Still Dancing! Ducks Advance, Host Baylor At MKA Friday Night

Thursday, November 29

Eugene, OR

7:00 PM

University of Oregon

21-10

New Mexico State

24-8

NM State

Oregon

Photo by: @EricEvansPhoto

Still Dancing! Ducks Advance, Host Baylor At MKA Friday Night

11/29/18 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score: Oregon 3, New Mexico St. 1

Oregon beat New Mexico State in four sets to open the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, thanks in no small part to the serve of Willow Johnson.

By: Rob Moseley

EUGENE, Ore. — As a junior with the Oregon volleyball team, Willow Johnson is carving out her own path in the world of athletics.

Still, at times Thursday night, it was hard not to be reminded she's the daughter of Hall of Fame baseball player Randy Johnson. Particularly when Willow was firing left-handed serves at New Mexico State with the velocity of her father's famous fastball, and the movement of his lethal slider.

Johnson's serve was a difference maker Thursday as the UO volleyball team beat the Aggies in four sets, 25-22, 18-25, 25-21, 25-11, before 2,407 fans in Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks (21-10) thus won their opening match in this year's NCAA Tournament, and advanced to face Baylor on Friday (7 p.m., Pac-12 Network) for a spot in the Sweet Sixteen.

"I knew I wasn't having a good offensive night," said Johnson, who had six kills on 21 swings, but finished with four aces. "I knew I wasn't proceeding well at the net. So I decided to go back there and really focus in and give something to my team."

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New Mexico State had won the second set and was engaging the Ducks in a back-and-forth third set when Johnson first made her presence known. She took over serve with Oregon clinging to a 16-13 lead and served four straight points, including an ace.

Johnson rotated out after that run and was greeted by an ovation from the hometown crowd. She got another in the fourth set, when she took over serve with the Ducks down 6-5 and didn't give it up until Oregon led 15-6.

"She was on one," said UO coach Matt Ulmer, who joked that he treated Johnson like her dad's baseball teammates no doubt did during one of his two career no-hitters. "I just wouldn't look at her. I wasn't going to talk to her, wasn't going to look at her."

Highlights from tonight's #NCAAVB first-round win over New Mexico State.

See you tomorrow night for round two vs. Baylor at 7 pm! #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/PIdMRlk5Gl
— Oregon Volleyball (@OregonVB) November 30, 2018

Johnson's four aces far surpassed her previous career high of one. She only began serving regularly this season in Oregon's final match before the NCAA Tournament, because of the Ducks' depth in the back row.

Thus, there wasn't much film of Johnson's wicked serve for New Mexico State coach Mike Jordan to study. Which he brought up with Ulmer in the post-match handshake line.

"We hadn't seen that in the matches we scouted," Jordan recounted of their conversation. "And he kind of gave that eyebrow like, 'Yeah, I was a little shocked too.' But good for her. She made plays."

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Johnson's service skills were needed in part because junior Taylor Borup's lingering ankle injury flared back up. Borup, who didn't play in the final weekend of the regular season, had Oregon's first kill of the night, and another during a three-point run to set up set point in the opening set.

But her ankle began to nag her in the second set, and the Ducks missed her ability to cover ground in the back row. Lindsey Vander Weide had one of her match-high 18 kills to put Oregon up 14-13 in the second set, but New Mexico State then rattled off nine of the next 10 points in the set — including a couple of aces — on the way to squaring the match.

"After the first set we saw how close we were, and realized we could play with them and they were beatable," New Mexico State setter Briana Ainsworth said. "We went out there and had a lot of energy."

The third set featured more of the same, as the Aggies gamely stayed within shouting distance. At least until Johnson took over serve, and put the Ducks firmly in control.

"The ball had a lot of pace on it, a lot of float, a lot of spin," Ainsworth said. "She was going back there and cranking it."

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After Johnson's fourth-set serving put Oregon up 15-6, Vander Weide did much of the heavy lifting. She had a kill during a three-point run to an 18-7 lead, another as the Ducks scored five straight to lead 23-8, and then the final kill of the night to end the match.

That was kill No. 18 for Vander Weide, on a night she hit .447 and added 10 digs. The senior seemed energized by finally having the chance to play a postseason match at home, for the first time in her career. Come Friday, she'll look to do something else for the first time in her four years at Oregon — get past the first weekend of tournament play.

"I've been stuck on that weekend for a minute," Vander Weide acknowledged. "I'm excited to be able to play again tomorrow. It's really exciting we got past the first round. And we're gonna have to bring a lot better energy tomorrow."