Oregon’s volleyball team has been playing Pac-12 rivals Arizona and Arizona State since the mid-1980s. For most of their extensive series history, the Ducks had not earned a season sweep of the Wildcats and Sun Devils.
That changed this weekend.
The No. 20 @@goducks@@Ducks, who had already defeated Arizona and Arizona State in Eugene earlier this year@@schedule@@, beat the Sun Devils 3-1 on Friday and the Wildcats 3-0 on Sunday@@CE@@, concluding a 4-0 season against their southwestern neighbors.
Oregon swept the Wildcats 25-22, 25-11, 29-27 at the McKale Memorial Center@@added “memorial”@@ in Tucson@@changed from Tuscon@@ on Sunday. Oregon’s win at Arizona (15-10, 7-9 Pac-12)@@arizonawildcats.com@@ was the Ducks’ first road victory over the Wildcats since 2007@@checked past schedules@@.
“It was good,” Oregon head coach Jim Moore@@CE@@ said. “It was a big win, it was an important win. That’s a team that’s real close to us in the standings. Their RPI is good. It was a very, very crucial match for us and we were able to pull it off.”
The Ducks won with their defense. Oregon held Arizona to a .094 hitting percentage, and no Wildcat had more than eight kills@@CE both: http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=234&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205328961@@. The Ducks said a strong serving effort contributed to the defense’s efficiency.
“Part of it was definitely our serving,” Oregon outside hitter Alaina Bergsma@@CE@@ said. “We served really tough and that let us kind of know who they were going to set and slow them down more.”
Although it didn’t have a banner showing, Oregon’s offense was better than Arizona’s. The Ducks hit a respectable .248 and had four players with eight or more kills@@CE both, see previous link@@. Bergsma tallied a match-high 13 kills and Liz Brenner had nine, while Ariana Williams and Katherine Fischer each had eight. @@said williams had nine, so i changed to eight and added fischer: http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=234&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205328961@@
The previous night, Oregon powered through a pair of challenging sets to open the match and beat Arizona State 32-30, 17-25, 25-20, 25-23. The Ducks withstood one of the Sun Devils’ best performances of the season to earn a victory.
“If you would have told me before the match that was how well they were going to play, I would have told you we probably weren’t winning,” Moore said. “I thought the way we responded was awesome.”
If it weren’t for a career day by Brenner, Oregon might not have dealt with the adversity so well. The freshman from Portland@@CE@@ tallied 18 kills — a career high— and hit a team-best .371.@@CE both: http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=234&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205328069@@ Brenner saved some of her best moments for the latter parts of the critical first set. After Oregon erased a 23-19 deficit, Brenner tallied kills on back-to-back points to give the Ducks a 25-24 lead@@see previous@@. Arizona State (6-19, 2-14 Pac-12)@@thesundevils.com@@ won the next two points, however, before Brenner saved a set point with a kill. The teams exchanged points until Oregon took a 31-30 lead, and Brenner ended it with yet another kill.
“You can sort of see it coming the last few matches that she’s just getting better and better,” Moore said. “She’s starting to come into her own. Each match she’s learning and getting better.”
Brenner had plenty of offensive help, however. Bergsma had a team-high 24 kills and hit .317, Williams had 12 kills and hit .259, and Katherine Fischer had nine kills and hit .094@@CE all: http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=234&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205328069, changed Fischer’s from .054@@.
Ashley Kastl@@CE@@ led Arizona State with 27 kills and hit .302, Nora Tuioti-Mariner had 16 kills and hit .318, and Erica Wilson had 10 kills and hit .400.@@CE all, see previous link@@
Oregon’s defense, which was ranked seventh in the Pac-12 in opponents’ hitting percentage at .189 entering the weekend@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4287&SPID=234&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205327545&DB_OEM_ID=500@@, failed to impose its will, allowing an Arizona State squad ranked last in the conference in hitting percentage to hit more than 100 points above its season average.
Oregon will return to action at 7:00 p.m. on Friday when they host No. 2 UCLA@@changed from USC, schedule, pac-12 standings@@. That match is the first of four@@schedule says there are five (according to pac-12, all are in top 10): http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPSID=4284&SPID=234&DB_OEM_ID=500&Q_SEASON=2011@@ against top-10 opponents, a stretch that will go a long way in determining the Ducks’ NCAA tournament prospects.
“We’re going to have four straight matches against top-10 teams,” Moore said, “so we just need to play at our best.”@@double check whether it’s four or five@@
Oregon tops Arizona, Arizona State in weekend play
Daily Emerald
November 5, 2011
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