Ducks Rebound to Beat Buffs on Senior Night

Thursday, November 10

Eugene, Ore.

7:00 PM

University of Oregon

18-7, 11-5Pac-12

Colorado

13-12, 5-10Pac-12

Colorado

Oregon

11/10/16 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score #16 Oregon 3, Colorado 1

Lindsey Vander Weide Leads Way With 20 Kills, Kacey Nady and Amanda Benson Honored For Oregon Careers

By: Nate Krueger

EUGENE, Ore. – The 16th-ranked Oregon volleyball team rebounded from a tough loss to beat Colorado in four sets, 25-21, 20-25, 25-20, 25-16, on senior night on Thursday at Matthew Knight Arena.

How It Happened: After falling a half game back of the Pac-12 lead on Wednesday with a disappointing loss to No. 19 Utah, Oregon (18-7, 11-5 Pac-12) responded with a much-needed home win over the Buffaloes (13-12, 5-10 Pac-12). The Ducks finished strong in a tightly-played first set to go up 1-0, but the Buffs built a commanding lead in the second and then held on to tie the match, 1-1. A 7-2 run by the Ducks to finish the third set gave them a 2-1 advantage, and they were had control of the fourth set from the start to finish their regular season home schedule with a win.

Lindsey Vander Weide once again fueled the offense for the Ducks, hitting .381 with 20 kills for her 10th straight match with double-digit kills and 18th this season while also adding a career-high four aces. It was Vander Weide's fourth 20-kill match of the year. Taylor Agost added 10 kills, and Ronika Stone put down nine. Seniors Kacey Nady and Amanda Benson shined on their senior night, with Nady recording a season-high seven blocks and Benson tying her season high with her second straight 28-dig match.

Set 1: After an initial 7-7 tie, the Ducks scored four of five to go up 11-8. The Buffaloes were able to play their way back into a tie at 15-15 and then 19-19 before Oregon found its groove, going on a 6-2 run to open the match with a 25-21 win. Vander Weide paced the Ducks with six kills and Agost added five, and Benson opened her Senior Night with 10 digs. The Ducks hit .308 while holding Colorado to a mark of .179.

Set 2: It was a struggle to start the second set for the Ducks after winning the first, with Colorado racing out to a 14-3 lead. Oregon began to turn things around, getting within 19-11 and forcing Colorado into its first timeout. Oregon continued its comeback bid with a 9-4 stretch, capped by three straight to get within 23-17. The Ducks scored two more after CU's second timeout to get within four, but the Buffaloes were able to score two of the final three points to win the set and even the match. Vander Weide led the Ducks once again with five kills, and she and Benson each put down an ace. The Buffaloes rebounded form a tough first set to hit .325 in the second.

Set 3: The third set was tight from the start, as the two teams went back and forth to play to a 12-12 tie. The Ducks were able to put together a 3-0 run at that point to go up 15-12 and prompt CU's first timeout, but the Buffaloes responded with a 4-1 stretch to pull back even, 16-16. Tied at 18-18, Oregon was finally able to gain separation with an emphatic 7-2 stretch to win the set. Vander Weide led the Ducks yet again with five kills, and put the exclamation point on the set with an ace on set point for her second of the set. Benson dug 10 balls for the second time in three sets.

Set 4: Coming off an emotional third-set win, the Ducks built a commanding 11-3 lead. After three straight CU points cut the Oregon lead to 11-6, the Ducks got back to work and put together a dominant 12-5 run to extend their lead to 23-11. The Buffaloes fought hard down the stretch to cut into the deficit, but the Ducks finished off a 25-16 win and a four-set victory. Vander Weide and Stone each had four kills to pace the offense, and Vander Weide and Alex Hojnar each put down an ace. The Buffaloes couldn't get anything going offensively, hitting -.026 in the set.

What It Means: Entering the match a half-match back of the Pac-12 lead after Wednesday's loss, the Ducks kept pace with the win to tally their 11th conference win. It was an important home win for a team that entered the night 10-7 at home after dropping four of its last five at MKA. Oregon moved to 16-0 on the season when leading in digs, and 15-0 when limiting its opponent to a hitting percentage under .200.

Senior Night: Benson and Nady were honored before the match on Senior Night for their careers as Ducks. Nady is currently fifth in UO history with a career .314 hitting percentage, and entered the match 10th in the Pac-12 in hitting percentage. Benson is one of only two players in UO history to surpass 2,000 career digs with 2,061 for her career, and is second all-time in both digs and digs per set.

Quotes:
Jim Moore, Head Coach
On the seniors...
"Well they're obviously going to contribute. I know Kacey didn't play very much last night, but that was just kind of the way it matched up. There is never going to be a time when Amanda is not going to contribute."

On the third set...
"We didn't attack into the second set and we were serving easy. When we came back we started serving tough again. Lauren Page went back and served tough. It's not about missed serves. We should have been up two sets to none last night. I think a lot of people would agree with that. We missed nine serves and had no aces. There are not free throws. You have to attack serving, you have to go after it."

On the team without Jolie...
"We didn't do very well last night, we did better tonight. I don't know when she'll be back. She's walking around great, she's still in a boot right now, but that is mostly just precautionary. She is making us hopeful, that's for sure."

On finishing on the road...
"It's going to be three in a row that are pretty tough. If we play the way we are capable of playing, we are fine."

Kacey Nady, Senior Middle Blocker
On emotions tonight...
"I try to keep them under control as much as possible because this volleyball program has been the biggest part of my life. I started playing volleyball really late so I am more than blessed to be playing here."

What are you going to miss most...
"I would have to say my teammates. Going to team dinners and talking and laughing. My team is so funny, they are so funny, and definitely my teammates."

What changed about the last two sets...
"I think we realized that we could attack harder, and that's our biggest thing. If we're not attacking, we're not going to win the point. We realized that we can just press harder and I think that we started serving tougher, that was a big deal, passing was amazing, and just once one person does something good it just starts rolling."

Up Next: After finishing its regular season home schedule, Oregon will hit the road for four straight away matches to finish off the regular season. The Ducks, 7-0 on the road this season, will first take on UCLA, who is tied for the Pac-12 lead, next Friday at 7 p.m. before playing USC on Saturday at 7 p.m. Oregon will wrap up its schedule at Stanford (Nov. 23) and at Oregon State (Nov. 25).