It’s been three days since the No. 26 Oregon volleyball team found out about its NCAA tournament snub, and the Ducks are still hopping mad.
Despite finishing the season 19-11 and going a respectable 7-11 in the rigorous Pac-10 conference, the Ducks were left out of the field of 64 in favor of teams in the South and on the East Coast with comparable records that didn’t have to go through the same conference gauntlet the Ducks did.
The slight caused Oregon coach Jim Moore to turn philosophical.
“Basically the definition of an injustice is that the victim is somebody who was done wrong and they don’t deserve what they got,” Moore said. “We didn’t deserve what happened to us, and we know it.”
Apparently, the Ducks were the victim of an inexperienced selection committee that seemed to rely solely on the Ratings Percentage Index, or RPI, to pick the tournament’s at-large teams. Though Oregon was ranked No. 26 in the last American Volleyball Coaches Association Poll, the Ducks are ranked 55th in the latest RPI standings.
And even though it’s widely accepted that West Coast volleyball, particularly Pac-10 volleyball, is played at a higher level than other conferences across the country, the RPI treats every conference and region equally.
Nonetheless, the NCAA selection committee refused to look beyond the numbers.
“We exceeded what we needed to do to get to the tournament and that was within our control, and then you turn it over to a group that you have no control over,” Moore said.
But even missing out on the tournament in controversial fashion won’t totally erase what has largely been a positive season for the Ducks.
Oregon played better offense and floor defense than Moore anticipated the team would at the beginning of the season.
“I thought we could be good defensively, and we were better than that,” Moore said. “I didn’t think we’d be as good offensively as we were at times.”
As a team, Oregon ranked fifth in the Pac-10 in hitting percentage and seventh in digs.
With only one upperclassman — senior Heather Meyers — in the Ducks’ playing rotation, Oregon benefitted from a number of younger players that hadn’t made meaningful contributions in the past, such as true freshmen Lauren Plum and Arianna Williams, as well as sophomore middle blocker Jocelyn Levig.
“A bunch of people stepped up to the plate because we didn’t have that many subs,” Plum said.
Meyers added, “How good the girls are, for how young they are … they’re young, but they’re so good.”
On the other hand, Oregon’s net defense struggled all year long. Their blocking was bad at times and horrid at others.
“(I was) disappointed and surprised with our blocking,” Moore said.
And then there’s Meyers. The Ducks’ lone senior led the Pac-10 in service aces, in addition to leading Oregon in several major statistical categories. Her presence will be sorely missed, both on and off the court.
“You can’t replace Heather,” Moore said.
“Heather was a great leader,” Plum added.
The good news is that despite the loss of Meyers, the Ducks have a chance to be better next season. Middle blocker Rhiannon Tooker should be back from an injury, and a highly touted recruiting class has a chance to make an early impact.
“Obviously we’ll miss Heather, but we’ll be significantly better next year,” Moore said. “We’ll be deeper; we’ll have a lot more people that can play; and we will be better.”
If that’s the case, and Oregon does make the NCAA tournament, some of the sting of missing out this year may be relieved.
“You can’t get any lower than what we had on Sunday (when Oregon found out it didn’t make the tournament),” Moore said. “It’s sort of like playing a game and somebody cheats. You just have to find a way to get even.”
Meyers thinks next year’s squad will do just that.
“The kind of mindset they’re going to have is OK,” she said. “We didn’t get in, but now we’re going to kick everyone’s ass next year and do well.”
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