University of Oregon
2-2
San Diego State
2-3
Freshmen Lead Ducks Past Aztecs In Straight Sets
09/02/16 | Women's Volleyball
Johnson, Stone and Van Sickle Shine As Oregon Sweeps San Diego State
EUGENE, Ore. - Oregon volleyball continued its impressive play on the first day of the Oregon Classic, sweeping San Diego State, 25-10, 25-12, 25-20, behind stellar performances by its freshmen on Friday night at Matthew Knight Arena.
How It Happened: Highly-touted freshmen Willow Johnson, Ronika Stone and Brooke Van Sickle lived up to their billing against the Aztecs (2-3), leading the Ducks (2-2) to their second straight-set victory of the day. Johnson put down eight kills and had four blocks while hitting .429, and Van Sickle showed her versatility with eight kills, four blocks, six digs and an assist. Stone was dominant around the net, recording a game-high seven blocks to go with seven kills (.429). Sophomore Lindsey Vander Weide continued her strong play with seven kills (.438), three blocks and an ace, and Taylor Agost, Lauren Page and Sumeet Gill combined for 10 kills.
Much like their first match earlier in the day against Murray State, the Ducks were dominant across the scoresheet. Oregon outhit SDSU .366 to .020, and had 13 blocks compared to the Aztecs' five. The Ducks also recorded four service aces while besting the Aztecs in assists, 38-27, behind 18 from Maggie Scott and 15 from August Raskie.
Set 1: An early 4-2 SDSU lead was quickly and emphatically erased, as the Ducks erupted on a 15-0 run to race out to a 17-4 lead. The terrific run included three kills by Johnson, two kills by Van Sickle, two kills and three blocks by Stone and a pair of Raskie aces. The Aztecs ended the run on a service error, but the Ducks quickly regrouped to take the set, 25-10. Johnson led the way with five early kills on seven swings, Van Sickle had three kills and two blocks and Vander Weide had three kills on six attempts.
Set 2: The Ducks got out to an early 7-2 lead in the second set, with Van Sickle putting down two early kills. The Aztecs rallied to get within two at 7-5 before Oregon rattled off four more unanswered on two kills and two SDSU errors. The two teams went back in forth for a while before Oregon caught fire again, up 16-11, scoring eight straight to earn set point. After an Aztec point, Van Sickle sent the Ducks to the break with a 25-12 win with her sixth kill of the match.
Set 3: The third set was yet another game of runs early on, with the Ducks jumping out to an early 6-1 lead after six unanswered. SDSU battled right back with a 5-0 run of its own to tie the set, 6-6, before the momentum shifted back in Oregon's favor as it produced its own five-point run to go up 11-6. The Ducks would extend their lead to 22-14 before the Aztecs scored four straight to get within four and force an Oregon timeout. The Ducks regrouped, and two kills by Stone led to a match-winning kill for Vander Weide to give the Ducks their second sweep of the day. Stone led the way with four kills and two blocks in the final set.
Block Party: The Ducks' 13 blocks ties the second-highest mark from last season, led by Stone's seven. Oregon's dominant net play continued over from the first match of the day, where it recorded seven blocks against Murray State. Through the first four games of the season, Stone is leading in the block category by a large margin with 17 total blocks and 1.42 blocks per set while committing just a single blocking error.
What It Means: After dropping a pair of matches in the VERT Challenge against No. 2 Texas and No. 10 Florida last weekend, a pair of sweeps in the Oregon Classic has gotten the Ducks back on track. Oregon has been no match for its opponents thus far this weekend, outscoring Murray State and SDSU 150-86 through the first two matches.
Quotable:
Head Coach Jim Moore
On the team's progress...
"It was rough Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but yesterday was better and it carried over. So I think that the things we did Monday and Tuesday were hard and it slowed us down for a little bit but I think they figured out some things. We just have to communicate."
On improvement of the defense...
"We're actually blocking the ball, so that's definitely better, we know that. We held them to .020. That's what we need to do. We need to slow teams down and we did a really good job of that coming out of the gate."
Up Next: Oregon will look to go undefeated in the Oregon Classic on Saturday when it concludes the event against UC Davis at 6 p.m. PT at Matthew Knight Arena. UC Davis fell to SDSU today in straight sets before beating Murray State, 3-1. Prior to the Ducks' match with the Aggies, SDSU will take on Murray State at 3:30 p.m.
