Oregon Volleyball Loses On The Road

Oregon volleyball began Big Ten conference play with a road trip to the Midwest, where they faced Illinois on Friday and Northwestern on Sunday.

Illinois

The Ducks battled the Fighting Illini in Champaign on Friday, and were swept 24-26, 15-25, 18-25.

The Ducks got off to a fast start in the first set, as the Illini were slow to get going and were having problems with Oregon’s serve game. The Ducks posted five aces as they mounted a commanding 22-13 lead.

It was not to last. The Ducks have had issues with defense and their serve/receive game all season, and those issues have become magnified in conference play. After being up 22-13, Oregon scored only two points in the rest of the set as Illinois completely took over, and took the first set.

It would prove to be the last gasp for the Ducks. They were never in it for the rest of the match. In sets two and three, Illinois jumped to leads that Oregon does not have the capability to bridge. 

The serve/receive game is not up to snuff for the Ducks. Here is an example of what I mean that was seen time and again:

When I say that the Ducks don’t receive well, it means that (as we see in this clip) Oregon doesn’t defend the serve in a way that allows the setter to set up an attacker properly. The ball is placed poorly and the Ducks are just worried about getting the ball over the net. Then Illinois shows how it’s done, in the same clip. The defender gets the ball to the setter, the setter places the ball, and the Illini get the kill.

Oregon’s other issue was poor defense. While Illinois is diving for successful digs, the Ducks can’t defend a shot that’s coming right at them. It wasn’t a one-off, either. This was the case for the rest of the match.

Oregon isn’t completely hapless. Although they are few and far between, we do see some occasional nice rallies.

Two stats underscore how the Ducks are struggling. The first is assists. Illinois finished with 40 assists to 28 for the Ducks. This means that the Ducks are not getting the ball to the setter properly and they need to improve in that area. The other stat is digs. Illinois had 41 digs to 27 for the Ducks. Illinois is defending more successfully than Oregon in this game.

The Ducks were resoundingly swept, but this Illinois team may be better than we thought, because their match after Oregon was a road contest against #10 Purdue, and they beat Purdue in four sets.

Northwestern

The Ducks next traveled to face Northwestern yesterday. Oregon battled back after dropping the first two sets to take the match to five sets, but could not quite get over the hump and lost 22-25, 21-25, 26-24, 29-27, 10-15.

NU crept in the lead early on in set one, but the Ducks put together a 4-0 run to get a 21-19 lead.

Northwestern responded with a 6-1 run to seal the first set.

After a 2-2 tie in set two, NU pulled ahead and did not relinquish their lead for the rest of the set.

The Ducks played a better third set and led for much of the way.

NU bounced back and tied the set at 24, but Oregon took the final two points and the set.

Set four was a thrill to watch, with 16 ties and four lead changes. Neither side led by more than two points the entire set. Oregon saved multiple match points before taking the last two points to go to set five.

The Ducks ran out of steam in the fifth set. With the score tied 4-4, NU went on a 5-0 run and that would be the game.

NU hit .348 for the match, with 11 blocks, 11 SErr and 6 SAce.

Oregon hit .283 and matched digs with NU at 51 apiece. The Ducks had 8 blocks. Oregon continues to serve poorly, with 21 SE and 8 SA. In close matches, you just can’t give away so many free points to the opposition.

Valentina Vaulet led Oregon attackers with a career-high 28 kills. Sophia Meyers had 16 kills and Alanah Clemente finished with 10 kills. Cora Taylorhad 47 assists and Natalie Fukumoto led in digs with 16.

Oregon volleyball comes off the road this weekend for a couple of matches in the comfortable confines of Matthew Knight Arena. They face Iowa on Friday and Ohio State on Saturday. Both matches start at 6:00 pm PT and can be seen on B1G+.