Ducks Drop Five-Set Battle to No. 24 Arizona

Friday, September 28

Eugene, OR

8:00 PM

University of Oregon

9-4, 2-1Pac-12

Arizona

13-2, 2-1Pac-12

Arizona

Oregon

Photo by: Samuel Marshall

09/28/18 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box: #24 Arizona 3, #12 Oregon 2

By: Nate Krueger

EUGENE, Ore. – The No. 12 Oregon volleyball team suffered is first home loss of 2018 on Friday night, dropping a five-set nailbiter to No. 24 Arizona, 25-23, 16-25, 25-23, 22-25, 16-14, in front of 1,577 fans in Matthew Knight Arena.

The Ducks (9-4, 2-1 Pac-12) forced a fifth game after falling into a 2-1 deficit, but were unable to finish the comeback bid despite outperforming Arizona (13-2, 2-1 Pac-12) in nearly every statistical category. Oregon will look to rebound on Sunday against Arizona State (1 p.m.) in what is also the Ducks' Stomp Out Cancer match.

"We outscored them for the match and we lose, so I think that's always hard to swallow," said head coach Matt Ulmer. "But I like our fight, I like everything we did, we just didn't execute better than they did."

How it Happened: The Ducks and Wildcats went back and forth to open the match, with Arizona using a 3-0 run to take a 15-13 lead at the media timeout. Oregon moved ahead, 21-19, with five straight points and six out of seven, but Arizona came right back to tie it up, 22-22. An Arizona service error gave Oregon a 23-22 lead, but the Wildcats responded with three straight to win, 25-23, and earn a 1-0 lead.

Oregon bounced back from the first-set loss in emphatic fashion, recording an astounding 21 kills on .429 hitting to run away with the second set, 25-16, and even the match at intermission. Ronika Stone scored the first four points to help the Ducks race out to a 12-5 lead, and Lindsey Vander Weide and Lauren Page each had six kills in the set to lead the Oregon attack. August Raskie racked up 28 assists and 11 digs through just the first two sets to notch a double-double.

The Ducks used a timeout early in the third after falling behind 5-2, and responded with three out of four and then four out of five to tie it up, 11-11. A kill and a block by Stone broke a 20-20 tie and gave UO a two-point lead, but Arizona scored the next three to take a 23-22 advantage. Stone's 10th kill of the match and sixth of the set tied it again, 23-23, but Arizona star Kendra Dahlke scored on back-to-back plays to give the Wildcats the set and the match lead.

Arizona started well in the fourth, jumping out to an 8-3 advantage. With Oregon trailing 12-7, a kill by Willow Johnson ignited a 6-1 Oregon run that gave the Ducks a 14-13 lead. Arizona answered with four in a row, but the Ducks came right back with five out of six to retake the lead. Trailing 22-21, Sumeet Gill put down a kill to spark a 4-0 run, including two kills by Willow Johnson, and the Ducks stole the set and pushed the match to a fifth.

The Wildcats jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the fifth before playing to a 12-9 advantage. Kills by Vander Weide, Stone and Brooke Van Sickle evened the set at 12 apiece, and Van Sickle put down two more kills as the two teams played to a 14-14 tie. Dahlke's match-leading 26th kill gave Arizona match-point, and Van Sickle's final attempt was blocked as Arizona escaped MKA with a victory.

Who Stood Out: Vander Weide led the Ducks with 17 kills and added 19 digs, and Raskie joined her with a double-double after racking up 61 assists and a career-high 22 digs. Stone hit .394 with 16 kills and six blocks, Willow Johnson had 15 kills on .367 hitting and Lauren Page was also in double-digits with 11 kills. Brooke Nuneviller led all players with 23 digs to go with seven assists, and Brooke Van Sickle had nine kills and 14 digs.

Quotable: Head Coach Matt Ulmer
"Our league is just brutal. You're just playing really good teams and really good coaches, and we're one of those. We out-hit them, we out-blocked them, we out-dug them, I thought we fought hard the whole time and we came back time and time again."

Notable: Vander Weide and Raskie are tied for the team lead with six double-doubles each … Vander Weide now has a double-double in four straight matches ... Raskie recorded 60 or more digs for the second time this season ... Oregon moves to 6-1 at home and 2-1 in five-set matches ... The Ducks had 99 digs after notching 103 last Sunday against WSU … Oregon and Arizona have now gone to five sets each of the last four times the teams have played.

Up Next: Oregon will complete its four-match home stand on Sunday at 1 p.m. PT against Arizona State (Oregon Live Stream).