This wasn’t the Oregon volleyball team’s ideal result. Two road matches quickly ended within six games.
Oregon lost to Stanford and California last Thursday and Friday, respectively, and now returns home to face the Los Angeles schools this week. Oregon (11-11 overall, 1-10 conference) plays six of its final eight matches at McArthur Court.
The Ducks’ schedule doesn’t get any easier this week. USC comes to town on Thursday and UCLA meets Oregon on Friday.
Starting its trip at Stanford, Oregon held leads in each game before losing.
Oregon had leads of 2-1 and 10-8 in game one. Stanford then took control and led 29-19 before winning the game 30-20 on a kill by outside hitter Kristin Richards.
Game two was similar with an early 5-4 Oregon lead disappeared in a 9-2 Stanford run. Oregon recovered to tie the game 17-17 before a 6-0 Cardinal run led to a 30-23 win.
Oregon took another lead, 5-4, in game three until Stanford tied the match at nine apiece. Stanford utilized runs of 6-0 and 10-0 to take control. Mira Djuric, who had five service errors in the match, had two service aces to bring Oregon within 27-20 before another service error as the Ducks lost the game 30-20 and the match in less than an hour and a half.
Oregon had a .110 hitting percentage compared to Stanford’s .346.
Freshman outside hitter Djuric had 12 kills and senior Jaclyn Jones had eight kills. Stephanie Alleman filled in for injured libero Katie Swoboda with 15 kills.
Stanford adjusted to the absence of injured outside hitter Cynthia Barboza. Barboza was second in freshmen to Djuric in the Pac-10 kills lead before suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in a match against Cal the previous week.
“We’re in a position of trying to reinvent ourselves right now,” Stanford head coach John Dunning told one media outlet. “I think a lot of people don’t understand what it’s like to be in the position our team is in right now. Losing a big person on your team to injury is really difficult, and I’m really proud of the effort (Thursday).”
Stanford received strong play from Richards and middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo as each had 17 kills.
Oregon State, the Ducks’ in-state rivals, may have played a role in making the Ducks’ next opponent, Cal, more focused. Oregon State upset Cal in five games the night before Oregon traveled to Berkeley. The Golden Bears played like a team trying to make a statement by sweeping Oregon in three games.
Oregon head coach Jim Moore emphasized before leaving that Oregon had to control its side. Against Cal, Oregon hurt itself by committing 22 attack errors and 12 service errors. Oregon only had a .109 hitting percentage to .308 for Cal.
Jones posted nine kills for Oregon. Kristen Bitter highlighted Oregon with eight kills and a .316 hitting percentage. Cal also contained freshman standout Djuric as they held her to six kills. The Cal match marked only the second time in 22 matches a team held Djuric to less than 10 kills. Alleman had another strong effort with a match-high 17 digs.
Cal’s Jenna Brown and Samantha Carter had record-setting nights. Brown became the fifth player in Cal history to have more than 1,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs. She had seven kills against Oregon. Carter had 38 assists and jumped to second on Cal’s career assists list with 3,849, passing Olympian Holly McPeak.

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