Ducks Head to UW, WSU One Match Back Of Pac-12 Lead

THIS WEEK

#20 OREGON AT #8 WASHINGTON
Friday, Nov. 4 | 7 p.m. | Alaska Airlines Arena
WATCH: Pac-12 Networks
STATS: gohuskies.com

#20 OREGON AT #23 WASHINGTON STATE
Sunday, Nov. 6 | 11 a.m. | Bohler Gym
WATCH: Pac-12 Networks
STATS: wsucougars.com

INTERVIEWS

Head Coach Jim Moore

Senior libero Amanda Benson

WEEKLY NOTES

Ducks Start Weekend in Seattle One Match Back of Pac-12 Lead
Sitting at 15-6 and 8-4 in Pac-12 play, the 20th-ranked Ducks head out on a crucial conference road trip just one match back of Washington and UCLA for the Pac-12 lead. The Ducks also are currently 26th in the most recent NCAA RPI rankings. Oregon will take on the eight-ranked Huskies on Friday at 7 p.m. with a chance to pull even, and will close the weekend on Sunday with a match against Washington State in Pullman at 11 a.m.

Live Coverage
Both matches this weekend will be broadcast live on Pac-12 Networks. Anne Marie Anderson (pxp) and Kelli Tennant (analyst) will have the call when the Ducks take on the Huskies, and Steve Schlanger (pxp) and Camryn Irwin (analyst) will be on the broadcast on Sunday in Pullman. Both matches can be followed through live stats on gohuskies.com and wsucougars.com, respectively.

Ducks Split With Arizona Schools at Home to Hold Place in Pac-12 Race
Entering last week in a three-way tie for second and one match off the conference lead, the Ducks fell in five dramatic sets to Arizona on Friday before rebounding with a four-set win over Arizona State on Sunday to salvage the weekend. The Ducks took a 2-1 lead on the Wildcats before Arizona found and sustained enough momentum to pull off the upset. Three different players led the Ducks with 13 kills (Agost, Rasmussen, Vander Weide), while Maggie Scott (26 assists, 10 digs) and August Raskie (21 assists, 10 digs) both put up double-doubles.

On Sunday against the Sun Devils, Lindsey Vander Weide paced the Ducks with 19 kills while hitting an impressive .471 and digging seven balls. Freshmen Jolie Rasmussen (12 kills, .294) and Willow Johnson (10 kills, .500) were also very effective on the offensive end, and Scott (30 assists, 12 digs) recorded her second double-double in as many matches and fourth on the season. The Ducks hit .317 as a team to down the Sun Devils. Amanda Benson ended the weekend with an impressive 43 total digs to lead the Ducks.

Oregon by the Numbers: Ducks Rank Among the Nation's Elite
Oregon's offense has been stellar through its first 21 matches, evident by the Ducks' standing in multiple national statistic categories. The Ducks rank 10th in the country and are second in the Pac-12 in assists per set at 13.47, paced by setters Maggie Scott and August Raskie in UO's 6-2 attack. Oregon is 12th nationally and first in the Pac-12 in hitting percentage at .279, and is second in the conference and 13th nationally in kills per set with 14.32. The Ducks are second in the Pac-12 with 16.18 digs per set.

Individually, freshman Ronika Stone is fourth in the Pac-12 and 45th in the country with a .365 hitting percentage in her first collegiate season, while Kacey Nady and Taylor Agost are tied for eighth in the conference at .337. Amanda Benson has been a defensive juggernaut once again this season, leading the Pac-12 and ranking 27th in the country with 5.06 digs per set.

Looking Back at the First Meetings With UW and WSU This Season
It was a tale of two matches the first time Oregon faced off with Washington and Washington State this season, suffering a straight-set loss to the Huskies before sweeping aside the Cougars two days later at Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks struggled to find momentum against UW and had trouble against the block, hitting just .177 with 17 attack errors. It was a different story against the Cougars, as the Ducks hit .386 behind nine kills each from Taylor Agost and Jolie Rasmussen and Lauren Page added seven kills and six blocks. The Ducks fell to 22-63 in the all-time series against Washington, and improved to 52-32-1 against Washington State.

