The fourth time was the charm for the Oregon volleyball team.
After three straight five-game losses at McArthur Court, Oregon (7-4 overall, 0-3 Pacific-10) manhandled the Portland Pilots (3-7) on Sunday, winning its first home match of the season, 15-11, 15-3, 15-6. The sweep was the Ducks’ first at home since 1998.
“It’s good to get some confidence back,” said senior middle blocker Halie Mazza, who had five kills, eight digs and two aces. “We’ve been working on better execution and I think we did a good job of that today.”
The Ducks’ service game was the key to the quick 70-minute match. Three players recorded three aces, including sophomore setter Sydney Chute, who leads the Pac-10 with 39. The team’s 2.07 aces per game are best in the conference.
“We did a good job of executing everything that we were focusing on,” head coach Carl Ferreira said. “I think this was a defining win for us.”
Down 1-6 to Portland in the third game, Oregon appeared to have a relapse of Tuesday, when Oregon State rallied to win the final three games of the match. But as Mazza described it, the Ducks “just stayed calm” against Portland and won 14 straight points to take the final set 15-6.
“We stepped it up and said that we were not going to let it happen again,” junior setter Julie Gerlach said. “We started the game very aggressive and didn’t let go. We did a really good job of finishing them off.”
Junior outside hitter Monique Tobbagi led the Ducks with a match-high 15 kills and a .455 attack percentage, and senior outside hitter Amy Banducci added seven kills and seven digs. Chute and Gerlach aided the squad with 16 and 11 assists, respectively.

Oregon outkilled its opponent 42 to 27, while holding the Pilots to a .149 attack percentage (.083 in game two), .
“We started game three a little sluggish, but the girls really elevated their level of play and I thought we just dominated at the end,” Ferreira said. “In practice we worked on winning and being the better team and being better in game three than in game one. We did the reverse versus Oregon State.”
After rolling past the Beavers in the first two games on Tuesday, the Ducks could not finish off the in-state rival and lost its third consecutive match, 15-12, 15-12, 11-15, 10-15, 12-15.
“OSU increased their competitiveness after game two and I don’t think we matched their competitiveness,” Ferreira said. “Our biggest team deficit is point scoring execution. We let too many opportunities slip away and we gave them confidence.”
Mazza recorded 21 kills, six blocks and had an overall attack percentage of .432 against Oregon State.
In the toughest road trip of the season, Oregon will try to win its first conference game of the season in Southern California this weekend as it takes on No. 1 USC (9-0, 4-0) and No. 7 UCLA (9-3, 4-0).
“We’re excited to play those teams,” Gerlach said. “We know we have to be on top of our game, but we can beat them.”