Four-Match Road Swing Begins in Arizona

EUGENE, Ore. – After a split weekend at home, the University of Oregon volleyball team is on the road in the Grand Canyon State beginning Friday at Arizona State. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. (PT) in Tempe, Ariz. The Ducks enter the weekend with a 6-11 overall record and 2-6 mark in Pac-12 play.

How to Follow
Both matches this weekend will air on the Pac-12 Networks with streams also available on the Pac-12 website. Live stats can be found at Oregon.Statbroadcast.com with in-match updates through @OregonVB on Twitter.

About Arizona State
ASU is coming off a weekend in which it roared back from down 0-2 to upset No. 21 Washington State in five sets in Pullman. The Sun Devils also have wins over Arizona and Colorado in Pac-12 play. ASU leads the conference by a wide margin in digs per set (16.3), paced by libero Courtney Leffel (4.83), and five Sun Devils average better than 2.00 kills per set. UO has won 19 of the last 22 meetings vs. ASU.

About Arizona
Arizona has lost four straight since picking up its first Pac-12 win with a home sweep of Colorado on Oct. 6. The Wildcats started the season 10-2, including an eight-match winning streak to enter conference play. Four Wildcats average 2.00 kills per set or more, led by OH Paige Whipple (3.31 k/s), and S Julia Patterson (9.87 a/s) directs the offense. UO beat Arizona in four last season in Tucson.

Strength of Schedule
The Ducks played eight of their first 17 matches of the year against teams ranked in the AVCA tp 25 or receiving votes, including four against the top 10. In the latest RPI rankings, Arizona State is No. 38 and Arizona checks in at 50th.

Nuneviller Thriving on the Outside
SO OH Brooke Nuneviller was one of the nation's top liberos as a freshman in 2018, but the Chandler, Ariz., native has moved to outside hitter as a sophomore and is thriving in her new role. Nuneviller leads Oregon with 10 double-doubles and still ranks among the Pac-12 top 10 in digs per set (10th, 3.42). She ranks just ahead of teammate FR L Georgia Murphy (11th, 3.29) in the league. Offensively, Nuneviller posts a team-leading 3.23 kills per set, good for 11th in the Pac-12. Oregon is the only team in the Pac-12 with three players in the top 15 for kills per set. Nuneviller is joined by SR MB Ronika Stone (14th, 3.03) and SR OPP Willow Johnson (15th, 3.02).

Career Movement
SR MB Ronika Stone has a chance to etch her name at the top of multiple UO all-time lists before her career ends, and the 2018 second-team all-American reached an impressive milestone earlier this season on the East Coast. Stone surpassed the 1,000 career kills mark on Sept. 10 with a match-high 17 on .615 hitting against Hofstra, and she enters this weekend's matches with 1,084 kills on only 2,264 career attacks. Stone's current .348 career hitting percentage would shatter Sue Harbour's program record of .333, and the San Jose, Calif., native also ranks eighth in Oregon history with 1,398.5 career points scored. Stone is currently second all-time at UO with 377 career block assists, just 12 behind all-time leader Neticia Enesi (389, 2006-10), and she is also seventh with 427 total blocks, sitting 115 behind Harbour's program record of 542.

Ducks Can't Capitalize in Loss to USC
Looking to build on its win over UCLA two days before, the Ducks dropped a 3-0 decision to USC (25-23, 25-23, 25-23) in their last outing. Oregon led 22-19 in the first set and 23-22 in the second but couldn't fend off the visiting Women of Troy. SO OH Brooke Nuneviller and SR OPP Willow Johnson led the offense with eight and seven kills, respectively, and FR S Elise Ferreira (16A, 10D) recorded the first double-double of her UO career.

Rally Leads to Sweep of UCLA
SR OPP Willow Johnson and SO OH Brooke Nuneviller combined for 20 kills in the Ducks' sweep of UCLA (Oct. 18) at Matthew Knight Arena. The Bruins jumped out to an 11-2 lead before Oregon rallied for the 25-23, 26-24, 25-16 home victory. Down 24-22 in the second set, the Ducks scored four straight to take a 2-0 match lead. The win marked their third in a row over UCLA and snapped an overall four-match skid.

Up Next
Oregon heads to the Bay Area for matches against top-15 opponents in No. 15 Cal (Nov. 1) and No. 2 Stanford (Nov. 3). The Ducks' next home match is Nov. 7 vs ninth-ranked Washington, 8 p.m. (PT) at Matthew Knight Arena.