Senior Lindsay Closs has been the go-to player for the Oregon volleyball team this season.
That was never more apparent than this weekend in the desert. Closs posted 10 kills against No. 16 Arizona Friday and 13 Saturday against Arizona State.
However, Closs’ offense wasn’t enough, as the Ducks lost both matches in their final road trip of the season.
Against the Wildcats, sophomore Lauren Westendorf had eight kills, and freshman Dariam Acevedo had seven, but Oregon fell in three straight games (30-20, 30-26, 30-22). The loss was Oregon’s second to the Wildcats this season and upped Arizona’s all-time record in the series to 29-8.
Oregon has not defeated Arizona since 1998.
Closs’ .471 hitting percentage led the Ducks, but as a team, Oregon (11-19 overall, 1-15 Pacific-10 Conference) was off its game offensively. The Ducks hit .029 in Game 1, .200 in Game 2, and .120 in Game 3 to finish the night with an attack percentage of .121.
“One thing that we had been doing was getting a balanced offensive attack,” Oregon head coach Carl Ferreira said. “We struggled with that a little tonight, but the thing I liked is that we still put ourselves in a good position to win games two and three.”
Arizona’s (15-9, 10-6) Bre Ladd led the match with 17 kills and a .640 hitting percentage. Lisa Rutledge pitched in with 14 kills of her own as the Wildcats hit for a .254 percentage overall.
Arizona out-killed Oregon, 55-32, and out-dug the team, 40-34, in a dominating victory.
Against Arizona State Saturday, the Ducks were far improved but still unable to pull out the win.
The Sun Devils, whom Oregon came close to defeating earlier this season, won in four games (28-30, 30-23, 30-17, 30-27) and pushed their all-time record against the Ducks to 27-7.
On Arizona State’s Senior Night, junior Juliana Escobar dominated, posting 23 kills and 15 digs. Three other Sun Devils posted kill figures in the double digits, while Brittany Arnett led the match with 20 digs.
For the Ducks, Acevedo had 18 kills to lead the team, while Closs’ 13 was close behind. However, offensively, Oregon was off for the second night in a row.
Oregon managed just a .058 hitting percentage. The Ducks connected on 48 kills in 173 attempts but racked up 39 attack errors.
After taking Game 1, the Ducks were in prime position to jump ahead 2-0 late in Game 2. Up 22-19, Oregon dipped, allowing the Sun Devils (12-9, 8-8) to go on an 11-1 run to win the set, 30-23, and even the match up at one apiece.
The Sun Devils rolled in Game 3, 30-17, and outlasted the Ducks in Game 4, 30-27.
Game 4 proved to be a seesaw battle, with the lead changing hands seven times. However, hitting percentage proved to be a telltale statistic in the set, with the Sun Devils hitting .232 to Oregon’s .130.
The match win was Arizona State’s 11th straight against Oregon. In addition, the contest was the final home match for 14-year Arizona State head coach Patti Snyder-Park.
The win was Snyder-Park’s 213th in her career, and she now holds an all-time winning percentage of .545 (213-178).
Oregon travels back to Eugene for its final matches of the season, Thursday against Washington State, and Friday, to end the season, against Washington.