No. 16 Ducks Begin Second Half of Pac-12 Play in Arizona

EUGENE, Ore. - The No. 16 Ducks will be back on the road this weekend to begin the second half of Pac-12 play against Arizona State in Tempe on Friday (7 p.m. PT) before going to Tucson on Sunday to face No. 23 Arizona (11 a.m.).

Oregon is looking to get even with the Arizona schools after falling to both the Sun Devils and the Wildcats in late September at Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks swept Cal last Friday and then beat No. 2 Stanford 25-16 in the first set on Sunday, but the Cardinal stormed back to win the match in four.

#16 OREGON (13-7, 6-4) at ARIZONA STATE (13-9, 4-6)
When: Friday, October 26
Time: 7 p.m. PT
Where: Tempe, Ariz.
Venue: Wells Fargo Arena
TV: Pac-12 Network
Radio: KWVA 88.1 FM
Live Stats: thesundevils.com/sidearmstats/wvball
All-Time Series: ASU leads, 38-26 (ASU W1)
Last Meeting: ASU won, 3-0 (9/30/18, Eugene)
About ASU: ASU enters this weekend on a four-match losing streak after racing out to a 4-2 start in Pac-12 play. The Sun Devils boast strong floor defense with 16.85 digs per set, No. 2 in the Pac-12, and are holding opponents to a .194 hitting percentage, the fourth-best mark in the league. Alyse Ford and Ivana Jeremic both average 3.25 kills per set to lead the ASU attack, and Megan Beedie is No. 3 in the Pac-12 with a .368 hitting percentage.The Ducks are looking to avenge a Sept. 30 sweep at the hands of the Sun Devils.

#16 OREGON (13-7, 6-4) at #23 ARIZONA (16-6, 5-5)
When: Sunday, October 28
Time: 11 a.m. PT
Where: Tucson, Ariz.
Venue: McKale Memorial Center
Stream: pac-12.com/live/university-arizona
Radio: KWVA 88.1 FM
Live Stats: oregon.statbroadcast.com
All-Time Series: UA leads, 47-20 (UA W2)
Last Meeting: UA won, 3-2 (9/28/18, Eugene)
About Arizona: The Wildcats snapped a four-match losing streak last weekend with a pair of home wins over Colorado (3-0) and Utah (3-1). Oregon and Arizona have gone to five sets in each of the last four meetings, including a five-set thriller that Arizona pulled out on Sept. 28 in Eugene. UA is No. 3 in the Pac-12 with 14.31 kills per set, and SR OH Kendra Dahlke is No. 1 in the Pac-12 and No. 4 in the nation with 5.05 kills per set.

NOTES
Breaking Down the Pac-12 Race
At 6-4, the Ducks enter the weekend tied with No. 19 WSU and No. 20 UCLA for third in the Pac-12, one game behind No. 15 USC (7-3) and four back of No. 2 Stanford (10-0). No. 21 Washington and No. 23 Arizona are tied one game behind the Ducks at 5-5, and three teams are 4-6. Oregon was also 6-4 after the first 10 Pac-12 games of 2017, but struggled in the second half to a 10-10 conference record. Currently No. 23 in the NCAA RPI rankings, the Ducks will look for a strong finish over the final 10 matches as they try to earn a top 16 seed and a host bid in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

Ducks All Over Pac-12, NCAA Leaderboards
With just 10 matches left in the 2018 regular season, Oregon finds itself littered across the top of many Pac-12 and national team and individual statistic leaderboards:

Team Statistic	Pac-12	NCAA
14.85 Kills/Set	2nd	4th
13.90 Assists/Set	2nd	5th
.264 Hitting Pct.	2nd	23rd
16.40 Digs/Set	3rd	54th

Name	Statistic	Pac-12	NCAA
August Raskie	12.06 Assists/Set	2nd	4th
Brooke Nuneviller	4.62 Digs/Set	3rd	91st
Brooke Van Sickle	0.36 Aces/Set	4th	101st
Ronika Stone	1.19 Blocks/Set	6th	68th
Sumeet Gill	.352 Hitting Pct.	8th	75th
Ronika Stone	.348 Hitting Pct.	9th	81st
Lindsey Vander Weide	3.99 Points/Set	10th	119th
Lindsey Vander Weide	3.45 Kills/Set	10th	135th

Seven Pac-12 Teams in AVCA Top 25
At No. 16 in the latest AVCA coaches poll, the Ducks are one of seven teams from the conference in this week's top 25. Defending Pac-12 champion Stanford leads the way at No. 2, and is followed by USC (15), Oregon (16), Washington State (19), UCLA (20), Washington (21) and Arizona (23). Utah, Arizona State and Colorado have all been in the top 25 at some point this season, and the Buffs and Utes are currently receiving top 25 votes. The Ducks have been inside the top 25 every week this season, reaching as high as No. 12 (three times).

