If nothing else, the 2001 season was one of growing pains and heartache for the Oregon volleyball team.
After starting off the year with an 8-1 record in non-conference play, the squad knew its true colors would have to show against its Pacific-10 Conference foes. Those colors did show, but they just weren’t bright enough.
For the first time in the program’s 32-year existence, the Ducks failed to win a conference match, finishing the year 0-18 in the Pac-10 and 9-21 overall. After a 10-win campaign in his first season as Oregon’s head coach, Carl Ferreira took a step back this year.
“First off, it’s disappointing,” Ferreira said. “You start with certain goals you feel are attainable. Any time you don’t achieve those goals you’ve set for yourself, it’s disappointing.”
The Ducks did achieve some of their goals this season, even though they can’t be measured by wins and points.
Coming into the year, the team featured many new faces. Juniors Stephanie Martin and Lindsay Closs came to the Ducks after two years in other programs — Martin at a Southern Idaho junior college and Closs at Fresno State. Martin captured All-Pac-10 honorable mention honors after recording 321 kills, second-best on the squad. Closs, meanwhile, had 285 kills and was second to Martin’s 126 blocks, with 119.
Freshmen Katie O’Neil and Lauren Westendorf came to Oregon in their first year of collegiate play, struggling early on in the conference season but eventually earning high marks. Westendorf may be the future of Oregon volleyball — another Monique Tobbagi-like hitter — after coming on strong late in the season to earn 39 kills, but more important, 77 digs.
“Our record does not reflect how hard we fought this season, how well we played at times, or how hard we worked in practice every day,” Westendorf said. “We were a very close and relentless team.”
In Tobbagi, the Ducks say good-bye to their heart and soul for the last four seasons. Although she did not start off the season as well as she would have liked, Tobbagi’s resurgence toward the end of the year was reflected in the team’s play. A near win against California in early November was due, in large part, to Tobbagi’s control of the match, and the next night, in an even better match against Stanford, she played with a desire not seen in many others in the conference.
Tobbagi leaves Oregon as only the fifth player since 1986 to record 1,000 kills.
In addition, the Ducks lose setter Julie Gerlach, who finished the season with 437 assists. Gerlach’s 2,738 career assists places her third all-time in Oregon history.
“It’s sad to end their career,” Ferreira said about the team’s two seniors. “They’ve been athletes for a long time and they’ve put in a lot of hours for success.”
If there was one key word that could be used for this year’s squad, it would be “resiliency.” After being dominated early on in conference play, Oregon came back in the second half with determination. The Ducks played California, Stanford and USC with confidence late in the year, and almost pulled out three victories against ranked teams. A lesser team may have hung their heads, but there was no disappointment shown on the Oregon faces.
“We didn’t accomplish some of the things we wanted to, but I don’t think it defines the character these kids have,” Ferreira said. “I think they’ve showed character all year to be as resilient as they have. This team was probably twice as good as last year’s.”
If success was measured by wins, then this year was a positive one for the Oregon women. But the Ducks will have a difficult task to improve their record next season.
“The Pac-10 is an amazing conference and I feel so lucky to have competed in it,” Westendorf said. “I really look forward to next season and using what I learned this year to help me next year.”