The lights dimmed, the music started and a record crowd of 6,210 Oregon fans went crazy. It was the perfect start to a potentially program-lifting upset of No. 4 California.
Only the Bears weren’t complicit in Oregon’s grand plan. Riding an efficient offense and a strong block, Cal shut out Oregon, 25-23, 25-22, 25-12 Friday night.
While Oregon’s defense played reasonably well, the Ducks were stifled on offense. Oregon hit a season-low .042 and saw numerous attacks thwarted by Cal’s 18 blocks. The Bears’ height — five meaningful contributors stand 6-foot-2 or taller — slowed the Ducks’ offense to a halt.@@http://www.goducks.com/downloads2/429814.htm?ATCLID=205312988&SPSID=4287&SPID=234&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@@@http://www.calbears.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/cal-w-volley-mtt.html@@
“They’re obviously big, and they’re really good at getting their hands all the way over,” Oregon outside hitter Alaina Bergsma said. “So it doesn’t give you a lot of options depending on the set you get, so that was kind of an issue.”
That issue manifested itself on the stat sheet. Bergsma was the only Duck to have double-digit kills, and no Oregon player had a hitting percentage higher than .143. In fact, seven Ducks had hitting percentages of .000 or lower.
“We weren’t putting balls on the floor,” Oregon head coach Jim Moore said. “A lot of it’s them, for sure, and we said that. You’re going to get dug, but we didn’t keep swinging, and we didn’t change our shots. We just have to be better at it.”
Cal’s Tarah Murrey, however, did keep swinging. She was a dominant force for the Bears, hitting .340 and notching a match-high 19 kills.
“Tarah’s just a warrior,” Cal coach Rich Feller said.
Even so, the Ducks played reasonably well and held their own in the match’s first two sets. In the third set, however, Cal was in complete control. The Bears scored the set’s first six points and overwhelmed the lifeless Ducks.
“We just stopped competing, and I am not happy about that at all,” Moore said.
On Saturday against No. 7 Stanford, Oregon competed but came up just short of notching only the fourth win in program history over the Cardinal. Stanford overcame a first-set loss to top the Ducks 22-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-23.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4287&SPID=234&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205313617&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
In contrast to the Cal loss, Oregon’s talent looked to be on par with the Cardinal; Stanford made fewer mistakes, however, and capitalized in crucial moments.
“We’re right there,” Oregon outside hitter Katherine Fischer said. “We just have a couple things we have to work on, clean up a little bit, and we’ll have it because we’re so close, we’re right there.”
Indeed, in the match’s first set, Oregon was better than its Bay Area rival. The Ducks out-hit Stanford .182-.170 to earn their first set win over either Cal or Stanford since 2009.@@http://www.goducks.com/downloads2/429831.htm?ATCLID=205313617&SPSID=4287&SPID=234&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
As the match progressed, however, the Cardinal began to gain the upper hand. Stanford outhit Oregon in each of the match’s final three sets, made fewer mistakes and outclassed the Ducks.
“They were more disciplined than we were tonight, and that was the difference,” Moore said. “They were much more disciplined on defense than we were. They were calmer too on defense.”
Several Ducks did have solid nights. Alaina Bergsma had 26 kills, one short of her season high, Fischer had 10 kills and played solid defense, and Lauren Plum facilitated Oregon’s offense, recording 47 assists. Cardinal middle blocker Carly Wopat, however, was the best player for either team. She hit .520 and had 15 kills. Additionally, Rachael Williams and Lydia Bai notched 15 and 10 kills, respectively, for Stanford.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=205180435&DB_OEM_ID=500@@@@http://www.goducks.com/downloads2/429831.htm?ATCLID=205313617&SPSID=4287&SPID=234&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
Oregon (12-4, 5-3 Pac-12) won’t see a lull in its schedule any time soon. Next weekend, the Ducks will face another pair of top-10 teams, UCLA and USC, completing a stretch of five top-10 opponents in six games.
“Right now we just have to get over the hump, that’s all it is, get over the hump,” Moore said. “A little bit of it is a confidence thing, and a little bit of it is just execution.”