Volleyball

The scene and situation Friday night at McArthur Court was all too perfect.
The Ducks, down 26-20 in game 3, saw senior Lindsay Closs strike down for a monstrous kill on an Arizona State defender, sending Oregon on a five-point run.
Then, down 31-30 in what was the equivalent of extra time, freshman Dariam Acevedo put even more power into the ball, pulling the Ducks into a tie. Finally, an Oregon team block finished a set of consistency and power as the Ducks came from behind, outscoring the Sun Devils 14-6 en route to a 2-1 lead.
But a win wasn’t to be on this cold October night, no matter how loud the 885 in attendance cheered, or how badly Oregon wanted to end what has become a 30-match losing streak in Pacific-10 Conference play. No. 21 Arizona State, in the long run, was just good enough to pull out a come-from-behind victory in five games (29-31, 31-29, 32-34, 30-28, 15-10).
“Every single person on this team contributed,” Closs said. “There wasn’t a couple people bringing the heat. Everyone was. I’m real proud of what we accomplished. We’re going to learn to get over the hump but we’re that much closer, and that much better than years before.”
Arizona State (10-4 overall, 6-3 Pac-10) dominated the statistical sheet, outkilling Oregon 87-71, and outdigging them 108-87. But the Ducks (10-13, 0-9) were in the match for the long haul, showing resiliency and the ability to strike at just the right moment.
In the end, those stats didn’t matter. In each of its two game wins, Oregon came from behind each time, down by at least five points.
“When I have 14 players who are playing in the upper 90th percentile of their ability, there’s nothing I can be disappointed about,” Oregon head coach Carl Ferreira said. “The teams in the Pac-10 are not going to come to us, we are going to have to come to them. And tonight we came to the 21st-ranked team in the nation.”
“I feel like in this match we came out stronger than we’ve ever been and more consistent than we’ve ever been,” sophomore Lauren Westendorf said. “We played pretty consistently in our game through the first four games. We just have to do it in the end.”
Oregon extended its hot streak from the service line, hitting eight aces, including a team-high three from Closs.
Acevedo led the team with a career-high 23 kills, while freshman Jaclyn Jones started in her first Pac-10 match and contributed with 14 kills and eight digs. Freshman Jodi Bell also contributed with 36 assists and a career-high 20 digs.
Each of the first three games required extra time as a win must come with a lead of at least two points.
Tied at 29 in game 1, Closs’ service ace put the Ducks ahead and freshman Kelly Russell sealed the win with a powerful kill.
Arizona State, on the strength of Julia Leddy’s kill, nipped the Ducks 31-29 in game 2 to tie the match.
In game 3, Oregon was able to tie the game at 31 on a net error by the Sun Devils, and again at 32 on a Closs kill.