three straight points to get within one, 20-19. Oregon scored two more points after a USC timeout to go up, 21-20, but the Trojans scored five of the last six points to take the set, 25-20. Vander Weide and Stone each had four kills in game two to pace the Ducks, while Benson had six digs with Brooke Van Sickle adding five off the bench. Oregon also had three aces during the set to give them five at intermission.
Set 3: After an initial 8-8 tie, the Ducks scored five points in seven rallies to go up 13-10 and cause a Trojan timeout. Oregon would go up 17-13 before USC responded with a 6-0 stretch to take a two-point lead, 19-17, and eventually stretched that lead to 22-18 with a 9-1 run to force Oregon into the second of its two timeouts. Oregon got within three, 23-20, but back-to-back USC kills sent the Ducks into the fourth set in a 2-1 deficit. Agost led the Ducks with four kills on eight swings, Rasmussen added three and Stone recorded two blocks and an ace.
Set 4: The flow of the game remained the same in the fourth game, as the battle between the Ducks and Trojans continued to a 13-13 tie midway through the set. After USC went up 15-13, the Ducks scored five points in seven rallies to take an 18-17 lead. The Trojans scored two to grab the lead back before the Ducks responded with two of their own to go up 20-19. With the game tied 20-20 the Ducks scored a point on a USC attack error, but the point was nullified after USC successfully challenged a net violation to give the Trojans a 21-20 lead and force Jim Moore to take a timeout. USC would use the momentum from the overturned call to win four of the next five points and win the match with a 25-21 victory.
What It Means: Coming into the week leading the Pac-12 in both hitting percentage and kills per set, the Ducks hit under .200 in back-to-back matches while trailing in kills in both. Oregon had been very successful in hitting around the block through its first 15 matches, but was blocked 27 times in losses to UCLA on Wednesday and tonight to USC. The Ducks continue to distribute the ball across the court, with five different players taking more than 20 swings against the Trojans, but will try to find more lanes to hit through moving forward. With only three conference losses, the Ducks remain in a good position to accomplish their season goals as they move into the stretch run.
Quotes:
Head Coach Jim Moore
On errors...
"I thought we were digging the ball pretty good. We are struggling offensively but we dug a lot of balls, I thought we played defense pretty well."
On the game...
"We are not grinding. That's literally one of the things I was going to say. We are not grinding it out. We are not getting tough when it gets in a crucial situation. We are in a slump offensively. We have some pin hitters that basically hit zero, they're all way down there, under .100. Then you really have to grind it out and we are just not doing a very good job of that."
On the home stand...
"Going 1-3 is disappointing. We just have to get tough."