Up Next
After taking on the Washington schools, the Ducks will return home for their final homestand of the regular season with Utah and Colorado coming to MKA. Oregon will play the Utes at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 9, on Pac-12 Networks before playing Colorado on Senior Night at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 10.

Ducks Thriving in 6-2 Offensive Attack
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 3.17 kills per set, the Ducks have eight 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 6.77 assists per set and Raskie adding 5.18 assists per set.

Offensive/Defensive Efficiency Key for the Ducks
The Ducks' success or failure this season has often come down to hitting efficiency, on both sides of the net. Oregon is 15-0 this season when leading in attack percentage and 10-0 when hitting better than .300. On the flip side, the Ducks are 0-6 when trailing in attack percentage and 0-3 when hitting under .200. Oregon is 13-0 when its opponent hits worse than .200, but 2-6 when its opponent hits better than .200. The Ducks have allowed an opposing team to hit better than .300 just one time in 21 matches this season.

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 eight times this season, including three of the last six matches, and has hit better than .400 nine times. The junior has committed only 38 attack errors on 427 swings this season, hitting her way to a .337 mark. 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 sixth in the Pac-12 with nine double-doubles this season, and has posted double-digit digs in 14 of 21 matches this season. The sophomore also has a service ace in all but six matches in 2016, with multiple aces in six different matches.

Benson, Vander Weide Providing Solid Back Line of Defense
The Ducks have largely relied on two players to dig balls this season, with Amanda Benson and Lindsey Vander Weide handiling the majority of those duties. Benson has continued her storied career of digging everything that comes her way, leading the conference with 5.06 digs per set while recording 395 total digs. Vander Weide is averaging 3.05 digs per set with 238 digs and only 23 receiving errors while serving as the only six-rotation player for the Ducks.

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 hitting percentage (.365), total blocks (77) and blocks per set (1.12), while providing the team with a noticeable infusion of energy. Stone's .365 hitting percentage is currently 45th in the country and fourth in the Pac-12, and the San Jose, Calif. native has hit better than .300 in 16 of 21 matches this season. Jolie Rasmussen has shown tremendous potential on the offensive end, averaging 2.73 kills per set while hitting .221, and has also shown some ability in receive with 1.17 digs per set. Willow Johnson has provided versatility with her left-handed swing on the right side, hitting .225 with 1.95 kills per set while also averaging 0.57 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 0.64 kills per set and 1.56 digs per set.

Page, Vander Weide Earn Pac-12 Weekly Awards (Oct. 24)
Big weekends by Lauren Page and Lindsey Vander Weide paid off with some weekly accolades, as Page was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week and Vander Weide earned Offensive Player of the Week honors. Page finished the weekend with an astounding 17 blocks and a hitting percentage of .480, and her 12 block assists at Colorado are tied for third-most in UO single-match history. Vander Weide totalled 32 kills, 32 digs, 13 blocks and a .325 hitting percentage in the two road wins. Both players earned their first conference honors of the season, while Vander Weide earned the third of her career. Ducks now have four Pac-12 Players of the Week this 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 of the Week (Oct. 3)
Ronika Stone earned the first Pac-12 weekly honor of her career on Oct. 3, 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.

Amanda Benson Earns Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week (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 4.64, trailing only Katie Swoboda (5.11). Benson is also second on the all-time total digs list with 1,966 for her career. Benson needs 232 digs this season to reach Swoboda's all-time mark of 2,198. Benson currently leads the Pac-12 with 5.06 digs per set. Elsewhere in the UO career record book, junior setter Maggie Scott is ninth with 7.72 assists per set and seventh with 2,410 assists. Senior Kacey Nady is currently fourth with a career attack percentage of .316.

Moore Closing in on 600 Career Wins
In his 12th season with the Ducks and 28th overall, head coach Jim Moore is just eight victories away from reaching the 600 mark as a head coach. 240 of those 591 wins have come while at the helm at Oregon, where he has boasted a .676 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 Pac-12 Preseason 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 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.

Ducks 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.