The Pacific-10 Conference can be a rough place for young volleyball players.
With athletes like USC’s April Ross, California’s Mia Jerkov and Stanford’s Ogonna Nnamani dominating matches, inexperienced teams can, at times, be overwhelmed.
With 12 freshmen and sophomores, the Oregon volleyball team suffered through such growing pains this season, finishing with a 3-24 overall record, including an 0-18 ledger in the Pac-10.
Success this season, however, was not based solely on wins and losses for Oregon. With all 14 players expected back next year, the Ducks spent the 2003 season learning valuable lessons on what it takes to compete in the nation’s top conference.
Head coach Carl Ferreira said that to expect such a young team to be at the top of the Pac-10 immediately would be unrealistic. Instead, players and fans should have patience, and for the time being, focus on the improvements the team made during the season rather than wins and losses.
“For us as a program, it’s important to understand who we are and what we’re doing,” Ferreira said. “Society teaches us that the way to measure success is the scoreboard.”
With no seniors and only two juniors, Oregon lacked the experience needed to finish strong and pull games out at the end. Ferreira compared the competition between the inexperienced Ducks and the rest of the conference to a junior varsity team battling a varsity squad.
“If you take a junior varsity team and play the varsity, I don’t know who could be successful,” Ferreira said. “If you put freshmen and sophomores against the varsity football team, they’d probably get crushed.”
Though Oregon would have loved to win at least one conference match, the Ducks had several moral victories during the season. After struggling through the first half of the conference schedule, Oregon made noticeable improvements down the stretch. The Ducks won their first Pac-10 game on Oct. 23 against then-No. 9 UCLA at McArthur Court, proving to themselves they had what it takes to compete with the nation’s elite. The following evening, Oregon took No. 1 USC to the brink in game one before falling, 30-28. The Ducks set a season high with 12.5 blocks against a team that eventually had five players named to the All-Pac-10 team.
Oregon closed out its home schedule with a heartbreaking loss to Arizona State on Nov. 14. The Ducks showed potential, putting themselves in a position to win every game, but gave way to the more experienced Sun Devils, 3-1 (30-28, 27-30, 30-28, 30-28).
As the Ducks walked off the McArthur Court floor, fans could be heard groaning with heartache and despair, which in most cases is a bad thing. This, however, wasn’t your ordinary case. Despite entering the match winless in 15 conference matches, Oregon had captured the hearts of fans who believed the Ducks could win. This support should carry into next season when a more experienced Oregon squad figures out how to not let such close matches slip away.
With the 2003 season in the books, Ferreira and his players have already expressed excitement when looking forward to 2004. Oregon added depth at the attacking positions for next season, signing a pair of recruits to national letters of intent two weeks ago. Justine Petry of Trumansburg, N.Y., and Karen Waddington of Langly, British Columbia, are both 6-foot-2 middle blockers that will instantly make the Ducks a more explosive team.
Oregon will also have plenty of talent coming back. Outside hitter Lauren Westendorf and libero Katie O’Neil will return as senior leaders. Outside hitter Sarah Mason established herself as one of the Pac-10’s top attackers this season en route to being named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team.
Oregon’s future is a bright one and can be attributed to Ferreira and the hard work he’s gotten from his young squad.
“We commend Carl for the changes he made this season,” Westendorf said. “Everything was more comfortable. This was my favorite season of collegiate volleyball. I’m so much happier than I’ve ever been.”