Another weekend means another pair of matches against top-15 opponents.
Such is life for the Oregon volleyball team in the rigorous Pacific-10 conference.
A week after getting swept by then-No. 8 USC and No. 11 UCLA, the Ducks(16-5, 4-5 Pac-10) won’t be getting any sort of break this weekend when they host No. 3 Cal (18-1, 8-1 Pac-10) and No. 4 Stanford (16-2, 7-2 Pac-10).
When the Ducks traveled to the Bay Area to take on the Bears and Cardinal earlier this year, they were shutout in both matches.
Oregon is eager to prove it can play better than that.
“A lot of us are anxious to see if we can actually beat them, because last time we went down there we didn’t really play to our best abilities like we know that we can,” freshman Ariana Williams said.
Even if Oregon plays up to its potential, beating Cal and Stanford will be a challenge. The Bears and Cardinal are the top two teams in the Pac-10, as proven by their statistical dominance. Stanford ranks first in the conference in hitting percentage, kills, and assists, while the Bears rank second in each of those categories.
Still, when the Ducks face Stanford Friday, they will do so with the knowledge that they can compete with the Cardinal. After struggling mightily through the first two sets of a 3-0 loss to Stanford in Palo Alto earlier this month, the Ducks played well in dropping a narrow third set. Oregon learned the Cardinal isn’t invincible.
“We started playing the third game against Stanford when we almost beat them so they are beatable,” Williams said. “We just have to play consistent throughout the match.”
And while they have struggled away from McArthur Court this season, playing at home should give the Ducks a sizeable advantage.
“Well, we’re 4-1 at home and 0-4 on the road,” coach Jim Moore said. “This is just such a wonderful place to play.”
Finding a way to contain Stanford’s All-American outside hitter Alix Klineman would also help. Klineman leads the Pac-10 in kills and is fifth in hitting percentage.
“Alix Klineman is their biggest hitter, she’ll put balls on the floor no matter what, against anyone,” libero Kellie Kawasaki said.
But Oregon can’t focus just on Klineman. Part of what has made Stanford so successful this year is the consistency of the entire team.
“Stanford is very, very disciplined,” Williams said. “They’re harder to beat because usually there’s always one person who does something wrong but everybody on their team does everything right.”
Cal also has an assortment of weapons for the Ducks to account for.
Setter Carli Lloyd is fourth in the conference in assists per set, sophomore Robin Rostratter is sixth in both service aces and digs, and Kat Brown and Shannon Hawari are first and second, respectively, in blocks.
Oregon might have the most trouble with dynamic outside hitter Tarrah Murrey, who ranks second in the conference in kills, behind only Klineman.
“We need to dig or block Murrey,” Kawasaki said. “She’s hitting very, very well right now and she’s pretty hard to stop. We need to slow her down somehow.”
Cal’s complicated offensive schemes could also pose problems.
“We just have to read the setter well because she dumps and hits a lot so you have to worry about her as a hitter,” Williams said. “Then you have them running (other offensive sets) so it’s just a lot of really good hitters we have to worry about. We have to read them and get a block up.”
While a consistent block has evaded the Ducks for most of the season, they’ll try to focus on their strengths — serving, passing, and digging — and hope the block comes.
“We have to take care of what we know we’re capable of doing,” Moore said, “which is serving and passing and siding out and playing good floor defense and hopefully we’ll begin to have good blocking nights.”
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