Oregon’s once promising season has hit a lull.
With its fourth consecutive loss Friday night, albeit against all top-10 teams, the Ducks volleyball team has slipped below .500 in Pacific-10 Conference play. The upcoming schedule though offers Oregon an opportunity to regain its footing.
The Ducks sit at 14-6 overall and 3-5 in conference play.
Oregon travels to Corvallis next Friday for a meeting with rival Oregon State and returns home the next weekend for matches with Arizona and Arizona State.
All three schools are struggling in conference play, and it gives the Ducks a chance to build momentum heading into its season-ending stretch of seven matches that features five top-10 teams.
On Friday, Oregon lost to USC in three games – just the second time the Ducks have been swept this season. The Ducks lost each game by at least four points, including a 10-point loss, 30-20, in game two.
Oregon had a season-low attacking percentage of .132.
Gorana Maricic held the team lead in kills with 14, but it was Heather Meyers whose all-around performance stood out.
The freshman from Temecula, Calif., had 12 kills and a team-high attacking percentage of .318. She made five digs while contributing six blocks.
Asia Kaczor and Jessica Gysin each had more than 10 kills for USC with 16 and 11, respectively. Taylor Carico made 34 assists. Alli Hillgren had 21 digs.
The night before at UCLA, Oregon’s knack for surrendering leads again became a problem in a four-game loss to the Bruins. It was a loss that resembled the Ducks’ loss to California earlier this month at McArthur Court.
Both times, Oregon had leads in games and let them go.
The Ducks led 25-20 and 29-26 in game one but couldn’t finish. Oregon had two errors and a UCLA service ace evened the score at 29. UCLA’s Katie Mills powered a kill and Ali Daley’s service ace finished the comeback.
Oregon responded by controlling game two in a 30-22 win.
UCLA took game three, 30-24, and in game four there were five lead changes and 19 ties. Oregon had leads of 18-14 and 23-20 but after tying the score at 29 on kills from Neticia Enesi, Sonja Newcombe and Maricic, the Bruins remained in control.
Tied at 34, two kills by Daley ended the match.
Enesi had a season-high 12 kills while hitting .476. Newcombe had a career-high 24 kills as she hit .310 and also had 14 digs.
“We had opportunities tonight that we just didn’t take advantage of,” Oregon coach Jim Moore said in an Oregon press release.
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