University of Oregon
14-6, 7-4Pac-12
Arizona
14-9, 6-5Pac-12
Arizona Rallies to Beat Ducks in Five
10/28/16 | Women's Volleyball
Oregon Unable To Hold On To 2-1 Lead, Falls To 7-4 In Pac-12 Play
EUGENE, Ore. - No. 20 Oregon volleyball was unable to hold on to a 2-1 lead as it fell to Arizona in five sets, 27-25, 17-25, 21-25, 25-13, 15-11, in front of 2,043 on Friday night at Matthew Knight Arena.
How It Happened: Arizona (14-9, 6-5 Pac-12) was able to outlast the Ducks (14-6, 7-4 Pac-12) in the first set, but Oregon rallied with an impressive showing in the second to pull even. The Ducks staved off a furious Wildcat rally in the third to take a 2-1 lead, but Arizona used the momentum from the end of the third to win the next set and force a fifth game. The Wildcats kept their foot on the gas in the fifth set en route to a 15-11 win and a 3-2 match victory.
The Ducks were led in kills by three different players as Taylor Agost, Jolie Rasmussen and Lindsey Vander Weide all finished the match with 13, with Agost (.346) and Rasmussen (.333) putting together the most efficient performances. Maggie Scott paced the Ducks with 26 assists while adding 10 digs for her third double-double of the year, and Amanda Benson tied for the match lead with 21 digs. The Ducks hit .213 as a team with 22 errors, and committed nine service errors. Arizona led in nearly every category other than digs and aces.
Set 1: The Ducks got off to a strong start, jumping out to a 7-3 lead to force the Wildcats into an early timeout. Arizona regrouped out of the break, going on a 12-6 run to take a 15-13 lead and then extending that lead to 20-17 to make the Ducks burn both of their timeouts. After getting within a point three different times, a block by Stone and Kacey Nady on an Arizona set point pulled the Ducks even at 24-24. After the Wildcats' final timeout, Vander Weide erased another Arizona set point before a kill and an Oregon attack error gave the Wildcats a 27-25 win. Agost led the Ducks in the opening set with five kills on six swings (.833), Vander Weide put down four and Nady had three blocks.
Set 2: After the two teams traded points early, a 5-1 run by the Ducks gave them a 9-5 lead. Oregon would extend that lead to 14-8, forcing the Wildcats to burn both of their timeouts early in the set. Neither break was able to slow down the Ducks, as they ran away for a 25-17 win to even the match with Vander Weide ending the set with an ace. Arizona got as close as six points at 23-17 down the stretch, but were unable to kill the Ducks' momentum. Sone led the Ducks with four kills on eight swings, Agost and Vander Weide each had three and the Ducks totaled three aces in the set.
Set 3: The Ducks carried their momentum from the second set out of the intermission into the third, building an early 12-6 lead. Arizona took its first timeout early to try and slow the Ducks down, but Oregon kept its foot on the gas and extended its lead to 22-10. Arizona began to claw its way back into it with six straight points to force an Oregon timeout at 22-16, and extended its run to 10-1 to pull within three, 23-20. After the Ducks' second timeout, a kill by Stone and an Arizona service error gave Oregon a 25-21 win and a 2-1 lead in the match. Vander Weide led the Ducks with five kills, though also committed five errors, Rasmussen put down four balls and Benson led all players with six kills. The Ducks were able to pull out the set despite hitting just .175, while the Wildcats were held to a hitting percentage of .000.
Set 4: Despite dropping the third set, Arizona carried its momentum from its furious rally to score the first four points of the fourth and force the Ducks into an early timeout. The Wildcats kept rolling out of the break, extending their lead to 9-2 to prompt Oregon to use its second timeout. The Wildcats' lead got as large as 17-6 before the Ducks began to rally, scoring four straight and forcing Arizona into a timeout. The Wildcats wouldn't allow Oregon to build any more momentum, finishing the set on a 6-2 run to win 25-13. Rasmussen and Stone each had three kills in the fourth, while Benson dug four balls and Lauren Page had a block.
Set 5: Arizona kept its foot on the gas to start the fifth set, scoring the first two points before Oregon came back to tie the set 3-3 on an ace by Alex Hojnar. Oregon appeared to take a 5-4 lead on an ace by Raskie, but Arizona successfully challenged the call to take a 5-4 lead of its own. The Wildcats then scored the next four to go up 9-4, forcing the Ducks to use both of their timeouts in the process. Arizona extended its lead to 11-5 before Oregon began to catch fire, scoring four of the next five to get within three at 12-9. After an Arizona timeout, the Wildcats were able to close out the set and the match to escape Eugene with a win. Rasmussen led the Ducks with three kills, while Scott and Hojnar each had an ace.
What it Means: Entering the week in a three-way tie for second place in the Pac-12, the Ducks fall back in the race with a loss on Friday but stay right in the thick of the race for the conference title. A loss by first-place Washington on Wednesday helps the Ducks' cause. The Ducks fell to 5-3 this season when hitting better than .200, and 2-2 in five-set matches. Dropping the first set proved to be tough to overcome once again, as Oregon dropped to 2-4 when doing so. The biggest flaw in the Ducks' performance on Friday was the service errors, as their nine are an unfortunate sight after they limited the errors to three in a win over Colorado last week.
Notable: Friday's match was the first Pac-12 volleyball game streamed live on Twitter through Pac-12 Plus, and the Ducks will be live on Twitter again on Nov. 10 against Colorado.
Quotes:
Jim Moore, Head Coach
On their play in the fourth and fifth sets…
"We didn't have focus. We let their two hitters who took 47 and 49 swings hit twice with no block up. It's just really strange."
On it there are any positives to take away from this game…
"At times we were very good. We blocked well at times, but the only thing I have to take away is that it's about consistency. You have to be consistent from match-to-match and throughout the match."
Jolie Rasmussen, Freshman Outside Hitter
Feelings after the loss…
"It's heartbreaking. We definitely had it in game three, then in game four we really came out low in energy and we couldn't bounce back from that. We need to learn to fight through everything and give it our all every single point."
