Ducks Close Regular Season With Civil War Win

Friday, November 25

Corvallis, Ore.

2:00 PM

University of Oregon

20-9, 13-7Pac-12

Oregon State

12-19, 5-15Pac-12

Oregon

Oregon State

Photo by: Eric Evans/GoDucks.com

11/25/16 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score #19 Oregon 3, OSU 1

Oregon Earns 20th Win of the Season, Will Learn NCAA Tournament Fate Sunday (6 p.m., ESPNU)

By: Nate Krueger

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The No. 19 Oregon volleyball team closed its regular season schedule with its 20th win of the year by beating Oregon State in four sets, 23-25, 25-19, 25-13, 25-18, in a Civil War match at Gill Coliseum on Friday and will wait to learn its NCAA tournament fate on Sunday.

"My expectations were and are still high," Head Coach Jim Moore said of his team going into the postseason. "We have as good a shot as anybody of going a long ways. We just have to show up and play."

How It Happened: After dropping the opening set and struggling on the offensive end, Oregon (20-9, 13-7 Pac-12) turned things around and dominated over the next three sets to leave Corvallis and end the regular season with a win. Freshman Jolie Rasmussen entered the match after sitting out the first set to put lead the Ducks with 12 kills while hitting .550. Ronika Stone and Taylor Agost each finished with 11 kills, and Lindsey Vander Weide recorded her team-best 11th double-double with 10 kills and 14 digs. August Raskie also added a double-double with 23 assists and 13 digs, Amanda Benson dug 15 balls and Lauren Page led the defense with seven blocks. The Ducks hit .299 while holding the Beavers to a mark of .147.

Set 1: After Oregon State used a 7-2 run to go up 15-11, the Ducks responded with four in a row to pull even, 15-15. Oregon went up 20-18 before the Beavers rattled off three in a row to go up 21-20 and force the Ducks into a timeout. Oregon State extended its lead to 24-22 to gain set point, but a block by Stone prompted an OSU timeout at 24-23. The Beavers were able to halt the Oregon comeback with a kill to win the set, 25-23. Page and Stone paced the Ducks with three kills each, but Oregon hit just .051 as a team with nine errors.

Set 2: The Ducks came out energized after the opening-set loss, ripping off two different 4-0 runs to take an early 8-3 lead. Another 4-0 stretch extended Oregon's lead to 13-5 before the Beavers began to fight back, getting within five at 17-12. In control of the set, the Ducks went up 23-14 before Oregon State went on a 5-1 run to get within five, but a Beaver service error gave the Ducks a 25-19 win and evened the match at 1-1 at intermission. Rasmussen came on to put down five kills on six swings while Stone also had five kills to help the Ducks hit .387.

Set 3: The Ducks carried their momentum into the third set, jumping out to a 7-3 lead at Oregon State's first timeout. Agost began to take over from there, putting down three straight kills to help the Ducks extend their lead to 11-5. Two kills and a Vander Weide ace fueled a 4-0 run that put Oregon up 19-8 before the Beavers finally found some momentum with a 4-1 stretch. Leading 20-12, the Ducks rattled off four straight and scored five of the last six points to win, 25-13. Agost led the rout with seven kills, while Vander Weide had two of her three aces. Oregon hit a very impressive .438 with only two attack errors.

Set 4: Oregon again started fast, taking an early 7-2 lead. The Beavers went on a 3-0 run before the Ducks scored five of six to go up 12-6. After a few back-and-forth rallies, a 7-2 stretch put Oregon in control, 19-10. The Beavers were able to get within five at 21-16 before the Ducks finished the match off with an Agost kill to leave Corvallis with a win. Rasmussen put down five kills on 11 swings to lead the charge while Vander Weide finished the set with four to help Oregon hit .371.

What It Means: The Ducks close the regular season with 20 wins, marking the eighth season under Jim Moore with at least 20 wins and the 18th in program history. With 13 wins in conference the Ducks will finish in fourth place in the Pac-12, exactly where they were projected to finish in the preseason coaches poll. Oregon appears set to make its sixth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance and 14th in program history, where it holds a 14-13 (.519) all-time record.

Notable: The match was originally slated to start at 12 p.m., but was pushed back to 2 p.m. due to a power outage at Gill. The power went out again during warm-ups, but quickly came back on and was not an issue during the match.

Up Next: The Ducks will learn their fate in the NCAA tournament on Sunday when the field is announced on the selection show at 6 p.m. PT on ESPNU. The top 16 teams in the final NCAA RPI rankings will receive host bids in the first two rounds of the tournament, which runs Dec. 1-3.