Ducks Show Growth In Sweep

Tuesday, August 28

Eugene, OR

7:00 PM

University of Oregon

1-2

Portland State

1-3

Portland State

Oregon

Photo by: @EricEvansPhoto

08/28/18 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score: Oregon 3, PSU 0

Oregon used a diverse attack to sweep Portland State on Tuesday night in the Ducks' home opener.

By: Rob Moseley

EUGENE, Ore. — After a back-and-forth opening set, the No. 18 Oregon volleyball team hit .508 with just three errors over the final two sets of a 25-15, 25-10, 25-13 victory Tuesday night against Portland State in the Ducks' 2018 home opener before 997 fans in Matthew Knight Arena.

The Ducks (1-2) trailed for a point in the opening set at 7-6, and led just 14-13 when Brooke Van Sickle took over the serve. She served the UO women to five straight points, breaking open the set, then was serving for a 12-0 run in the second set as Oregon took control of the match. Van Sickle had four aces during that run, on her way to nine for the match, second-most in UO history.

"How good was she?" UO coach Matt Ulmer said. "Brooke is just such an athlete. She's been serving close to the line, and at Nebraska she had four misses. … So I made an adjustment with her. I didn't think it would be that good, but she looked pretty comfortable back there. Those balls were humming. They were hard to pass."

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How It Happened: The two teams went point for point in the opening set, and Portland State (1-3) actually took a momentary lead at 7-6. But an ace by August Raskie regained the lead for Oregon, and one of Ronika Stone's match-high 15 kills put the serve in Van Sickle's hand with Oregon up 14-13. It was quickly 19-13 before Van Sickle surrendered serve, and Sumeet Gill's spike clinched the set, 25-15.

Ulmer thought Oregon's slow start showed the lingering effects from last week's losses to Nebraska and Texas, when the Ducks tried to match two of the nation's most powerful teams with power of their own. In the second set Tuesday, they embraced a more diverse attack, with punishing results. Stone spiked a kill off the face of a Viks player, and on the next point eased off with a tip that found the floor for a 10-2 lead. A few points later, Lindsey Vander Weide smashed a kill down the line, and similarly changed it up on the next point, with a tip that made it 15-2.

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"We have the ability to not only throw fastball, but a changeup and a slider," Ulmer said, using a baseball analogy. "Once we start getting them off-balance, because they don't know what to expect, then you can hit them with a fastball. That's what I've been begging from us, to understand the different skill sets that we have, and use them. …

"We really want to be good, and I think that distracts us sometimes. Tonight I felt like, even in the beginning, they started to hear me, they started to hear each other, and we made some adjustments. And that was exciting to me."

The Vikings rallied to make a game of the third set, leading 2-0 and 4-2. Yet again, Van Sickle's serve was a difference-maker, as she had four aces in five points to turn a 5-4 deficit into a 9-5 lead for Oregon. Fittingly, she was back on serve for match point, a kill by Stone to clinch the set, 25-13.

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Who Stood Out: Stone hit .700, with 15 kills and just one error, leading the Ducks with 15.5 points. Vander Weide added 11 kills with two errors, and had 12 digs for a double-double. Gill had eight kills, Willow Johnson added seven and Lauren Page finished with six. Raskie assisted on 39 points, and added five kills plus eight digs.

What It Means: The diversity of Oregon's attack was a point of pride for Ulmer, and eye-opening for his players. "That kind of strategy, I love that part of sports," Ulmer said. "I think that's been missing from us since I've been here, to be less emotional and more intellectual. If we start tapping into that side of us as athletes, we're very experienced, and we need to start using that to our advantage, instead of getting so emotional. That was a very big step for us, and I hope it continues."

Notable: Van Sickle's nine aces have been surpassed just once in UO history, when Lauren Westendorf had 12 across four sets in 2004, before the implementation of rally scoring.

Up Next: The Ducks host the Oregon Classic on Friday and Saturday in Matthew Knight Arena, with matches against Utah Valley on Friday at 1 p.m., Long Beach State at 8 p.m., and Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday at 1 p.m.