Ducks Head to Seattle For First Road Contest of 2016

Tuesday, September 6

Seattle, Wash.

6:00 PM

University of Oregon

Seattle

Photo by: Eric Evans/GoDucks.com

Ducks Head to Seattle For First Road Contest of 2016

09/05/16 | Women's Volleyball

Oregon VB Notes - Seattle

After Facing Redhawks In Seattle Tuesday, Ducks Will Return Home To Host Nike Invitational

By: Nate Krueger

DUCKS HEAD TO SEATTLE FOR FIRST ROAD TEST OF 2016
After staying at home for its first five matches of the season, Oregon will head out on the road for the first time to take on the Seattle Redhawks at Connolly Complex on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Ducks were 9-7 while on the road in 2015, including a 3-2 win over No. 9 UCLA in their final road contest of the regular season. The Ducks last faced the Redhawks in 2014 in Eugene, where they won in straight sets, and own a 6-0 record all-time against Seattle.

LIVE COVERAGE
The Ducks and the Redhawks can be watched live through a stream on goseattleu.com, the link for which can be found on Seattle volleyball's schedule page. Live stats can also be found on Seattle's schedule page.

OREGON EARNS CLEAN SWEEP IN DOMINATING OREGON CLASSIC PERFORMANCE
The Ducks enjoyed a wildly successful weekend at home hosting the Oregon Classic, going 3-0 with three straight sweeps over Murray State, San Diego State and UC Davis. Oregon opened the weekend with a dominating performance over Murray State, 25-16, 25-14, 25-14, led by Taylor Agost, who put down 12 kills on 18 swings (.667), including going nine for her first nine and 10 for her first 11 while leading the match with 13.5 points. Lauren Page helped pace the Ducks with seven kills on 11 swings (.636), and Kacey Nady added seven kills and Amanda Benson led all players with 20 digs.

In the Ducks' second match of the first day of the Oregon Classic against San Diego State, freshman Ronika Stone shined with a game-high seven blocks while adding seven kills (.429) to record a game-high 12.5 points to lead the Ducks to a 25-10, 25-12, 25-20 sweep. Stone's standout performance was complimented by fellow freshmen Willow Johnson and Brooke Van Sickle. Johnson had eight kills on 14 swings (.429), and Van Sickle had eight kills while adding four blocks, six digs and an assist. Lindsey Vander Weide added seven kills on .438 hitting while digging 10 balls and adding a service ace.

The Ducks closed the Oregon Classic with a sweep of UC Davis, 25-22, 25-16, 26-10. Van Sickle concluded a strong weekend with nine kills on .412 hitting with five digs and two service aces, and Stone continued her dominant net play with four more blocks. Vander Weide had a game-high three aces to go with seven kills and 12 digs, and Johnson and Page each put down five kills. Throughout the weekend, the Ducks held all three of their opponents under .200 in hitting.

STONE NAMED OREGON CLASSIC MVP, BENSON AND VANDER WEIDE ALL-TOURNAMENT
Ronika Stone's stellar weekend earned her MVP honors of the Oregon Classic after leading the tournament with 12 blocks while adding 11 kills on .435 hitting. Stone was joined on the All-Tournament Team by Amanda Benson and Lindsey Vander Weide, who both proved crucial to Oregon's success while playing in all nine sets over the weekend. Benson led all players with 5.78 digs per set, finishing the Classic with 52 total digs. Vander Weide led the field with five service aces, and added 18 kills and 28 digs without making a reception error.

ABOUT SEATTLE
The Redhawks enter Tuesday's match 4-2 after picking up back-to-back wins against Idaho and Villanova. Seattle is led by Matea Mamic, who is averaging 4.24 kills per set while also leading the team with 1.95 digs per set.

UP NEXT
The Ducks will return home this weekend for their final non-conference tournament of the season, welcoming Illinois, Belmont and St. Mary's to Matthew Knight Arena for the Nike Invitational. The Ducks' first match will be on Friday at 7 p.m. against Illinois on Pac-12 Network.

STONE PROVING TO BE A FORCE AROUND THE NET FOR THE DUCKS
Through her first five collegiate matches, Ronika Stone has caused a myriad of problems for opposing offenses with her blocking ability in the middle of the Ducks' defense. Stone is currently fifth in the Pac-12 with 1.50 blocks per set, and leads the Ducks in that category by a wide margin with 21 total blocks. The freshman who was the highest ranked recruit in Oregon history has also been very effective on the offensive end, averaging 2.14 kills per set while hitting .400.

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 4.55, trailing only Katie Swoboda (5.11). Benson is also second on the all-time total digs list with 1,651 for her career. Benson needs 547 digs this season to reach Swoboda's all-time mark of 2,198. Benson currently leads the Pac-12 with 4.71 digs per set. Elsewhere in the UO career record book, junior setter Maggie Scott enters this season eighth with 7.97 assists per set and ninth with 2,000 assists. Senior Kacey Nady is currently fourth with a career attack percentage of .320.

MOORE CLOSING IN ON 600 CAREER WINS
In his 12th season with the Ducks and 28th overall, head coach Jim Moore is just 20 victories away from reaching the 600 mark as a head coach. 228 of those wins have come while at the helm at Oregon, where he has boasted a .674 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 COACHES 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 THE 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.