No. 23 Ducks Hit the Road to Face Mountain Schools

THIS WEEK

#23 OREGON AT #20 UTAH
Friday, Oct. 21 | 7 p.m. | Jon M. Huntsman Center
WATCH: Pac-12 Networks
STATS: utahutes.com

#23 OREGON AT COLORADO
Saturday, Oct. 22 | 6 p.m. | Coors Event Center
WATCH: Live stream
STATS: cubuffs.com

WEEKLY NOTES:

Ducks Head Out on the Road for Trip to Mountain Schools
After playing 14 of its first 17 matches at home this season, No. 23 Oregon will travel to Utah (Fri., 7 p.m.) and Colorado (Sat., 6 p.m.) this weekend looking to get back to its winning ways after dropping a pair of matches at home last week. At 5-3 in Pac-12 play, the Ducks are locked in a seven-way tie for second place in the conference behind 6-2 Washington. The Ducks will open their week against one of those other 5-3 teams in Utah before taking on the 3-5 Buffaloes. The conclusion of this weekend will mark the halfway point in the conference season.

Live Coverage
Friday's match against the Utes will be broadcast on Pac-12 Networks. Thad Anderson (pxp) and Elizabeth Moreau (analyst) will be on the call. Saturday's match at Colorado will be live-streamed and the link will be available on GoDucks.com by the day of the match. Live stats will be available for both matches through the volleyball schedule on GoDucks.com.

Oregon by the Numbers: Ducks Rank Among the Nation's Elite
Oregon's offense has been stellar through its first 17 matches, evident by the Ducks' standing in multiple national statistic categories. The Ducks' 14.43 kills per set leads the Pac-12 and is eighth in the country, while their .285 team hitting percentage leads the conference and is 10th nationally. Setters Maggie Scott and August Raskie have been stellar in UO's 6-2 offense at setting up the Ducks' hitters as they have paced Oregon to a mark of 13.53 assists per set, best in the Pac-12 and eighth in the country. The Ducks are also third in the Pac-12 in digs (16.02/set) and service aces (1.22/set), and fourth in opponent hitting percentage (.178).

Individually, freshman Ronika Stone is 22nd in the country and third in the Pac-12 with a .395 hitting percentage through her first 17 collegiate matches, while also ranking seventh in the Pac-12 and 47th nationally with 1.25 blocks per set. Kacey Nady is right behind Stone at fourth in the conference with a .375 hitting percentage, while Taylor Agost is sixth in the Pac-12 with a mark of .371. Amanda Benson leads the conference and was 23rd in the country with 5.10 digs per set, one of only three players in the Pac-12 and 32 in the nation to average more than 5.00 per set.

Ducks Drop a Pair of Tough Matches at Home to UCLA and USC
It was a tough week at home for the Ducks last week as they lost back-to-back matches for just the second time this season, falling to then-No. 20 UCLA and USC at Matthew Knight Arena. Oregon opened the week against the Bruins and took the match to five sets but were unable to come away with a win. Oregon opened the match with a thrilling 28-26 win in the first set, but dropped the next two, 23-25, 20-25, to fall into a 2-1 hole. The Ducks were able to climb back into it with a 25-21 win in the fourth, but UCLA pulled away at the end to win the fifth set, 15-9, and take the match 3-2. Jolie Rasmussen led the Ducks with 18 kills while taking 60 swings, while Taylor Agost added 16 kills and seven blocks. Three Ducks recorded double-doubles against the bruins with Lindsey Vander Weide (12 kills, 11 digs) picking up her team-leading seventh of the year, August Raskie (21 assists, 15 digs) earning her third and Maggie Scott (28 assists, 11 digs) recording her first. Amanda Benson led the ducks with a season-high 24 digs while recording a career-high nine assists.

Against the Trojans on Friday, Oregon again survived a dramatic first set (30-28), but were unable to sustain that momentum over the next three as USC came away with a 3-1 victory. The offense was paced by Agost and Ronika Stone, who both finished with 12 kills while Stone led the Ducks with seven blocks. Benson once again set her season-high with 26 digs, while Scott recorded her second double-double in as many matches with 29 assists and 10 digs. Stone and Rasmussen also each added a pair of aces.

Up Next
After playing back-to-back road matches this weekend, the Ducks will return home for two more matches at Matthew Knight Arena. Oregon will host Arizona (Oct. 28, 7 p.m.) and Arizona State (Oct. 30, 11 a.m.) before heading back out on the road to the Washington schools.

