Oregon’s volleyball team came up drier than a desert as it was swept in two matches on the road against the Arizona schools last week. The Ducks have lost 10 straight league contests.
Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Mason returned to Oregon’s rotation against No. 22 Arizona on Thursday, but the Wildcats — with a .434 team hitting percentage — claimed a victory in three games, 30-17, 30-19, 30-19.
The Ducks (9-14 overall, 1-12 Pacific-10 Conference) scored more than 20 points in each game against Arizona State Friday. The Sun Devils used 64 digs to reel in a 3-0 win, 30-23, 30-24, 30-22, and end their five-game losing skid.
“We began (Friday’s) match siding out as well as we have in weeks,” Oregon head coach Carl Ferreira said. “I was pleased with our passing as well. We just could not slow them down defensively.”
Junior outside hitter Kelly Russell shared the match-high total for kills with 14 on 38 attempts for a .237 average. Individually, Russell led Oregon in those three areas as well as digs. She posted a team-high 12 digs en route to her sixth double-double of the season.
Mason reached double figures in kills with 10 for the first time since Oct. 9.
“There was almost a feeling that we were back to playing how we were earlier in the season,” Ferreira said. “It was really good to see Sarah back at full-strength.”
Arizona State (9-13, 4-9) hit .579 in the second game as a team and .280 for the match. Middle blocker Colette Meek landed 14 kills on 21 attempts and tallied only two attack errors (.571). The freshman also recorded two solo blocks and one block assist.
Libero Sydney Donahue, also a freshman, collected two match-highs with 19 digs and three service aces.
The Sun Devils refused to attack in the direction of Oregon libero Katie O’Neil, who finished with only six digs, ending her streak of 10 consecutive matches with at least 10 digs.
Setter Heather Madison put up 31 assists, 10 digs and two service aces for Oregon.
On Thursday, Oregon landed a total of 28 kills in three games and was unable to establish a consistent attack or a reliable defense as it yielded 54 kills to Arizona.
“We got off to a sluggish start,” Ferreira said after the loss. “Arizona played really well. We had a bit of a slide in terms of team blocking, and that hurt us.”
Despite recording only one team block, the Ducks limited the Wildcats’ leading attacker, Kim Glass, to 11 kills and a .100 hitting percentage. The junior All-American committed eight errors on 30 attempts.
Arizona (14-8, 7-6 after defeating Oregon State on Friday) had 11 attack errors total, and it heavily relied on outside hitter Meghan Cumpston to score points. The sophomore delivered a match-high 17 kills on 28 swings with one error (.571).

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