Oregon volleyball began their final weekend of non-conference play with an incremental inching up the rankings, to #23. They started the weekend by hosting Portland State Vikings (4-5) on Thursday evening in front of nearly 2,000 fans at Matthew Knight Arena. Those fans were treated to a 3-0 sweep of the Vikings, 25-19, 25-21, 25-20.
The Ducks have been experimenting with starters and rotations
while they still can, and we probably won’t have a clear picture of who the starters will be until Oregon enters Big Ten play. Starting in her first game as a Duck in this match was 6-2 Jr. OH Sjakkie Donkers.
Oregon started the first set slowly, and were down 12-7 early on. (The Ducks have had a tendency for slow starts and have dropped first sets so far this season because of that. The slow starts need to be addressed come conference play, because against Big Ten teams they’ll need to play a solid, complete game, match in and match out, or they will pay for the slow start with losses.) Down 17-14, the Ducks put together an 8-0 run to go up 21-17, eventually taking the first set 25-19.
The Ducks jumped to an early lead, 3-1, but the Vikings stormed back and traded ties and took a lead of their own to make it 10-8. The middle of the set was a battle of ties, as both sides vied for the lead. The second set would be the most competitive for these teams, with 7 lead changes and 14 ties before all was said and done.
After Portland State took the lead 20-19, the Ducks went on a 6-1 run that was all Sjakkie Donkers, as she had four kills and a block in that span, giving Oregon the 25-21 win.
The Ducks started the third set with the lead, and while PSU played competitively throughout the set, tying the game twice, they never gained the lead. Oregon won the set 20-25, and earned the sweep and end of the match.
Portland State hit .119 on the night, led by Alivia Eikenberg with 7 kills. While the Vikings kept pace statistically in terms of dig, blocks, and the service game, what really did them in was the overall lack of kills. PSU had 29 kill attempts to 43 for the Ducks, and that was how Oregon was able to separate themselves. The Ducks hit .231 for the match – which isn’t as good as it needs to be, and the Ducks know it (see the postgame presser, below).
Sjakkie Donkers really came through this match, and led the Ducks with 12 kills and 2 service aces. Valentina Vaulet had 10 kills, and really has a knack for keeping her team in the match when other players are having a rough stretch in the game. Alanah Clemente added 8 kills and was a co-leader in blocks with 4. Iva Šucurovic had another game as the kills percentage leader, with 6 kills and a .462 K%, along with 4 blocks.
Marina Crownover just missed a double-double with 31 assists and 9 digs, and Reese Sheppard was the digs leader with 14.
Here is what head coach Trent Kersten and Donkers had to say after Thursday’s match:
Oregon now sits at 8-1, and on Sunday they host the 4-5 Oregon State Beavers. OSU is on a three-game losing streak, but those three games were against #23 Colorado, #16 USC, and Arizona. (As of this writing, the Beavers had not yet played Portland State. The match was last night and Oregon State may have won that game.) Oregon volleyball has one last game to tweak the system and get it together, because Big Ten play starts with a big road trip challenge against Wisconsin and Minnesota.
