University of Oregon
7-1
Duquesne
4-7
Ducks Sweep Duquesne, Complete Dominant Nike Classic
09/09/17 | Women's Volleyball
The 14th-ranked Ducks completed a dominant weekend in the Nike Classic on Saturday night, sweeping Duquesne, 25-16, 25-15, 25-12
EUGENE, Ore. - The 14th-ranked Oregon volleyball team completed a dominant weekend in the Nike Classic on Saturday night, sweeping Duquesne, 25-16, 25-15, 25-12, at Matthew Knight Arena.
The Ducks (7-1) finish the weekend with three sweeps in three days to win the four-team tournament, and wrap up non-conference play with their sixth straight win and fourth straight sweep.
How it Happened: Duquesne (4-7) took an 8-7 lead to force an early Oregon timeout, but the Ducks responded with a furious 10-0 run to take control, 19-10. Duquesne would pull within five, 21-16, before Oregon scored four in a row to take the opening set. Willow Johnson was tremendous in the set with five kills on seven swings without an error to lead the Ducks.
Oregon was in control for most of the second set, jumping out to leads of 14-8 and 19-10. The Ducks led 23-12 when the Dukes mounted a small rally with three points in a row, but a Taylor Agost kill, her fourth of the set on six swings, and a Duquesne error sent Oregon into intermission with a 2-0 lead.
The Ducks were up 14-10 in the third before they scored four points in a row and six out of seven to pull away, 20-11. Oregon would score five in a row after a Duquesne point to seal the set and the match, finishing the third game on a 16-5 scoring stretch.
Who Stood Out: Johnson led the Ducks with 10 kills on 17 swings (.471), and Sumeet Gill was nearly perfect with eight kills on nine swings (.889) to go with a team-best five blocks. Agost hit .400 with eight kills and three blocks, Stone had six kills on seven swings (.857) and Lindsey Vander Weide paced the Ducks with 10 digs to go with six kills. Senior Maggie Scott dished out 23 assists and two aces, leading the Ducks to seven total on the night. Oregon hit an impressive .457 while holding Duquesne to a mark of .118.
What it Means: The Ducks finish nonconference play at 7-1, with their lone loss coming to then-No. 1 Texas. Oregon has won its last six matches, including five sweeps, while also winning each of its last 14 sets and 18 of its last 20. Oregon ends nonconference play on a six-match winning streak after putting together a seven-match winning streak to enter Pac-12 play last year.
All-Tournament Team: Agost was named the MVP of the tournament after a tremendous weekend in which she averaged 3.11 kills per set on .619 hitting, putting down 28 kills on 42 attempts with just a pair of errors. Johnson and Stone joined Agost on the Nike Classic all-tournament team, with Johnson averaging 3.44 kills per set on .421 hitting and Stone hitting .593 with 1.89 kills per set, 1.67 blocks per set and four aces.
Quotable: Head Coach Matt Ulmer
On team's improvement...
"One of the things I really wanted to work on was getting our middles the ball. We still need to work on it, but this was an encouraging step to see why we need to do that. Our blocking still needs to get more disciplined. Defensively, we need to work on our body movement and body position."
On preparing for Pac-12 play...
"We're going to watch film on all teams. We'll pay close attention to Oregon State and UCLA because that's who we have up first. When school starts, our minds will be somewhere else, so I want to make sure that we're familiar with them."
Notable: Vander Weide finished strong despite hitting .235 on the night, putting down four kills on five swings in the third set … Oregon is now 7-0 this season when leading in attack percentage … The Ducks out-blocked the Dukes, 8.5 to 3 … Eight different players recorded kills for Oregon, including seven with three or more … Senior Marine Hall-Poirier entered the match in the second set and put down a service ace, and freshman Kyra Hanawahine also got on the court late in the match ... Sophomore Brooke Van Sickle saw her first extended action since missing last weekend's Oregon Classic with an injury, recording three kills, four digs and an ace.
Up Next: The Ducks will have next week off from competition before opening Pac-12 play with a Civil War match against Oregon State at 7 p.m. PT on September 19 at Matthew Knight Arena.
