Ducks Drop Two at Pac-12 Championships

Thursday, April 27

Tucson, Ariz.

9:00 AM

University of Oregon

Utah

04/27/17 | Women's Beach Volleyball

Utah 3, Oregon 2 UW 5, Oregon 0 Pairs Bracket

OREGON DROPPED A 3-2 DECISION TO UTAH IN THE OPENING MATCH OF THE PAC-12 BEACH VOLLEYBALL TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS BEFORE LOSING TO WASHINGTON IN AN ELIMINATION MATCH

By: Nate Krueger

TUCSON, Ariz. – The Oregon beach volleyball team was eliminated from the Pac-12 Beach Volleyball Team Championships on Thursday after falling to Utah in the opening match of the tournament and losing to Washington in the first match of the contenders' bracket at the Arizona Beach Volleyball Courts.

Utah 3, Oregon 2: The Ducks (2-9) battled hard against the Utes to kick off the tournament, with four of the five courts going to three sets. Utah took a 1-0 lead on No. 4 as Tawnee Luafalemana and Brianna Doehrmann defeated the Ducks' Lauren Page and Marine Hall-Poirier in straight sets, 21-11, 21-9.

The Ducks evened the match with a win at the No. 3 spot. Willow Johnson and Maddy Silberger-Franek rebounded after a tough first-set loss to rally and win the next two and earn a point for their team, 13-21, 21-19, 15-8, over Eliza Katoa and Torre Glasker. Utah took back the lead as Carly Trueman and Bailey Choy beat Taylor Agost and August Raskie in three sets, 19-21, 21-7, 15-10.

The pair of Ronika Stone and Maggie Scott pulled the Ducks back even with a win at No. 5. The duo split the first set with Berkeley Oblad and Emily Twohig before dropping the second, and then pulled out a very tight third set to secure the point, 21-16, 14-21, 16-14.

The match came down to the top court, where Lindsey Vander Weide and Brooke Van Sickle battled for the Ducks against Adora Anae and Dani Barton. After winning the first set, the Ducks' duo was unable to pull out two back-and-forth sets as Anae and Barton earned the point and the win for the Utes, 13-21, 21-19, 18-16.

Washington 5, Oregon 0: Playing in the first match of the contenders' bracket, the Huskies took control early on all five courts and came away with the sweep. Cassie Strickland and Carly Dehoog got things started for the Ducks at No. 3 with a 21-16, 21-13 win over Johnson and Silberger-Franek, and the duo of Crissy Jones and Tia Scambray defeated Vander Weide and Van Sickle at No. 1, 21-15, 21-15.

At No. 2, Courthey Schwan and Destiny Julye defeated Agost and Raskie, 21-12, 21-14. Scott and Stone won the lone set for the Ducks and forced a third at No. 5, but fell to Anna Crabtree and Lindsay Chalmers, 21-8, 13-21, 15-10. Melanie Wade and Shayne McPherson wrapped the match with a 21-19, 21-19 victory over Page and Hall-Poirier at No. 4.

What it Means: The Ducks have been eliminated from the team tournament, but will stick around in Tucson for the pairs Pac-12 Championship, where the top two pairs from each team will compete starting tomorrow.

Vander Weide and Van Sickle will play as the No. 14 seed and will face Bianca Arellano and Whitney Follette of Arizona State at 5 p.m., while Agost and Raskie will be the No. 18 seed and will play Bryce Bark and Olivia Rodberg of California at 3 p.m. The pairs tournament will be single elimination, as opposed to the double-elimination format of the team championships.