After Rocky Start, #2 Stanford Rolls Past #16 Oregon (Pac-12 Roundup)

Stanford moved to 10-0 in the Pac-12, while Oregon State fell to 0-10. Arizona suffered another blow to their outside hitter group when Kendra Dahlke left their match with an injury, and Cal’s offense found its rhythm in a single-setter system.

Standings

#2 Stanford def. #16 Oregon 3-1 (16-25, 25-21, 25-17, 25-15)

• Stanford moves to 18-1 (10-0 Pac-12); Oregon falls to 13-7 (6-4 Pac-12)
• Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene, Oregon
• Attendance: 2,176
• Box Score
• Recaps: Stanford // Oregon

Oregon came out on fire in front of a fired-up home crowd in Eugene, and after a dominating first set, the 2nd-ranked Cardinal fired back, eventually steamrolling their way to a 10th conference win.

While Oregon hit well throughout the match (.289 overall, .359 in the first 3 sets), but the difference in the first was that they held Oregon to just .147 hitting in the opener. The Cardinal went .419, .333, .448 in their last 3 sets, or a combined .400, to run away with the match.

“The first set is what we’re capable of; we have to keep working to be able to sustain that level. We’re not ready to sustain at that level yet,” UO coach Matt Ulmer said. “I thought we followed our game plan pretty much to a T in the first set and a half. They started getting some pressure on us in serve receive, and then we started to panic. We started to lose focus on what we were doing, and focus on what they were doing. That’s the last piece for us; that’s a really big piece though. That’s the difference between the Sweet Sixteen and the Final Four.”

Match Takeaways:

• Kathryn Plummer of Stanford led all players with 19 kills on 45 swings (.333 hitting). She also matched for the team lead of 3 service aces with service specialist Kate Formico.
• Their efforts were part of a 10-1 ace advantage for Stanford. Oregon’s 1 ace was accompanied by 7 service errors. None of Stanford’s 10 aces came in the first set, where Oregon was so good.
• Stanford was targeting Oregon’s star outside hitter Lindsey Vander Weide from the stripe. She received 44 of 82 serves and had 5 reception errors. She said after the match of the Cardinal’s aggressive serve that “I don’t think they’re afraid to make errors, so they got us out of system a lot.”
• In spite of that additional responsibility, she led her team in kills (13), though 6 hitting errors kept her to just .226 hitting.
• The two teams were evenly-matched in blocks, with Stanford holding a narrow 8-7.5 advantage led by 5 block assists from Holly Campbell.

RV Arizona def. Utah 3-1 (26-24, 25-13, 18-25, 25-20)

• Arizona moves to 16-6 (5-5 Pac-12); Utah falls to 12-9 (4-6 Pac-12)
• Tucson, Arizona
• Attendance: 950
• Box Score
• Recaps: Arizona // Utah

Another match, and another injury for the Arizona Wildcats, as Kendra Dahlke left the match in the 4th set with 21 kills due to an injury. That’s her 7th 20-plus kill effort this season, and she also had 8 digs, 3 blocks, and an ace. She had just returned this weekend after missing last weekend’s USC match with an injury. Hers is the latest in a series of injuries that has ravaged the Arizona outside hitter ranks. Whitnee Nihipali came on for Dahlke after the injury and had 2 of the team’s last 3 kills

Match Takeaways:

• Arizona had a 13-8 advantage in blocks in the match, led by 8 block assists and 1 solo from Devyn Cross.
• Arizona libero Makenna Martin had 18 digs and 0 reception errors (on 17 reception opportunities) in the match. By comparison, Utah’s libero Brianna Doehrmann had a match-best 28 digs, but also allowed 3 Arizona aces.
• Dani Drews led Arizona with 16 kills and 17.5 total points.

#20 Washington State def. #21 UCLA (25-22, 25-20, 25-21)

• Washington State moves to 15-5 (6-4 Pac-12); UCLA falls to 11-6 (6-4 Pac-12)
• Bohler Gym, Pullman, Washington
• Attendance: 792
• Box Score
• Recaps: Washington St. // UCLA

In the first of two matchups this season, Washington State knocked off UCLA 3-0 in a hotly-contested sweep. This was a match of scoring rallies: in the first, UCLA took a 16-11 lead, but Washington State scored 7 of the next 8 points to jump back in front and eventually win the set. In the 2nd, it was a 6-point Cougar run, with 5 served by Ashley Brown (including an ace), that gave Washington State an early lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.

