University of Oregon
15-6, 8-5Pac-12
California
13-11, 4-9Pac-12
Ducks Sweep Cal to Open Road Trip
11/03/17 | Women's Volleyball
Seven players finished with four kills or more as the No. 16 Ducks hit .367 to sweep California, 25-18, 25-16, 25-19
BERKELEY, Calif. - The 16th-ranked Oregon volleyball team used a balanced and efficient offensive attack on Friday night to sweep California, 25-18, 25-16, 25-19, at Haas Pavilion in the first of four straight road matches.
With a big match with No. 2 Stanford looming on Sunday and a top 10 RPI ranking entering the weekend, the Ducks (15-6, 8-5 Pac-12) took control of the match from the opening serve and made sure the final month of the regular season would not begin with an upset at the hands of the Golden Bears (13-11, 4-9 Pac-12).
How it Happened: The Ducks scored the first three points of the match and never looked back, leading the entire first set and hitting .448 with just one error to win, 25-18. Oregon used four scoring runs of at least three straight points, and six Ducks put down kills, led by four each from Lindsey Vander Weide and Jolie Rasmussen.
Oregon led from start to finish again in the second, jumping out to a 7-2 lead before pulling away to take a 2-0 lead into intermission. The Ducks used a 10-3 run in the middle of the set to take command, 21-12, before finishing off the set, 25-16. Oregon had just four attack errors on 58 swings to hit .414 through two sets while holding Cal to an .083 clip.
The Golden Bears took a 4-2 lead to start the third, but the Ducks quickly took back control with scoring runs of 4-0 and 5-0. Oregon led by six, 21-15, when California scored four of five to get within three, 22-19, but kills by Rasmussen and Sumeet Gill and a Cal error secured Oregon's eighth straight win and fifth straight sweep over the Golden Bears.
Who Stood Out: Seven Ducks finished with four kills or more as UO outhit Cal, .367 to .154. Ronika Stone led the way with 10 kills on .667 hitting, and Rasmussen put down eight. Vander Weide had six kills, Taylor Agost finished with five and Lauren Page, Willow Johnson and Gill each had four. Stone factored in on five of Oregon's nine blocks, August Raskie and Maggie Scott combined for 37 assists and Alex Hojar led UO with 11 digs.
What it Means: The Ducks entered the weekend and final month before the postseason in prime position to host the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament, but still looking for a consistently dominant level of play following last week's home loss to Colorado. Oregon showed the potential to sustain that level of play throughout a match against the Bears, and will look to carry that over to Sunday's match against the first-place Cardinal, who have yet to lose in Pac-12 play and are riding a 15-match winning streak.
Quotable: Matt Ulmer, Head Coach
On what he's looking for in the home stretch of Pac-12 play...
"What I've been telling them is, 'If you want to do what you want to do in the tournament, then you have to have six great matches in a row." And I asked them when we've had six great matches in a row this year, and their answer to me was, 'Never.' So we're fortunate right now that we still have that many matches to play, and we need to do that, and I don't care who we're playing, Cal or Stanford or whoever. It's about us, and if we give our best effort, I like our shot, so we need to start putting great matches together. I thought tonight we played a nice match and thought we were pretty solid. I hate the letdown in the third, and that's something we have to get better at."
Notable: Johnson had just nine swings, as Ulmer said the Ducks are trying to give the sophomore's left arm a bit of a rest with the postseason looming ... Gill played only the third set and had four kills on four swings ... Oregon earned its ninth sweep of the season, and second this year against Cal … The Ducks are now 15-2 when leading in attack percentage, 13-0 when holding their opponent under .200 hitting, 12-3 when leading in blocks and 11-0 when winning the first two sets … UO improves to 3-2 on the road this season.
Up Next: The Ducks will look to hand Stanford (20-2, 13-0 Pac-12) its first conference loss of the season on Sunday (1 p.m. PT, Pac-12 Networks) in Maples Pavilion.