Raskie Records Triple-Double in Home State
With 41 assists, 11 digs and a career-high 10 kills on Oct. 12 at Colorado, SR S August Raskie recorded the first triple-double of her career and the first this season by a Pac-12 player. A Colorado native, Raskie notched just the 17th documented triple-double in UO history, and became the first Duck to complete the feat since 2001 (Julie Gerlach, 9/8/01). Raskie commited no errors on 14 attack attempts to hit a whopping .714, which was also a new career-high. Raskie is one of just 24 players in the nation this season to have a triple-double, and the senior leads the Ducks with 10 double-doubles.

Vander Weide Joins 1,000/1,000 Club
With a career-high 28 digs in UO's five-set win over WSU on Sept. 23, SR OH Lindsey Vander Weide surpassed 1,000 for her career and became only the fifth player in Oregon history to have 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs. Vander Weide is also one of just 11 active players in the NCAA to be in the 1,000/1,000 club, and her 1,253 career kills rank 35th in the nation among active players. The Turlock, Calif., native added a season-high 22 kills vs. the Cougars for the first 20-plus kill, 20-plus dig match of her career. Vander Weide also owns 1,465.5 career points, which ranks sixth all-time at Oregon, and she has also surpassed 200 total blocks in her career (211) and needs just five more aces to get to 100. Vander Weide ranks 10th in the Pac-12 this season with 3.45 kills per set and 3.99 points per set, both of which would be career-highs for a season.

Stone Running Wild in 5-1 Offense
Oregon's change to a 5-1 offense has paid big dividends for JR MB Ronika Stone, who has thrived with the increased touches. Stone is second among Ducks with 3.90 points per set on .348 hitting, the ninth-best mark in the Pac-12, and she has double-digit kills in 14 of 20 matches, including a career-high 19 in UO's upset of then-No. 1 Minnesota on Sept. 8. The San Jose, Calif., native is currently averaging 3.03 kills per set, second-best on the team and a big improvement over last year's 2.14. Stone has also been big on the block for the Ducks, leading the team and ranking sixth in the conference with 1.19 blocks per set. JR RS Willow Johnson has also played well in the 5-1 offense, averaging 2.81 kills per set on .321 hitting, and SR MB Sumeet Gill is eighth in the Pac-12 and first on the Ducks with a .352 hitting percentage.

Nuneviller Leading Improved Floor Defense
The Ducks entered 2018 with questions at the libero position, but any concerns have been immediately put to rest by the stellar play of FR L Brooke Nuneviller. Nuneviller is the first true freshman to start at libero for Oregon since Amanda Benson in 2013, and the Chandler, Ariz., native has shined with 4.62 digs per set, No. 3 in the Pac-12. Nuneviller was the Pac-12 freshman of the week on Sept. 10 after racking up 28 digs in UO's upset of then-No. 1 Minnesota and won the honor again on Oct. 8 after leading the Ducks defensively in L.A., and she tallied a season-high 35 on Sept. 23 in a five-set win vs. No. 22 Washington State. Nuneviller's 35 digs vs. WSU are tied for seventh-most in UO single-match history, and are the most by any Pac-12 player this season. FR L Camryn Tastad has also performed well with 2.27 digs per set, and she did a great job filling in at libero at the mountain schools (Oct. 12-14) with 34 total digs. As a team, the Ducks are No. 3 in the Pac-12 with 16.40 digs per set. Oregon racked up 103 total team digs on Sept. 23 vs. WSU, the most for the program since 2014.

Raskie Embracing Role as Primary Setter
After splitting time in the 6-2 offense the last three years, SR S August Raskie has taken her game to a new level in 2018 as Oregon's lone setter in a 5-1 scheme. Raskie is No. 2 in the Pac-12 and fourth in the nation with 12.06 assists per set, and she has Oregon in the top five nationally as a team in both kills per set (4th) and assists per set (5th). Raskie leads the team with 10 double-doubles, including her first career triple-double on Oct. 12, and is averaging a career-best 2.63 digs per set. She has also become an offensive threat at the net with 78 total kills on .345 hitting. Raskie's 2,311 career assists rank seventh in UO history, and she has already crushed her career-high with 868 assists this season (previous: 616, 2016). Raskie's career-high 66 assists in UO's win over then-No.1 Minnesota on Sept. 7 were the most by a Duck since Lauren Plum in 2012.

Newest "Little Duck" Gives Oregon Volleyball a True Warrior
Oregon officially added a sixth member to its 2018 class on August 7, 2018, signing 8-year-old Eugene-native Danielle Bixby to the roster through the national non-profit Team IMPACT. Bixby has been fighting a rare form of cancer called Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis for the last year, and has become incredibly close with the Ducks over the last few months. "I'm their little Duck, and they're my girls," Danielle said after signing her letter of intent. The Ducks honored Danielle on Sept. 30 vs. ASU with a Stomp Out Cancer match to raise childhood cancer awareness. Danielle was recognized as a starter before the match, took part in most of the in-game promotions and even surpised the team in the locker room postgame with custom-made dolls of each player made by her mom, Shannon.

Up Next
The Ducks will return home next weekend to host No. 15 USC (Friday) and No. 20 UCLA (Sunday) in MKA.