Oregon volleyball has been able to focus on defense again now that its offensive attack has found some balance.
Junior Kelly Russell hit with confidence and efficiency for the Ducks (9-16 overall, 1-14 Pacific-10 Conference), tallying 32 kills last week. Sophomore Sarah Mason picked up the other end of the attack, and sophomore Kristen Bitterfound a stroke that was capable of stabilizing the middle.
“I think Sarah coming back makes everybody better,” Oregon head coach Carl Ferreira said. “Early in the year, we had three hitters that were dominating our team, while three were growing.”
Ferreira said practice time previously went toward developing his younger offensive players instead of fine-tuning the defense because of injuries to Lauren Westendorf and Mason.
“Our focus this week has been on defense,” Ferreira said. He believes the defense has not been able to slow down the opposition. Bitter’s recent breakout as an attack threat in the middle, combined with Mason’s revival, has balanced the Ducks offensively, according to Ferreira.
“Sarah makes our other hitters better by softening up the (opposition’s) defense,” he said. “If your offense is in sync, your defense is what ends up winning.”
It will be hard to get the Los Angeles teams to budge this weekend using either aspect, though. Ferreira said his team does not have the offensive speed of UCLA or the defensive size of USC.
“We have two different types of game plans,” he said. “One is a big, physical game plan and the other is a speed-tempo game plan.”
USC (16-4, 11-3) ranks second in the Pac-10 in blocks, digs, hitting percentage, kills and assists. The Women of Troy hold a 32-5 all-time advantage against Oregon and have won the last 28 contests.
USC has three players ranked in the top 10 in hitting percentage. Senior Emily Adams leads the Pac-10 in hitting percentage, and junior middle blockers Bibiana Candelas and Staci Venski are No. 4 and No. 8, respectively. Adams and Candelas each posted 15 kills and hit over .500 against Oregon on Oct. 22.
UCLA (15-9, 8-6) is going through tough times right now as it has claimed only one victory in its last four matches, with three of them stretching to five games. The Bruins are 36-1 all-time against Oregon and have won 34 straight matches. Oregon lost to the Bruins in three games on Oct. 21, never scoring more than 20 points in a game.
“The last time we played them I thought their team’s speed really got to us,” Ferreira said.
UCLA middle blockers Nancy Barba and Nana Meriwether each landed 13 kills. Ferreira said they have to defend UCLA’s quick middle blockers, but he would really like to see consistency from his team.
“If we can just sustain our execution and our game offensively, like we did against Stanford and Cal, I would be very happy. Defensively, we just need to be a little bit better.”

[email protected]