Spring Spike Welcomes Top Northwest VB Teams
EUGENE - The University of Oregon volleyball team welcomes Duck fans to its first-ever action in Matthew Knight Arena with the seven-team Spring Spike this Saturday, April 16.
Action against the Northwest's top collegiate programs runs from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Admission is free, as is parking in the facility garage, and fans are asked to enter the north side entrance facing Franklin Street.
Besides Oregon, teams slated to compete include Eastern Washington, Oregon State, Portland, Portland State, Seattle Pacific and Western Washington.
Exhibition matches will be held simultaneously on the arena main floor, and (upper) ground-level practice courts, and a tentative schedule follows:
Court 1 (Arena)
9:00 W. Washington vs. Oregon
10:15 OSU vs. Oregon
10:45 Seattle Pacific vs. Oregon
11:30 E. Washington vs. Oregon
12:15 Portland vs. Oregon
1:30 PSU vs. Oregon
Court 2 (Practice Gym)
9:00 Seattle Pacific vs. OSU
10:15 E. Washington vs. W. Washington
11:30 Seattle Pacific vs. PSU
1:30 *W. Washington vs. Portland
Court 3 (Practice Gym)
9:00 Portland vs. E. Washington
10:15 Portland vs. PSU
11:30 OSU vs. W. Washington
1:30 *OSU vs. E. Washington
*indicates optional matches based on coaches decisions / travel considerations
Last Saturday in its spring season debut in Corvallis, UO swept its exhibitions vs. Portland, 31-29, 25-20 and Oregon State, 25-18, 25-11.
Taken from the coaching staff’s unofficial stats, outside hitter Alaina Bergsma racked up 14 kills and hit .480 vs. UP and added 12 kills vs. OSU, while middle blocker Ariana Williams led the team in kills vs. OSU and hit .600.
This past fall, the youthful Duck squad overachieved in many ways and opened the 2010 campaign with a school record 14-match win streak en route to a season-high national ranking of 11th. It ended the year with a 19-11 overall mark, and staked its fifth straight +17-win season (20-’09; 25-’08; 22-’07; 17-’06) for the first time since 1983-87.
Among returnees to watch this fall, setter Lauren Plum was tabbed to the All-Pac-10 Freshman Team, while Bergsma was an All-Pac-10 honorable mention in her first season for the Ducks.
Since then, Bergsma and Plum were tabbed to the 36-person A2 National Team, and will compete in Dallas at the USA Volleyball Open National Championships, May 28-31.
Outside hitter Katherine Fischer is also a former All-Pac-10 Freshman Team choice, and her 14 double-doubles in 2010 is tops among Pac-10 returnees in 2011. In her first year as the starting libero, Haley Jacob logged the fifth-best digs total in a season (450), and Williams ’ team season high for hitting in a match (.722) ranked fourth-best in the Pac-10.
Sixth-year head coach Jim Moore and the Ducks graduated only one player from last year’s roster, All-Pac-10 outside hitter Heather Meyers.
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