A strong competitive attitude is all first-year head coach Carl Ferreira has demanded of his volleyball team this season. For most of the year, his demands have been met.
In the Ducks’ final Pacific-10 Conference match of 2000, however, the winning mentality was nowhere to be found, as the Ducks (10-17 overall, 2-16 Pac-10) fell 3-0 to the California Bears (11-15, 6-12).
“We lacked discipline,” junior hitter Monique Tobbagi said. “It took us two games to get our competitive attitude and you can’t do that on the road.”
A .134 attack percentage helped the Ducks to defeat, as the Bears hit .388 and outkilled Oregon 52-31. The Ducks, who have had some trouble stopping opponents at the net, outblocked Cal 7-4.
In game one, Cal used two huge runs to overpower Oregon. After the Ducks put their only two points on the board at 5-2, the Bears dropped 10 consecutive points to take the first game 15-2.
Game two was more of the same. Cal took a quick 6-0 lead, and used another 6-0 run to take a 12-3 lead. Three straight points by the Ducks were not enough as they fell 15-6 in game two.
“We just flat out didn’t play competitive in games one and two,” Ferreira said.
Another run put the Bears up 7-1 in game three, but Oregon came within two on kills by Tobbagi and sophomore Sydney Chute. A Cal win was inevitable, though, as the Bears finished with a 15-9 victory.
In her final conference match, senior Halie Mazza aided the Ducks with 10 kills and a .222 attack percentage. Tobbagi also finished with 10 kills and a .269 average.