Ducks Head North for Three Matches in Vancouver

Saturday, March 9

Vancouver, WA

12:00 PM

University of Oregon

Boise State

03/08/19 | Women's Beach Volleyball

Match Notes

By: Nate Krueger

EUGENE, Ore. - The Oregon beach volleyball team will head to Vancouver, Wash., this weekend to play three matches over two days at Frenchman's Bar Regional Park. The Ducks (0-3) will face Boise State (12 p.m.) and Pac-12 rival Washington (2 p.m.) on Saturday before playing Portland (12 p.m.) on Sunday.

TOP PAIR IMPRESSES ON OPENING WEEKEND
The Ducks put up a good fight last weekend at the Pac-12 South Invitational despite finishing 0-3, particularly at the No. 1 court. Oregon's top duo of Brooke Nuneviller and Lindsey Vander Weide came away with three-set wins over the No. 1 pairs from both No. 12 Stanford and No. 14 Arizona, scoring Oregon's two points over the weekend. The Ducks had their chances against Arizona, pushing three different courts to third setrs.

HARRER PROMOTED TO FULL-TIME ASSISTANT
After serving as the volunteer assistant coach in 2018, HC Matt Ulmer promoted Janice Harrer to the role of full-time assistant as he continues to build up Oregon's beach program. A 2012 inductee into the Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame, Harrer brings more than 15 years of professional beach volleyball experience to the Ducks. Said Ulmer: "The addition of Janice to our program has been truly impactful. She teaches and works with unbelievable passion and it's contagious to our student-athletes. Janice is one of the most successful beach volleyball players of all time and our players have benefited from her experiences both intellectually and tactically. Bringing Janice on board full time is a very important step to the future of our program."

DUCKS ADD BEACH-ONLY RECRUITS TO ROSTER
The Ducks recruited multiple beach-only players to join the student-athletes who cross over from the indoor squad as the UO beach program continues to evolve. The Ducks added freshmen Ally Haden, Emily Mattoon, Nicole Villamil and Carly Wallace to join returners Josie Cole (sophomore) and Maddy Silberger-Franek, and those six have been working with Harrer since the fall in preparation for the 2019 season. "I have been impressed with the amount of growth they have shown as well as their work ethic.," said Ulmer. "They are putting in the time and energy to become successful student-athletes."

ELITE DUCKS LOOK TO CARRY SUCCESS TO THE SAND
Coming off one of the best indoor seasons in program history, seven student-athletes from the Ducks' Elite Eight squad are on the 2019 roster. Crossing over from the hardwood are AVCA indoor all-Americans Ronika Stone (2nd), August Raskie (3rd), Lindsey Vander Weide (3rd), Brooke Nuneviller (HM) and Willow Johnson (HM), as well as SR Lauren Page and RSO Brooke Van Sickle. Nuneviller was a tremendous beach player in high school and will likely team with Vander Weide as the team's top pair, and Stone is five wins away from being Oregon's all-time beach leader. Johnson will miss the beach season after sustaining an injury, and Van Sickle likely won't see action either as she recovers from surgery. Also joining the 2019 squad is FR Elise Ferreira, the daughter of former UO coach Carl Ferreira who will be a true freshman setter for the Ducks in the fall.

PROGRAM HISTORY
2019 marks the sixth season of Oregon beach volleyball. The Ducks are 11-43 all-time and are coming off a 2-10 season in 2018.

MATCH FORMAT
An NCAA Beach Volleyball "dual match" is won by the first team to get to three victories out of the five matches played. Each team has five pairs ranked one through five. The separate matches are played best out of three sets. The first two sets are played to 21 points, win by two, and if needed, the third set is first team to 15 points, also win by two.

UP NEXT
The Ducks will face Loyola Marymount and No. 1 UCLA on March 26 in Santa Monica, Calif., before playing Concordia (Calif.) and Long Beach State on March 27 in Long Beach.