Balanced Attack Fuels Ducks to Road Sweep

Saturday, November 10

Berkeley, CA

5:00 PM

University of Oregon

17-9, 10-6Pac-12

California

14-13, 6-10Pac-12

Oregon

California

Photo by: Samuel Marshall

11/10/18 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box: #17 Oregon 3, Cal 0

By: Nate Krueger

BERKELEY, Calif. – Lindsey Vander Weide, Taylor Borup and Willow Johnson all had double-digit kills to lead a balanced attack for the No. 17 Oregon volleyball team on Saturday night in a 25-23, 25-15, 26-24 sweep of California at Haas Pavilion.

The Ducks improved to 17-9 overall and 10-6 in Pac-12 play with their 10th straight win over the Golden Bears and 10th sweep of the season, bouncing back from Thursday's four-set loss at No. 2 Stanford.

Vander Weide led the way with 16 kills, Borup put down 12 and Johnson finished with 11, and all three Ducks hit better than .340 while leading Oregon to a .310 hitting percentage for the match.

How it Happened: The Golden Bears (14-13, 6-10) led 9-7 to start the match before Borup sparked a 4-0 Oregon run with back-to-back kills. Cal played back to a 20-19 lead, and then traded points to a 23-22 advantage. The Ducks called a timeout to regroup, and Ronika Stone quickly tied the game with a kill and Vander Weide followed with an ace to give UO set-point. Cal tried to slow Oregon's momentum with a timeout, but Borup's sixth kill gave the Ducks the set and a 1-0 lead.

Johnson opened the second set with back-to-back kills, fueling Oregon to an 8-3 lead. Cal cut the deficit to 10-8, but Oregon quickly responded with a 5-1 run to take a 15-9 lead at the media timeout. Leading 17-12, the Ducks ran away with the set and took a 2-0 lead into intermission with an 8-3 run that was bookended by kills from senior Sumeet Gill. Johnson had six kills in the set to lead the Ducks.

Cal scored the first three points out of intermission, but the Ducks came roaring back with a 9-2 run to move ahead. Back-to-back kills by Vander Weide made it 18-13 when Cal called a timeout, and the Golden Bears responded with six points in seven rallies to pull even, 19-19. Oregon led 22-21 when Vander Weide again found the floor with consecutive kills, giving the Ducks match-point at 24-21, but Cal stayed alive with three straight points to make it 24-24. Another kill by Vander Weide, her 10th of the frame, again gave Oregon match-point, and the senior teamed up with Stone for a block on the following play to clinch the set and the sweep for the Ducks.

Who Stood Out: Vander Weide hit .343 and added 13 digs and two aces for her 10th double-double of the year, and Borup notched her third with 10 digs while hitting an even .400. Johnson hit .346, and Stone contributed eight kills and three blocks. August Raskie was terrific with 44 assists in just three sets plus six digs, two kills and an ace, and freshman Brooke Nuneviller shined yet again defensively with a match-high 22 digs.

What it Means: Likely needing to win their last five matches of the regular season to secure a host bid in the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament, the Ducks took care of business Berkeley with their second sweep of the year over the Golden Bears. Oregon entered the week at No. 20 in the NCAA RPI rankings, and is looking to move up into the top 16 over its final four matches.

Notable: The Ducks improved to 15-1 when winning the first set, 14-0 when winning the first two sets, 16-1 when leading in attack percentage and 6-0 when hitting .300 or better … Vander Weide raised her career dig total to 1,141, moving her past Liz Brenner (2011-14) for No. 10 in Oregon history … Vander Weide's two aces also gave her 101 in her career … Nuneviller extended her streak to 18 straight matches with double-digit digs with her seventh 20-plus dig performance of the year … Vander Weide's 10 double-doubles are second on the team to Raskie (11), and Borup is now third with three …

Up Next: Oregon will host Colorado (Wednesday, 7 p.m.) and Utah (Friday, 7 p.m.) next week in its final home matches of the regular season. Friday's match against the Utes will also be the Ducks' Senior Night.