Oregon is starting to feel the repercussions from losing the spark plug of its attack. The Ducks were outscored 208-151 in two losses last weekend against Arizona and Arizona State. Without Lauren Westendorf’s 5.06 kills per game, Oregon’s crippled offense has not found an immediate resolution to its struggle.
Sophomore Sarah Mason earned 26 of Oregon’s 80 kills in the last two matches. She is averaging 3.86 kills per game, which is eighth in the Pacific-10 Conference. Mason has recorded consecutive double digit totals in kills in all five league matches.
Kelly Russell, last season’s kills leader for the Ducks, is averaging only 2.41 kills per game over the last five matches. The junior outside hitter has 174 kills on the season and has played in 51 of 52 games this year.
Libero Katie O’Neil holds an average of 4.55 digs per game, good for fourth in the conference. O’Neil’s career average was 2.25 coming into this season. The senior posted a career-best 27 digs against Arizona State. She sits in sixth among Pac-10 active career leaders in digs with 792 behind Allison Lawrence (797) of Oregon State.
The Ogonna factor
Stanford’s Ogonna Nnamani was named the Pac-10 Player of the Week for the second time in four weeks and the fourth time in her career.
The senior outside hitter has 1,955 career kills, the most among active players in the conference, and third on the all-time list. She surpassed Logan Tom’s career mark of 1,939 career kills to become Stanford’s all-time leader in kills.
Nnamani finished the Cardinal’s road trip last week with a combined total of 60 kills (7.50 per game) against No. 2 USC and No. 10 UCLA.
She tallied 24 kills and nine digs in a 3-1 loss to USC. Nnamani then posted a career-high 36 kills and hit at a .385 clip against UCLA. Her 14 digs in that match gave her a double-double, her sixth of the season. She has accrued a team-best 328 kills this season.
Sophomore outside hitter Kristin Richards leads the Cardinal with nine double-doubles, which is second in the Pac-10.
She also leads the team with 3.76 digs per game and 21 solo blocks. Richards is second on the Stanford squad with 227 kills, averaging 3.91 per game.
Up and down
Four of the five Pac-10 teams ranked in the most recent USA Today/CSTV Top 25 poll have lost some footing.
Washington, for the second straight week, is perched atop the list. The Huskies received 63 of a possible 65 first-place votes; No. 3 Hawaii was given the other two. No. 6 USC fell from the second spot after losing to California last weekend.
No. 11 UCLA and No. 22 Arizona each moved down on the list. No. 12 Stanford moved up from No. 14 , with No. 13 California jumping four spots from No. 17.
Filling seats
Washington is the lone Pac-10 team to own an undefeated record in the conference, and is one of four teams in the nation that has yet to suffer a loss. The Huskies are 13-0 overall and 5-0 in the conference.
A record crowd of 3,673 witnessed Friday’s intrastate match-up between Washington and Washington State. That was the largest audience for a Pac-10 volleyball match this season, dwarfing the previous attendance record of 1,917 (USC at Arizona on Oct. 2) and doubling the Oct. 1 fan count at the Bank of America Arena — 1,812 versus Oregon.
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