One by one, the three Oregon volleyball seniors were introduced to the McArthur Court crowd Friday night, knowing it would be their last chance to wear the Duck uniform.
All they wanted was a win, a last opportunity to show the 1,107 in attendance how cohesive of a unit this year’s squad has become.
Against Washington, it didn’t come. And it wasn’t even close.
The Huskies (17-10 overall, 9-9 Pacific-10 Conference) took the match in three straight sets (30-18, 30-18, 30-19). For the Ducks, it was their final match of the season, a year that produced just one conference victory and 11 wins overall.
“Yeah, it was disappointing,” freshman Jodi Bell said. “I really wanted to pull through for the seniors. We did what we could, but it just wasn’t enough tonight.”
Amanda Porter, Oregon senior No. 1, had just one kill, the final one in her two-year career at Oregon after transferring from Idaho. She ended the season with 79 kills and 18 digs.
Lindsay Closs, Oregon senior No. 2, had a slightly more successful night, earning six kills and one service ace. Closs was magnetic as Oregon’s offensive star this season, and shone brightly with 405 kills and 40 service aces, both team highs.
Oregon seniors (from left) Lindsay Closs, Sydney Chute and Amanda Porter celebrated their last game as Ducks on Friday night with a loss to Washington.
Sydney Chute, Oregon senior No. 3 and the only Duck to play for four seasons at Oregon, had a fine offensive night, pitching in with five kills and 13 assists. She ended the year with 328 assists.
“They’ve turned the program around, basically,” head coach Carl Ferreira said. “When I took over the program, the seniors couldn’t wait to leave. And now, I think we’re starting a tradition of the seniors giving back.”
Sophomore Lauren Westendorf led the Ducks against Washington with 10 kills, while Closs’ six kills were good for second on the team.
However, statistics do not lie, evidenced by Paige Benjamin’s 20 kills for the Huskies, followed up by Sanja Tomasevic’s 17. As a team, the Huskies committed just four attack errors and hit for an even .500 attack percentage.
“It’s a pretty tough way to end the season,” Ferreira said. “If you had to write your script for your season-finale on senior night, I’d have a different way I’d write it.”
Oregon was far-below the Huskies in offensive consistency, recording 31 kills to Washington’s 52, and hitting for a .070 percentage. The only category Oregon was superior in was service errors, where the Huskies racked up 14 compared to the Ducks’ four.
“Definitely disappointing,” Westendorf said about the end to Oregon’s season. “Definitely a disappointing way to end. But I can’t help but shed light on the fact of how much we grew, especially in the second half of Pac-10 (play). We grew so much, more than I think I’ve seen this program grow in a year and a half.”
Both Ferreira and Westendorf alluded to the thought that Oregon may have “hit the wall” in the past two weeks of the season in matches against the Arizona and Washington schools.
For all of Oregon’s offensive woes, the Ducks did strike back late in game 3, even though it was technically, and in reality, out of reach.
Down 24-11, Oregon went on a three-point run, highlighted by two Closs kills.
Washington came back on a kill by Tomasevic, but the Ducks responded with four-more. A service error by Washington’s Kara Bjorklund began it, followed by Closs’ final collegiate kill. Beautifully, Closs and Porter then teamed for a block, bringing the Oregon fans to their feet.
Finally, freshman Dariam Acevedo’s service ace brought the score to 26-18, but the game was too far out of Oregon’s reach.
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