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The Oregon volleyball team received a lesson during the weekend on what it takes to compete with the nation’s elite.
The Ducks traveled to Southern California where they fell to No. 8 UCLA and No. 1 USC, dropping their record to 3-10 overall and 0-4 in the Pacific-10 Conference.
The Ducks were overmatched in their 3-0 loss (30-14, 30-20, 30-16) to the Trojans on Saturday. USC controlled the match, holding the advantage in kills (54-26), digs (47-30) and blocks (5-1). The Trojans (12-0, 3-0) extended their winning streak to 24 matches.
“USC deserves a lot of credit,” Oregon head coach Carl Ferreira said. “We had good attacks and they transitioned well, played great defense and did lot of things right. It’s not a situation where we did something wrong necessarily as much as it is that USC is a great program.”
USC was led by junior middle blocker Emily Adams, who finished with 16 kills and a .714 hitting percentage. The Women of Troy used a .434 hitting clip to overwhelm an inexperienced Duck squad, which features nine freshmen.
Sophomore outside hitter Jaclyn Jones led the Ducks in points for the third consecutive match with 10.5, including a team-high 10 kills and a block assist. Sophomore setter Jodi Bell added a team high 19 assists and eight digs. Junior outside hitter Lauren Westendorf also contributed with six kills.
Oregon also dropped Friday’s match to the Bruins, 3-0 (30-20, 30-21, 36-34). The Ducks had a legitimate shot to win game three, but were unable to convert on one of six game points. After freshman middle blocker Sarah Mason gave the Ducks their sixth and final game point with the score, 34-33, Bruin outside hitter Heather Cullen and middle blocker Cira Wright combined for three consecutive kills to give UCLA the win.
“I’m extremely optimistic for this team, but at the same time I’m disappointed because we had game three,” Ferreira said. “Winning gives them such reinforcement, but what they’ve walked away with tonight is knowing what they can accomplish. In the third game we wanted UCLA and the fans to wonder why Oregon kept fighting and didn’t give up.
“We were extremely resilient.”
Jones led the Ducks with 16 points, while Mason added 14, including 12 kills, one block and two block assists. It was Mason’s fifth consecutive match with 10 or more kills.
Sophomore middle blocker Kelly Russell added 11 points. Bell had a team high 32 assists, while junior libero Katie O’Neil had a team high 16 digs.
Freshman setter Heather Madison, a first-team All-American during her senior year of high school at Gresham, finished with six assists and six digs.
The Bruins had three players who finished with at least 15 points. Wright led the way with 20, middle blocker Brynn Murphy had 15.5 and Cullen added 15. The trio combined for 44 of the Bruins’ 58 kills.
Oregon has now lost nine of its last 10 matches after starting 2-1. The Ducks lost their Pac-10 openers to California and Stanford Sept. 18-19.
The Ducks’ next match is the first installment of the Civil War on Thursday at Oregon State. The Ducks’ only Pac-10 win last season came at the hands of the Beavers in Corvallis. Oregon State (9-6, 0-4) will host Portland on Tuesday.
After its trip to Corvallis, Oregon will play five of its next seven matches at home, including rematches with the Bruins and Trojans, Oct. 23-24.