While Eugene celebrated the football team’s victory over rival Washington this weekend, more than 850 miles away in Los Angeles, the Oregon volleyball team was not in such a joyous mood.
The Ducks (7-6 overall, 0-5 Pacific-10) started the weekend with a 15-6, 15-6, 15-1 loss to No. 5 UCLA (9-4, 4-1), then fell on Saturday to No. 4 USC 15-5, 15-3, 15-5.”The bottom line is that when you’re on the road you need to minimize runs by the home team and you need to compete with more energy to give yourself a chance to win,” Ferreira said. “And in this conference you need to be ready to play back-to-back nights.”
USC, the nation’s best team according to Volleyball Magazine, extended its winning streak to 33 games this weekend. The Trojans (11-0, 6-0) stymied the Ducks, holding them to a .193 attack percentage. Three Trojans hit above a .450 clip.
“We played really tough and played with a lot more effort than we did last night against UCLA,” Banducci said. “We controlled the intangibles — had good communication, great passing and were very emotional — but USC is a No. 1 team and probably the best we’ll see all year.”
On Friday night, Oregon fell behind quickly to the Bruins, trailing 11-0 in the first and 6-0 in the second game. The Ducks were also held to a .041 attack percentage against the Bruins and failed to win at least one game for the first time since beginning Pac-10 play this season.
UCLA tallied 50 kills, compared to the Ducks’ 29, and recorded more blocks (11-4) than the visiting team.
Junior outside hitter Monique Tobbagi had seven kills and six digs for the Ducks, while senior Amy Banducci added six kills and seven digs.
“I’m very disappointed and surprised at how we played,” head coach Carl Ferreira said of Friday’s performance against the Bruins. “We were out-of-sync with our game plan and we didn’t play with chemistry.”
Heading into Los Angeles, the Ducks were the conference’s top serving team, averaging 2.09 aces per game. Against the league’s two toughest opponents, however, Oregon combined for just two aces. Oregon also failed to block any of USC’s attacks, as the Trojans out-blocked the Ducks 5-0.
Tobbagi again poised the Ducks, recording nine kills, three digs and an overall attack percentage of .500.
“We didn’t play poorly tonight at all,” Ferreira said. “We’ve been serving the ball very well and we served very well tonight, but USC has exceptional ball handling skills. It was the best we’ve seen all year. Their offense was the most balanced we have faced and they were just extremely sound.”
With the toughest road trip now passed, the Ducks will try to win their first conference match of the season against the Arizona schools this weekend.
Arizona State arrives into town for a game on Friday in McArthur Court, while Arizona will be here on Saturday. Both matches begin at 7 p.m.