It took six matches and 16 games, but it looks as though the Oregon offense has begun to wake up.
However, it wasn’t good enough against California, as the Ducks (8-7 overall, 0-6 Pacific-10 Conference) lost to the Golden Bears (5-6, 1-4) in three games (30-23, 30-23, 32-30) Friday at Haas Pavilion, but not before putting up a fight.
After dropping the first two games to Cal in a convincing fashion, the Oregon women bounced back in the third. Behind 26-17, head coach Carl Ferreira’s squad fought back, winning 11 of the next 13 points. But a service error by freshman Katie O’Neil and block assists by the Bears’ Candace McNamee and Camilla Leffall put the Ducks down for good. It was just a case of too little, too late for the Oregon squad.
“Their service was better than our passing, which got us out of our rhythm,” Ferreira said. “Our volleyball execution was good in the third game until the end of the match.”
For the second night in a row, junior Stephanie Martin led the Ducks with 11 kills and chipped in with four blocks. Junior Sydney Chute also came in strong for the Ducks, assisting on 28 points, but hit for a negative-.375 percentage, worst on the squad. Senior Monique Tobbagi, playing her last match as a Duck in the Bay Area, where she is from, pitched in with eight kills and seven digs.
But it wasn’t enough as the Golden Bears outmatched the Oregon defense. Cal led the match with 50 kills, compared to the Ducks’ total of 31. To make matters worse, the Oregon women hit for a team-combined .099 percentage, while the Cal women came back with a .149 percentage.
Despite the Ducks inability to stop the Golden Bears’ offense, serving may have been key to the match. California recorded seven service aces to Oregon’s three, and had seven service errors as opposed to the Ducks’ 11.
Three weeks into Pac-10 play, and the Ducks find themselves 0-6 in conference play. Oregon is three matches away from ending the first half of conference play without a win, something they have done for the last two seasons and three of the last four.
Cal has won five straight against Oregon, including a four-match winning streak at Haas Pavilion.
“The biggest challenge we’ve had to overcome once the Pac-10 has started is give the UO volleyball program a competitive identity, and I think we’ve done that,” Ferreira said. “But I’m most disappointed about losing these key matches when you’re trying to climb the Pac-10 ladder.
“We’re going to be a better team in the second half of conference play. There’s a tremendous amount of positive resiliency on this team.”
The Ducks travel to Corvallis Wednesday to take on the Beavers in the first installment of volleyball’s Civil War this season. The match at Oregon State is set to begin at 7 p.m.