Ducks Get Even With ASU in Tempe

Friday, October 26

Tempe, AZ

7:00 PM

University of Oregon

14-7, 7-4

Arizona State

13-10, 4-7

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Oregon	25	25	25	3
Arizona State	23	18	21	0

Photo by: Scott Bruhn

10/26/18 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box: #16 Oregon 3, ASU 0

By: Nate Krueger

TEMPE, Ariz. – The No. 16 Oregon volleyball team avenged last month's loss to Arizona State with a 25-23, 25-18, 25-21 road sweep of the Sun Devils on Friday night in front of 1,287 fans in Wells Fargo Arena.

Junior Ronika Stone hit .500 with 15 kills and Arizona native Brooke Nuneviller shined defensively with 18 digs to lead the Ducks, who improved to 14-7 overall and 7-4 in Pac-12 play with their ninth sweep of the season and 11th consecutive win over the Sun Devils in Tempe.

Enjoy some of the top highlights from tonight's straight-set win in Tempe ?? #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/0anTBO1iLq
— Oregon Volleyball (@OregonVB) October 27, 2018

How it Happened: ASU (13-10, 4-7) erased an early 5-1 Oregon lead with a 6-2 run, and then answered a 4-1 run by the Ducks with five out of six to take a 12-11 lead. The Ducks battled back out of a timeout and moved ahead, 17-16, and then scored six points in nine rallies to lead by four, 23-19. ASU rallied to within a point, 24-23, but the Sun Devils' next serve was in the net after an Oregon timeout and the Ducks pulled out a 25-23 win.

The Ducks raced out to a 9-5 lead to start the second, and then used a 6-2 run to lead by seven, 17-10. ASU climbed back to within 18-15 with a 5-1 stretch, but another service error and a Lindsey Vander Weide kill gave momentum back to the Ducks. Leading 21-7, Stone caught fire with three straight kills and a solo block as Oregon finished on a 4-1 run and took a 2-0 lead into intermission.

UO scored the first three points out of the break and played to an 11-9 lead. Vander Weide put down a kill after an ASU point, starting a 6-0 Oregon run that was slowed by a lengthy delay due to confusion surrounding the score after UO won a challenge call. The Sun Devils responded with an 8-3 run to move within three, 22-19, but ASU's 11th service error and Willow Johnson's seventh kill gave the Ducks match-point and Brooke Van Sickle completed the sweep with an off-speed kill.

Who Stood Out: Stone's 15 kills led all players, Vander Weide and Johnson both put down seven and Page was effective in the middle as well with six kills (.400) and a match-high six blocks. Van Sickle had two aces and nine digs, tied with Vander Weide for second-most behind Nuneviller's 18, and August Raskie finished with 31 assists, five digs and four blocks.

What it Means: The Ducks got even with the Sun Devils after a disappointing home sweep at the hands of ASU on September 30, and also bounced back from a loss to No. 2 Stanford last Sunday. The Ducks are tied for third in the Pac-12 at 7-4 with No. 15 USC, half a game back of No. 19 Washington State (8-4) for second place.

Quotable: Head Coach Matt Ulmer
On the match…
"I thought it was really ugly. Just all over I thought it was not a pretty much for anybody, but we executed enough. I thought Brooke Nuneviller was really good all over today, and this is her home crowd so that was cool to see…I thought our defense overall was pretty good; we held them to .074 hitting which is a nice number."

On Nuneviller's performance…
"This was her best passing performance of the year. Arizona State is a very aggressive serving team, that's why we struggled with them really bad the first time, and I thought she responded beautifully this time…I don't think they scored anything her way; it felt like a pretty perfect match for her tonight."

Notable: The Ducks are now 6-2 on the road and 4-1 in Pac-12 road matches … Oregon improved to 13-1 when winning the first set, 12-0 when winning the first two sets, 13-1 when leading in attack percentage (.206 - .074) and 9-0 when holding its opponent under .200 hitting … Nuneviller now has double-digit digs in 13 consecutive matches … Stone, Page and Van Sickle all recorded one solo block.

Up Next: Oregon will head to Tucson to face No. 23 Arizona at 11 a.m. on Sunday (Arizona Live Stream). The Ducks and Wildcats have played four straight five-set contests, including a 3-2 Arizona win on Sept. 28 in Eugene.