After a one-year hiatus, Oregon’s volleyball team will make its return to the NCAA Tournament at 7 p.m. today when it faces Colorado State.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4287&SPID=234&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205339672&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
The 13th-ranked Ducks, which had hoped to host a tournament regional match, will instead fly to Hawaii to battle the Rams. They’ll do so with a roster light on tournament experience — only three current Ducks (Haley Jacob, Katherine Fischer and Kellie Kawasaki) have ever played in the NCAA postseason.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=3753136@@ @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=3704023@@ @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=3753133@@
But head coach Jim Moore, for one, isn’t worried that inexperience will be an issue for Oregon (21-9, 14-8 Pac-12).@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=4287&SPID=234&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205339672&DB_OEM_ID=500@@
“We didn’t get to the tournament last year, but that should motivate us,” Moore said. “There’s no reason, there’s no excuse; once you cross those lines, you have to perform.”
Competing in the rigorous Pac-12 Conference and enduring a frantic push for a tournament berth last season has made the Ducks sufficiently battle-tested, Moore said.
“We should have been in there last year, but I think being snubbed in the way we were, we still feel like we got in,” Moore said. “I don’t think we could have had any more pressure than we had last year at Washington State (in the last game of the regular season).”
Although it doesn’t play in a power conference, Colorado State (23-5) won’t be an easy opponent for Oregon. The Rams have won five matches in a row and are 4-2 against teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament.@@http://www.csurams.com/sports/w-volley/stats/2011-2012/cs-nms.html#GAME.BOX@@ @@http://www.csurams.com/sports/w-volley/sched/csu-w-volley-sched.html@@
They’re also familiar with the challenges of postseason play, having made 17 straight tournament appearances and are highly regarded for their athletic front line and strong net defense.
“They’re a great blocking team,” Moore said. “They’re third in the country in blocks, but Washington is No. 1 and Stanford is No. 2, so we’ve seen good blocking teams. They try to score points quickly. They’re going to block balls, they’re going to try to get aces.”@@I know I can’t change this because it’s a quote, but I’m not sure the block rankings are correct, according to the school stats.@@ @@http://www.gostanford.com/sports/w-volley/stats/2011-2012/teamcume.html@@ @@http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/w-volley/stats/2011-2012/teamcume.html@@ @@http://www.csurams.com/sports/w-volley/stats/2011-2012/teamcume.html@@
The Rams’ imposing block could force Oregon to alter its offensive approach. Instead of trying to end points quickly with powerful attacks that could be blocked down, the Ducks may have to be more patient.
“They are a good team,” Duck outside hitter Alaina Bergsma said. “They have a lot of options to score. I think if we make them play, get them in really long rallies, it will help. I think that’s how we’re going to be able to beat them. Play good defense, keep playing and I guess kind of wait for our opportunity to score.”@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=204880765@@
Although Oregon has played numerous top-10 teams, the Ducks said Colorado State isn’t quite like any of Oregon’s previous opponents.
“I’ve actually thought about who they compare to in the Pac-12 and they’re a combination of a lot of teams,” Moore said. “I don’t know that there’s anybody in the Pac-12 that they really compare to.”
The Ducks won’t have much time to give that question more thought. Since they only have a few days to perform advance scouting, they probably won’t be intimately familiar with Colorado State’s tendencies.
“The thing I like the most is it gets back close to where we were at the beginning of the year, where you can scout the teams a little bit but you don’t know them inside and out like we do in the Pac-12,” Moore said. “I like that part, I like where it’s taking care of your side of the net. Teams will do what they do and you have to figure out how to deal with that.”
Despite the distractions of staying in Hawaii, the Ducks hope to stay focused to accomplish that task.
“This is a business trip,” Bergsma said. “We are staying fairly close to the beach, so we will be able to hit the beach at some point, but most of us are really just focused on volleyball and getting school done.”
Oregon volleyball set to face Colorado State in NCAA Tournament
Daily Emerald
November 29, 2011
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