On the surface, No. 18@@goducks@@ Oregon’s Friday clash with Washington State@@schedule@@ doesn’t present much drama. The Ducks (12-6, 5-5 Pac-12)@@goducks@@ have defeated the Cougars 11 straight times@@how should I check?@@ and have been a superior program to their Northwest rivals in recent years.
Leave it to Oregon’s former backup setter Camryn Irwin@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=204963205@@ to add some spice to the Ducks’ upcoming match with the Cougars. Irwin, who played sparingly for the Ducks as a freshman last season, transferred to Washington State in the offseason. Upon arrival in Pullman, she immediate became the Cougars’ starting setter.
While recognizing that Irwin could help Washington State’s game plan for the Ducks, Oregon’s players and coaches don’t appear too concerned about any tactical edge the Cougars may have.
“She knows our system,” Oregon outside hitter Alaina Bergsma@@goducks@@ said. “She knows what we’re trying to do, but at the same time, that just makes us want to fight that much harder.”
Oregon head coach Jim Moore@@goducks@@ doesn’t appear too worried, either.
“That somebody was here, they know how we do something,” Moore said. “But unless we have spies, how you attack a team on a given day is different from match to match.”
Don’t expect the Ducks to change their game plan or terminology to combat Irwin’s knowledge.
“I’m not changing anything because somebody was on the team,” Moore said.
Irwin’s presence didn’t seem to bother Oregon in the team’s first matchup, when her 46 assists@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=234&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205305127@@ weren’t enough to prevent a 3-1 Duck victory@@goducks@@.
Midterm assessment
At roughly the midpoint in the Pac-12 season Oregon is right where most expected they would be: entrenched in the middle of the conference standings. In a sense, the Ducks have been the easiest team in the league to predict; they’ve defeated every team below them in the conference standings, while falling to every team ranked higher.
Despite that predictability, the Ducks say their inconsistency has prevented them from ascending in the conference standings.
“I think it’s putting it all together,” Bergsma said. “I feel like some games we serve and pass really well and our offense isn’t there, and other games our offense is there and we’re not serving and passing well. I think once it all comes together, we’re going to be a lot better.”
Outside hitter Katherine Fischer had a mixed assessment of Oregon’s conference season to date.
“We’re playing hard, so I’d give us an ‘A’ with that,” Fischer said. “We have a lot of little plays that we’ve been talking about. Second-ball contacts that aren’t exactly where they need to be, so probably a ‘C’ on that, but everything else is going smoothly, it seems like.”@@oddly constructed quote@@
Although he didn’t assign a letter grade, Moore’s assessment seemed to fall in line with Fischer and Bergsma’s: while Oregon hasn’t always played well, they’re right at the precipice of turning the corner. That belief was further cemented by Oregon’s strong performance this past weekend in a pair of 3-1 losses to top-10 foes USC and UCLA@@goducks@@.
“Right now we have to fix the little things,” Moore said. “We have to control the second ball. We still have to continue to get the block better. The people supposed to be getting it done on a regular basis have to do it on a regular basis.
“That’s Alaina (Bergsma) and Ari (Williams) and Lauren (Plum) and Haley (Jacob) and Katherine (Fischer)@@all on goducks@@, those kids have to give us within one standard deviation of the norm — whatever that may be. We need a little more consistency from the people that have to do certain things.”
If all that falls into place, the Oregon season will trend upward, Moore said.
“We just have to take care of little things right now, but we’ve gotten tremendously better,” Moore said. “If we can stay at the level we were just at this past weekend, good things are going to happen.”