Sweep of No. 12 USC Caps Undefeated Weekend in L.A.

Sunday, October 7

Los Angeles, CA

1:00 PM

University of Oregon

11-5, 4-2Pac-12

USC

12-5, 4-2Pac-12

Oregon

USC

Photo by: Samuel Marshall

Sweep of No. 12 USC Caps Undefeated Weekend in L.A.

10/07/18 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box: #20 Oregon 3, #12 USC 0

By: Nate Krueger

LOS ANGELES – The No. 20 Oregon volleyball team completed an undefeated weekend in Southern California on Sunday afternoon with a 26-24, 25-22, 25-20 sweep of No. 12 USC in front of 1,471 fans in the Galen Center.

After sweeping No. 17 UCLA on Friday, the Ducks (11-5, 4-2 Pac-12) came out with a ton of energy again on Sunday and held a terrific offensive team in USC to .200 hitting. Taylor Borup and Ronika Stone each had 10 kills to lead a balanced Oregon attack that finished with a strong .296 hitting percentage.

"This was a great weekend for us beating two quality opponents on road," said head coach Matt Ulmer. "Most importantly for us, we needed to respond after last weekend. I told the team I learned a lot after last weekend, and I think they did too, about how we have to play and how we have to conduct business. When we do that, we're a really good team and a really tough team to beat."

How it Happened: The Ducks got off to a hot start, jumping out to leads of 12-5 and 17-12 and forcing USC to burn both of its timeouts early, but the Trojans responded with a 7-1 run to move ahead, 19-18. Oregon played back to a 23-23 tie on a Ronika Stone kill, and Taylor Borup gave the Ducks set-point with her sixth kill of the set. After USC tied it again at 24-24, a Trojan service error again gave UO set-point and Stone finished it off with a cross-court kill. Borup and Stone combined for 11 kills while leading the Ducks to a blistering .444 hitting percentage in the opening set.

USC (12-5, 4-2 Pac-12) held a three-point lead for the first half of the second set, but the Ducks wouldn't go away as they played to an 18-18 tie. Trailing 21-20, Lauren Page and Borup put down back-to-back kills to give Oregon the lead and force a USC timeout. A UO error made it 23-22, but that was the last point USC would score in the set as Stone pushed it to 24-22 with a kill and Brooke Van Sickle served one right down the line for an ace to clinch the set and send UO to intermission up 2-0.

Page broke a 6-6 tie in the third with two straight kills, igniting an 8-2 UO run to put the Ducks up 14-8. Two more kills by Borup gave Oregon its biggest lead of the day at 19-12, but the Trojans came roaring back with five straight points to cut the deficit to two. The Ducks took advantage of a USC error plus a block and a kill by Page to get their lead back to four, and another Trojan error made it 23-19. Willow Johnson earned the Ducks match-point with a kill, and a USC attack went long as Oregon completed a perfect weekend in Los Angeles.

Who Stood Out: Borup capped a terrific weekend with 10 kills on .312 hitting while adding 11 digs for her second straight double-double, and Stone hit .450 with 10 kills. Page played well in the middle once again with seven kills on .500 hitting and four blocks, Johnson had seven kills and Lindsey Vander Weide finished with six. Brooke Nuneviller shined defensively again with a team-best 12 digs, and August Raskie facilitated the offense beautifully with 35 assists and three kills.

What it Means: The Ducks did not play up to their standards last weekend in a pair of home losses to the Arizona schools, and they responded as well as they possibly could have with a pair of straight-set road wins over two top-20 opponents. At 4-2 in Pac-12 play, the Ducks are now in a four-way tie with USC, Washington and Arizona State for second place in the conference.

Notable: Oregon swept USC in Los Angeles for the first time since 2013 … The Ducks improved to 4-1 on the road this year and 4-4 against top-25 opponents … Oregon is now 10-0 when winning the first set and 9-0 when winning the first two sets … Borup is now third on the team with two double-doubles this season.

Up Next: The Ducks' four-match road swing will continue next weekend at the mountain schools. Oregon will face Colorado on Friday (6 p.m. PT) in Boulder before traveling to Salt Lake City to play No. 24 Utah on Sunday (11 a.m.).