Season Ends With Tough Four-Set Loss to Michigan

Friday, December 2

Ann Arbor, Mich.

4:30 PM

University of Oregon

21-10

Michigan

24-10

Oregon

Michigan

12/02/16 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Michigan 3, Oregon 1

Amanda Benson and Kacey Nady End Impressive Oregon Careers As Ducks Fall in Second Round of NCAA Tournament

By: Nate Krueger

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Oregon volleyball team saw its season and NCAA tournament run come to an end in the second round with a tough four-set loss to No. 12 Michigan, 22-25, 25-17, 25-23, 25-17, on Friday night at Crisler Arena.

"I'm incredibly proud of these kids," head coach Jim Moore said of his team, specifically seniors Amanda Benson and Kacey Nady. "These guys hung in there, they hung in with me and they hung in with this program. They brought us back on track. When this team is in the finals again, these guys are going to be the reason."

The Ducks close their season at 21-10 after finishing fourth in the Pac-12 (13-7) and earning an at-large bid in the tournament.

How It Happened: In a tightly played opening set, the Ducks were able to build some separation after an 18-18 tie with a kill from Ronika Stone and a Lindsey Vander Weide ace forcing a Michigan (24-10) timeout. The Wolverines got back within one, 22-21, but the Ducks responded with three points in four rallies to take the first set, 25-22.

Michigan controlled the second set from the first serve, building a 12-5 lead and forcing the Ducks to burn both timeouts early. Oregon clawed back and got as close as four points at 21-17 before the Wolverines finished off the set, 25-17, to even the match at the break.

The third set was another back-and-forth affair, with the two teams playing to a 19-19 tie. The Ducks started to build some momentum with two straight points to go up 22-20 and later led 23-22, but the Wolverines ripped off three straight to squeak out a 25-23 win and go up 2-1 in Ann Arbor.

The Ducks got out to a hot start in the fourth, taking a 6-2 lead before Michigan responded with six in a row to take a two-point lead. The Wolverines extended their lead to 17-13 and the Ducks hung in over the next few rallies to stay within four, 21-17, but two Michigan kills and two aces ended the match and the year for Oregon.

Who Stood Out: Stone was capped a tremendous final run to the season with another stellar performance, leading the Ducks with a career-high 17 kills while hitting .536. Junior Taylor Agost added 10 kills while Vander Weide put down eight, and setters Maggie Scott and August Raskie combined for 43 assists. Seniors Benson and Nady saw their Oregon careers come to an end, with Benson tallying 11 digs and Nady putting down six kills (.364) while leading the Ducks with five blocks.

Benson Closes Storied Career: The life-blood of the Oregon defense for the last four years, Benson finished her impressive career second in Oregon history in digs per set at 4.63 and total digs with 2,146, just 53 shy of the all-time record. The senior from Litchfield Park, Ariz. racked up a career-high 575 digs, good for third in program history, in her final season while earning her first all-Pac-12 selection, and her 4.91 digs per set are fourth in UO single-season history.

Notable: Nady finished her Oregon career fifth all-time with a .315 career hitting percentage … Stone ended the year tied for the second-highest single-season hitting percentage in program history at .374 … Stone's 17 kills marked her sixth-straight match with double-digit kills, giving her an impressive 3.65 kills per set while hitting .447 over that stretch … The Ducks lost for only the third time in 20 matches this season after winning the first set.

Quotable:
Jim Moore, Head Coach
"Unfortunately I knew in the middle of the third set that whoever won that third set was going to win the match; it just felt like one of those matches and it happens every once in awhile. It's really hard to recover emotionally from a set like that and bounce back emotionally if you're down."

"That was just a knockdown, drag-out fight and unfortunately it turned their way."

Lindsey Vander Weide, Sophomore Outside Hitter
"We were really excited for this match and I thought we came out with a ton of energy. Obviously winning the first set was great. Obviously this is a really tough loss, but I think we came out great which is something I'm really proud of us for."

Amanda Benson, Senior Libero
"We came out and I thought we were ready. Obviously when you're playing against a good team there's going to be changes of momentum, side to side, and that's what we saw tonight. We handled some things well but didn't handle other things well, but it was fun and I thought we were ready."