SEATTLE — It was supposed to be a breakthrough weekend.
For that matter, it was supposed to be a breakthrough season for the Oregon volleyball program.
But things don’t always happen as planned. Heading into the contests at Washington and Washington State, the Ducks (7-10 overall, 0-9 Pacific-10) expected to pick up their first conference victories against two clubs that have also struggled this season. Instead, Oregon gave the Huskies (5-11, 1-8) their first Pac-10 win Friday, and was swept by the Cougars Saturday.
The Ducks have been swept in five of their last six matches.
“It sucks that we can’t win, and I’m disappointed about that,” first-year head coach Carl Ferreira said.
After dropping game one to the Huskies 15-6, the Ducks came back to win game two 15-11. Oregon hit .426 and tallied 22 kills in the game two win, but averaged just a .137 hitting percentage in the three-game losses at the Dawg Pound.
“We weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be in game three,” Ferreira said. “We missed some chances early and [Washington] got in a groove.”
Tied at one game apiece, Oregon appeared to have momentum in its favor with a 7-3 lead in game three.
The Ducks could almost smell their first conference victory.
But it just wasn’t meant to be. Washington stormed back to tie the game at 7-7. From there, the Pac-10 foes battled back and forth before the Huskies took game point at 14-11. Oregon tried to rally, but fell 15-13, and went on to lose game four 15-6.
It was an emotional roller coaster ride.
“We lost game three because we didn’t execute on our point scoring opportunities. It’s like being in the red zone and not getting the ball in the end zone,” Ferreira said. “We wanted to force Washington to respond, and they did.”
After being benched in the previous match against Arizona, junior setter Julie Gerlach responded in Seattle ­ and responded with vigor. Gerlach had a career night, tallying 13 kills, 14 assists and a .480 attack percentage.
Junior outside hitter Monique Tobbagi paced the Ducks with 18 kills and nine digs.
“I’m extremely proud of our upperclassmen,” Ferreira said. “I’ve been hounding them a lot lately, and they stepped it up and played with a lot of maturity.”
As a team, the Ducks committed 19 service errors against Washington and hit just .219 from the floor.
Saturday night’s match in Pullman was more of the same for Oregon.
The Cougars (12-6, 3-6) swept the Ducks 15-7, 15-5, 15-10 at Bohler Gym, which Ferreira calls “one of the toughest places to play in the nation.”
“There are a lot of adjustments to be made,” Ferreira said. “We are in the same situation as Washington State in that we need to make theses adjustments to move forward in the second half of the season.”
Senior Halie Mazza led the Ducks with 10 kills and four blocks.
Oregon plays next at Oregon State Thursday at 7 p.m. and hosts the University of California-Riverside at McArthur Court Friday.