The 3rd set was a wild-swinging back-and-forth affair where first Washington State, and then UCLA, and then Washington State again went on big runs. The Cougars finished with a 3-point streak, all clean kills, to clinch the match.

Match Takeaways:

• Washington State was playing their 3rd-straight match without leading scorer Taylor Mims (who still tops the team in kills). The team has hit below its season average in all 3 games since then (.184, .231, .189, below .248). Mims was hitting .476 in the Sftanford match before she left in the 2nd set.
• Their .189 hitting percentage was the team’s lowest in a win this season, and 3rd-lowest overall.
• Penny Tusa, who is starting in Mims’ place at outside hitter, hit -.125 in the match (3 kills, 7 errors, 32 swings). Jocelyn Urias picked up the slack with 14 errorless kills for the Cougars on 20 swings (.700 hitting).
• There were only 5 aces total in the match: 2 for UCLA and 3 for Washington State. UCLA’s aces were combined with 10 service errors.
• All 6 Washington State starters had at least 1 block in the match.
• UCLA was led by 13 kills (5 errors, 37 swings, .216) from Mac May. She had 10 digs for a second-straight double-double.

Colorado def. Arizona State 3-1 (21-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-20)

• Colorado moves to 12-9 (4-6 Pac-12); Arizona State falls to 13-9 (4-6 Pac-12)
• Tempe, Arizona
• Attendance: 1,861
• Box Score
• Recaps: Colorado // Arizona State

Colorado knocked off Arizona State to create a three-way logjam for 8th-place in the Pac-12. The Buffaloes started Jenna Ewert and let her run with the offense, at the expense of Brynna Deluzio, who started on Friday against Arizona, and after an early adjustment period, that paid off for a .238 hitting percentage in the match. That’s almost .100 points higher than they hit against Arizona.

Match Takeaways:

• Colorado struggled to pass in the first set, much as they did in the loss to Arizona, but a key early timeout in the middle of the 2nd set with Colorado down 7 spurred a 12-4 Buffaloes run to take the lead. Justine Spann, who struggled in the first half of the set, had 3 kills in the team’s 6 points coming out of the timeout, and finished the set with 4 kills and an ace.
• Spann rolled from there on, finishing the match with 13 kills and 13 digs.
• Anyse Smith hit .444 and had 10 kills in the match. That’s the 4th time this season that she’s hit at least .400 with at least 10 kills.
• Colorado had a 13-5 blocking advantage, led by 5 assists and 2 solos from Nagheded Abu. That block advantage dictated the last 3 sets of the match, where neither team served very well.
• In spite of the loss, Arizona State passed fairly well. Nicole Peterson had 54 assists on 57 Sun Devil kills.
• Colorado hit .500 in the 4th set: their 2nd-best single set hitting percentage of the season. The win was also the team’s first away win of the season.

Cal def. Oregon State 3-0 (25-16, 25-23, 25-20)

• Cal moves to 11-10 (3-7 Pac-12); Oregon State falls to 10-12 (0-10 Pac-12)
• Corvallis, Oregon
• Attendance: 1,021
• Box Score
• Recaps: Cal // Oregon State

The wheels continued to fall of the bus on Sunday for Oregon State, as they lost their 10th straight match following a 10-2 record in non-conference play. Oregon State had beaten Cal in their last 7 matchups prior to Sunday’s loss.

Match Takeaways:

• Cal played their cleanest match of the season, with just 8 hitting errors. While they also lost at Oregon on Friday, they only had 10 hitting errors there. Those are their two best numbers of the season, and both resulted in Cal hitting above their season average (.384 on Sunday, .233 on Friday, .231 season average). Sophomore setter Isabel Potter had a season-high 40 assists, in her first match as the team’s primary setter (they’ve been running a 6-2 most of the season with Jade Blevins).
• Lauren Forte had 7 kills on 9 swings for Cal (667); Preslie Anderson had 9 kills on 15 swings (.533); and Mima Mirkovic had a team-best 11 kills on 22 swings (.409). Even Bailee Huizenga, who had 10 kills and a team-worst 3 hitting errors, still hit .304 in the match.
• Oregon State had 2 players in double-digit kills: Maddie Goings with 13 and Amy Underdown with 14. Underdown has led the team in kills in the last 2 matches, though Goings still leads the team.
• Oregon State has only hit better than .175 once in a Pac-12 match this season: when they hit .203 n a 5-set loss to Utah last weekend.