Volleyball
For the Oregon volleyball team, the numbers just don’t lie.
The numbers this weekend were No. 13 UCLA and No. 1 USC.
Despite a valiant effort Friday night against the Bruins, the Ducks suffered a sweep in Southern California, extending their Pacific-10 Conference losing streak to 28-matches.
After starting strong in games one and two, Oregon could not overcome the Bruins on Friday and were swept (30-28, 30-24, 30-20) after a sluggish third game.
The Ducks (10-11 overall, 0-7 Pac-10) stayed with UCLA in the first two sets despite failing to register a hitting percentage more than .167. In game 3, Oregon matched offensive kills and errors — six apiece — for a neutral percentage.
Oregon had a chance to take a 1-0 lead against the Bruins (12-6, 5-3). Oregon was up 23-21 late, after a kill by sophomore Lauren Westendorf, but a kill by UCLA’s Brynn Murphy tied the game at 23.
A see-saw battle between the two squads stayed even at 28 until two-consecutive points by the Bruins — highlighted by Cira Wright’s game-winning block — gave them the win.
Senior Lindsay Closs led the ineffective Oregon offense with 14 kills while freshman Dariam Acevedo continued her successful ways with eight kills of her own.
The Ducks managed only a .109 hitting percentage, while the Bruins responded with 50 kills and 43 assists. The Ducks had just 35 kills and 31 assists.
Still, head coach Carl Ferreira said he was happy with Oregon’s effort.
“I’m very pleased with how we played in the first game,” he said. “We came out and competed with the 13th-ranked team in the nation and we gave ourselves a chance to win. That’s what we want.”
The main concern to the Ducks was the team’s inability to stay competitive to the end. While Oregon’s kills increased from 13 in game 1 to 16 in game 2, its attack errors also rose from seven to nine.
“Toward the end of game 2 and in game 3 we got away from what was working for us,” Ferreira said. “We need to sustain that level throughout.”
Against the Trojans (14-0, 8-0), USC dominated for an easy sweep (30-15, 30-14, 30-15).
With the win, USC stayed perfect and in first place in the Pac-10 while Oregon stays in the cellar, one win behind ninth-place Oregon State.
Freshman Jaclyn Jones led the Ducks with eight kills and a .462 hitting percentage, but as a team, Oregon managed just 24 kills and an .011 percentage. On the flip side, USC had 53 kills and hit .457 for the match.
The Ducks failed to hit above .100 in any single set and were off-target in game 3. Whereas the Trojans had 14 kills with just four errors in 30 attempts in the final set, Oregon committed 11 errors in 32 attempts while notching just eight kills.
The Ducks made it hard for themselves from the service line, failing to earn an ace while committing eight errors, just one night after recording five aces and 13 errors against UCLA.
On the individual side, USC’s April Ross and Keao Burdine both had 10 kills while Tracy Lindquist led the team with 26 assists.
After suffering a hard-luck loss to UCLA and being dominated by USC, the Ducks come back to McArthur Court on Thursday night for a game with Arizona starting at 7 p.m. Arizona State visits on Friday.