Ducks Thriving in 6-2 Offensive Scheme
The potent attack that has been the Oregon offense this season has been a somewhat unconventional sight for the conventional volleyball viewer, with Jim Moore rotating through as astounding number of players in a highly-effective offense. Led by Lindsey Vander Weide's 3.05 kills per set, the Ducks have eighth different players that are averaging more than 1.00 kill per set, and four players hitting better than .300. Setters Maggie Scott and August Raskie have both been very effective while rotating through the offense, with Scott averaging 6.83 assists per set and Raskie adding 5.14 assists per set.

Efficiency Key for the Ducks
The Ducks' success or failure this season has often come down to hitting efficiency. Oregon is 12-0 this season when leading in attack percentage and 9-0 when hitting better than .300. On the flip side, the Ducks are 0-5 when trailing in attack percentage and 0-3 when hitting under .200. Conversely, Oregon is 12-0 when its opponent hits worse than .200, but 0-5 when their opponent hits better than .200.

Agost Showing Ability to Take Over Matches
When right-side hitter Taylor Agost has been on this season, she's been close to unstoppable. Agost has recorded double-digit kills seven times this season, including each of the last two matches, and has hit better than .400 nine times. The junior has committed only 26 attack errors on 329 swings this season, hitting her way to a .365 mark on the year. Agost has committed two or fewer errors this season in her nine matches hitting better than .400, highlighted by a career-best .667 mark on Sept. 2 against Murray State in which she put down 12 kills on 16 swings without an error.

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 seventh in the Pac-12 with seven double-doubles this season, and has posted double-digit digs in 12 of the 17 matches this season. The sophomore also has a service ace in all but four matches in 2016, with multiple aces in six different matches.

Ducks Look to Continue Success Against Utah and Colorado
Oregon has had the upperhand against both the Utes and the Buffaloes, leading the all-time series against both teams. The Ducks are 11-6 all-time against Utah, winning six of the last eight match ups, though the two teams split the two-match series last season and Utah beat the Ducks in 2014. Against Colorado, Oregon is 10-3 all-time and had won nine in a row before the Buffaloes beat the Ducks in five sets in Eugene last season.

Impressive Win Streak Ends at 11
The Ducks' loss to No. 8 Washington on Oct. 7 ended an 11-match winning streak that included eight sweeps and 33 wins in 37 sets. During the streak, Oregon hit an impressive .337 as a team while holding opponents to a combined .141 hitting percentage. The Ducks hit better than .270 in each of the 11 wins, while hitting better than .300 in eight of the wins, and held opponents under .200 in all 11 matches including two matches under .100. Individually, Ronika Stone and Taylor Agost led the Ducks during the streak with hitting percentages of .462 and .442, respectively, while Lindsey Vander Weide led the team with 3.21 kills per set. Amanda Benson paced the defense with an impressive 5.32 digs per set. The Ducks' 11-match winning streak tied for the fifth-longest in program history.

Ronika Stone Named Pac-12 Freshman Player of the Week (Oct. 3)
Ronika Stone earned the first Pac-12 weekly honor of her career this week, taking home Pac-12 Freshman Player of the Week honors on Oct. 3 after hitting .516 with 2.38 kills per set in a weekend road trip at Arizona State and Arizona, while also leading the Ducks with 10 blocks between the two matches. Stone's weekend was highlighted by an incredibly efficient performance against the Wildcats in which she put down a season-high 13 kills on .625 hitting while also adding five blocks.

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 (.395), total blocks (65) and blocks per set (1.25), while providing the team with a noticeable infusion of energy. Stone's .395 hitting percentage is currently 22nd in the countryand third in the Pac-12, and the San Jose, Calif. native has hit better than .300 in all but three matches this season. Jolie Rasmussen has shown tremendous potential on the offensive end, averaging 2.73 kills per set while hitting .207, and has also shown some ability in receive with 1.05 digs per set. Willow Johnson has provided versatility with her left-handed swing on the right side, hitting .236 with 1.98 kills per set while also averaging 0.64 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 0.79 kills per set and 1.64 digs per set.

Amanda Benson Earns Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week Honors (Sept. 12)
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 4.62, trailing only Katie Swoboda (5.11). Benson is also second on the all-time total digs list with 1,877 for her career. Benson needs 321 digs this season to reach Swoboda's all-time mark of 2,198. Benson currently leads the Pac-12 with 5.10 digs per set. Elsewhere in the UO career record book, junior setter Maggie Scott is ninth with 7.80 assists per set and seventh with 2,292 assists. Senior Kacey Nady is currently fourth with a career attack percentage of .320.

Moore Closing in on 600 Career Wins
In his 12th season with the Ducks and 28th overall, head coach Jim Moore is just 11 victories away from reaching the 600 mark as a head coach. 237 of those 589 wins have come while at the helm at Oregon, where he has boasted a .677 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 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.

Oregon 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.