No. 3 Oregon continued its four-game road trip in Tempe, Ariz., and defeated the Arizona State Sun Devils 3-0 in straight sets Saturday. Once again, Alaina Bergsma led the team in kills with 14, and Liz Brenner chipped in with 13 as well.
The match began as a competitive affair, and Oregon and Arizona State were tied at five early in the set. As the set continued, the Ducks were able to maintain a slim lead over Arizona State but were unable to put any serious distance between themselves and the Sun Devils.
After a small run that gave Oregon a 16-12 advantage, Sun Devils head coach Jason Watson@@http://www.thesundevils.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/watson_jason00.html@@ called timeout to try to assure the set would not get out of reach.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=234&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205716251@@
Arizona State managed to hang around, eventually pulling within one point, but a 9-0 run by the Ducks gave them the separation they had been looking for the entire set. A block by freshman Canace Finley secured the first set 25-15 for Oregon.
Arizona State jumped out to an early lead in the second set, but Oregon was able to weather the barrage to tie the set at 7.
The two squads continued to exchange the lead and midway through the set were knotted at 12.
Following the tie, Oregon went on a 3-0 spurt to give themselves a 15-12 lead, and once again the Sun Devils called for time.
After play resumed, Arizona State managed to claw their way back into the set, tying it at 19 and then eventually took a 22-21 lead after a bad set by Haley Jacob.
Turning point. Oregon remained poised and eventually won the set 25-23 on a combined block by Lauren Plum and Ariana Williams which gave the Ducks a commanding two-set lead.
As was the case with the previous two sets, the third started out competitively, with the teams knotted up at five early.
In the end the offensive firepower of the Ducks was too much for Arizona State, and Alaina Bergsma put the exclamation point on the set with a kill at the net to secure a 25-20 third set victory and a win in straight sets over the Sun Devils.
On the horizon. The Ducks are now halfway through their four-game road trip and will take on Colorado and Utah next Friday and Sunday before returning home to Matthew Knight Arena. Both games will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.