Sophomore Heather Madison, seen here playing against Oregon State, is sixth in the Pac-10 Conference in assists, averaging 11.69 per game.
Can lightning strike twice? Oregon has not achieved back-to-back Pacific-10 Conference wins since 1991, when the Ducks defeated California and Oregon State.
After defeating Washington State in three straight games last Saturday, the Ducks will be looking for their second consecutive league victory when they face Arizona State on Friday at McArthur Court.
Oregon (9-4 overall, 1-2 Pac-10) is 2-55 against Pac-10 teams in the last three years and has not had two conference wins in a season since 2000.
Oregon’s Heather Madison had nine kills in 11 attempts against the Cougars last weekend. The sophomore setter had a total of 13 kills in 2003, yet she already has 31 in 45 games this season.
Madison has 526 assists this year, but only accumulated 61 in two matches last weekend. Her career-high is 57. She is sixth in the league with 11.69 assists per game.
Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Mason had a team-high 48 kills in the first three conference matches this season. Erin Little, also a sophomore, had 29 kills, and junior Kelly Russell pitched 23 into the attack.
The Sun Devils (5-7, 0-4 Pac-10) are winless in their last four matches — 12-straight games — and are looking for their first league win of the season.
Taking attendance
The Oregon Athletic Department verified that the match against Oregon State on Sept. 24, which drew 1,902 fans, was the second-highest attendance of any Pac-10 volleyball contest this year. Conflicting information in the Pac-10 weekly press release excluded the Ducks’ conference-opener, which attracted the fifth-largest audience at Mac Court in program history.
USC helped fill 1,917 seats in Tucson, Ariz., when it played at Arizona on Saturday. Washington’s home-opener against the Ducks attracted the third-largest crowd of the year with 1,744 spectators on the same night. Oregon lost in that match.
Pac-10 justified
The most recent USA Today/CSTV Top 25 poll ranked Washington as the best team in the nation, with USC a distant second. The Huskies, who have gone 4-0 in Pac-10 play for the first time in school history, received 61 of the coaches’ 65 first-place votes. The Women of Troy received one vote. Both programs were ranked in the Top 10 at the start of the season. USC was No.1 as the defending national champion. UCLA sits idle at No. 11; Stanford, California and Arizona all fell. Through the last 41 ranking periods, a Pac-10 school has occupied the No. 1 spot 37 times. Outside the Pac-10 region, Hawaii, Ohio State and Texas have perfect records.
Deceiving Arizona
Arizona (8-6, 0-4 Pac-10) is somehow hanging on at No. 21 in the coaches poll. The Wildcats have the most losses (6) of any ranked team in Division I volleyball.
Junior outside hitter Kim Glass is second among Pac-10 active career leaders in kills (1,269) and service aces (90). She leads the team in three categories, averaging 4.20 kills, 2.80 digs and 1.00 blocks per game.
Jennifer Abernathy earned Pac-10 Player of the Week honors in the second week of the season. She leads the team this year with 189 kills, landing 4.11 per game.
The Wildcats are fifth in the league in blocks, hitting percentage and opponent hitting percentage. Abernathy has six double-doubles this season (T-4 in Pac-10), followed by Stephanie Butkus with five and Meghan Cumpston with four.
