Pac-12: #12 USC Sneaks by ASU; #2 Stanford, #15 Oregon, #16 UW, #23 UCLA Earn Wins

Pac-12 Roundup: Oct. 10, 2018

#15 OREGON DEF. #21 COLORADO 3-1 (25-19, 32-30, 14-25, 25-16)

• #15 Oregon improves to 12-5 (5-2, Pac-12); #21 Colorado falls to 10-8 (2-5, Pac-12)
• Boulder, Colorado
  • Attendance: 1,528
• Box Score
• Oregon Release | Colorado Release

The Ducks earned their third straight victory by winning at Colorado in four sets, with an impressive bookend of first and fourth games.

The Ducks hit .272 and actually wound up with less kills and blocks on the same amount of aces. Most of that is due to the down third set though, as Oregon was led by Lindsey Vander Weide (17 kills, .265, 6 digs), Taylor Borup (14 kills, 8 digs) and setter August Raskie (41 assists, 11 digs, 10 kills, .714), who had a triple-double.

For Colorado in the losing effort, Naghede Abu (17 kills, .419, 5 blocks) continued her strong play and Alexa Smith (13 kills, 8 digs) was solid. Anyse Smith (18 kills, .256) wound up as the top attacker for kills in the match, but Colorado hit just .098 in the first, .062 in the fourth and allowed Oregon to hit .404 in the second.

Next Up: The Buffaloes will stay at home to host a team from the same state in the Beavers of Oregon State. The Ducks meanwhile stay in Mountain Time but travel to Salt Lake City to battle Utah.

#12 USC DEF. (RV) ARIZONA STATE 3-2 (23-25, 25-21, 25-18, 23-25, 15-9)

• #12 USC improves to 13-5 (5-2, Pac-12); (RV) Arizona State falls to 13-7 (4-4, Pac-12)
• Los Angeles, California
  • Attendance: 831
• Box Score
• USC Release | Arizona State Release

In maybe the best match of the night, Arizona State pushed USC to five sets on the road, but couldn’t come out with the victory due to the Trojans’ electric pins.

That’s not a surprise with USC, but Khalia Lanier (29 kills, .274, 8 digs) and Brooke Botkin (22 kills, .220, 15 digs) took over, and combined to hit .250 on 132 swings. Emily Baptista (12 kills, .243) and Jasmine Gross (8 kills, .261, 7 blocks) pitched in as well, while Raquel Lazaro (59 assists, 21 digs) found the right options and racked up digs with Victoria Garrick (21 digs).

Arizona State hung around with a defense that had more digs and blocks, even though they were out-hit. Nicole Peterson (29 assists, 23 digs, 4 kills) was the primary floor defender, but three others had double-digit digs with two others at 19. One of those was Ivana Jeremic (15 kills, 19 digs), who was also one of a trio with double-figure kills. The others were Claire Kovensky (17 kills, .333, 6 digs) and Alyse Ford (12 kills, 5 digs).

Next Up: The Trojans host Arizona State’s in-state rival in the 22nd-ranked Arizona Wildcats. Arizona State, on the other hand, have the rest of the weekend off with their next match on Friday the 19th against Utah.

#23 UCLA DEF. #22 ARIZONA 3-0 (26-24, 25-22, 25-23)

• #23 UCLA improves to 10-5 (5-3, Pac-12); #22 Arizona falls to 14-5 (3-4, Pac-12)
• Los Angeles, California
  • Attendance: 1,463
• Box Score
• UCLA Release | Arizona Release

The Bruins found themselves with a sweep of Arizona behind a strong serve and solid defense as they earned a top 25 victory over the Wildcats. It’s also their third consecutive sweep victory.

UCLA hit .221, which was enough combined with their other strengths. Jenny Mosser (11 kills, .391, 10 digs), Mac May (11 kills, .150, 11 digs, 3 aces) and Madeleine Gates (7 kills, .467) led the point scoring. Zana Muno (18 digs) led the floor defense. UCLA out-aced Arizona 7-2 on two less serve errors too.

For Arizona, it drops them to below .500 in the tough Pac-12, although the positive was that Paige Whipple returned to the lineup and had 11 kills and 14 digs. UCLA held Kendra Dahlke (9 kills, .135, 6 digs) in check along with Candice Denny (5 kills, .143). Shardonee Hayes (29 assists, 11 digs) had a double-double.

Next Up: UCLA has the weekend off after playing on Wednesday too and now awaits a road test at #16 Washington. For Arizona, their schedule doesn’t get any easier as they stay in L.A. for a tilt with #12 USC.

#16 WASHINGTON DEF. CALIFORNIA 3-0 (30-28, 25-21, 25-20)

• #16 Washington improves to 13-4 (5-2, Pac-12); Cal falls to 9-9 (1-6, Pac-12)
• Berkeley, California
  • Attendance: 1,002
• Box Score
• Washington Release | Cal Release

Cal continues to be pesky in the Pac-12, even near the bottom of the league, but they couldn’t get past Washington who swept the Bears in the Bay area.

Both offenses were efficient, with Washington hitting .323 and they added nine aces. Kara Bajema (14 kills, .182, 6 digs) was the only Huskies player with over 20 swings, while Avie Niece (13 kills, .667, 4 blocks) and Samantha Dreschel (10 kills, .333) had double-digit kills with efficiency. Ella May Powell (40 assists) was the distributor for the well-oiled machine on offense.

Cal meanwhile hit .293 and had seven aces. No player had double-digit kills, although a quartet wound up with eight each in Mima Mirkovic, Lauren Forte, Maddie Haynes and Bailee Huizenga. They struggled avoiding terminations though, as no player had double-digit digs either and in total there were just 26 for the team.

Next Up: It’s now a quick turnaround for Washington, who has to play at #2 Stanford on Saturday night. Cal will stay at home and play Sunday when they get #18 Washington State.

#2 STANFORD DEF. #18 WASHINGTON STATE 3-0 (25-15, 30-28, 25-12)

• #2 Stanford improves to 15-1 (7-0, Pac-12); #18 Washington State falls to 13-4 (4-3, Pac-12)
• Stanford, California
  • Attendance: 2,278
• Box Score
• Stanford Release | Washington State Release

The Cardinal continue to assert their dominance in the Pac-12, as they’ve now won 14 in a row overall and are the only team in the league with less than two losses.

The Cardinal hit .374 for the match, including over .400 in the first and third sets, to go with more kills, assists, digs, blocks and a one-sided affair in aces (10-2). Leading that serve was Meghan McClure (7 kills, .312, 6 digs, 4 aces) and Sidney Wilson (4 aces, 2 digs). Jenna Gray (39 assists, 6 digs, 3 kills) added an ace and got the offense started for Kathryn Plummer (16 kills, .387, 6 digs), Audriana Fitzmorris (12 kills, .385, 6 blocks), Tami Alade (7 kills, .636, 6 blocks) and company.

Washington State not only was trumped in aces, but they were much less aggressive. It resulted in less serve errors, but also many more in-system attempts for the Cardinal. The Cougars were also held to a .118 mark despite an outburst from Taylor Mims (12 kills, .476), as everyone else combined for just 20 kills on .025 clip.

Next Up: Stanford plays host a second day in a row with #16 Washington in town. The Cougars will be in the same area, but across the bay as they battle Cal on the road.

STANDINGS