Ducks hope to catch winning bug in Arizona
■ The Oregon volleyball
squad searches for a second
Pac-10 victory against Arizona
and Arizona State
By Adam jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
In a conference that features
three of the nation’s top-10 teams
and four of the top-15 teams, the
Oregon volleyball squad never has
an easy night.
And this week’s schedule is no
exception.
The Ducks (9-12 overall, 1-11
Pacific-10 Conference) are in Ari
zona for back-to-back matches
against the Sun Devils and the No.
4 Wildcats tonight and Friday, re
spectively. For an Oregon team
that is not satisfied with its overall
performance this season, this is its
chance to shine.
Against these top
tea ms you have to give
yourself an opportunity to
win.
Carl Ferreira
head coach
Oregon volleyball
Tonight’s contest against fourth
place Arizona State (15-8, 7-6) is
one the Ducks know they can win.
“When we played [Arizona
State] last time, we definitely did
n’t give our best performance, and
that’s frustrating because they are a
very beatable team,” sophomore
setter Sydney Chute said. “We
need to go down there with our
heads up, ready to go out strong.”
En route to a 3-0 sweep of the
Ducks at McArthur Court on Oct.
6, the Sun Devils outkilled Oregon
49-29, led by senior hitter Amanda
Burbridge’s 17 kills. Burbridge is
second in the Pac-10 with 5.63
kills per game.The Sun Devils hold
a six-match winning streak against
the Ducks. Arizona State head
coach Patti
Snyder
Park, who
is 20-3 all
time against
Oregon,
needs just
one more
victory to
give her 100
conference
wins in her
12-year career in Tempe. Only four
other coaches have ever achieved
that feat.Can the Ducks spoil the
party plans?
“All we can do is give the best
we’ve got,” said senior Halie Maz
za, who is in the conference’s top
10 with a .315 hitting percentage.
“In the Pac-10, playing these high
caliber teams gives us the opportu
nity to get some big wins. We just
have to play hard and execute
hard.”
The Arizona Wildcats have one of
the fiercest combinations in the
country: Marisa DaLee and Allison
Napier. DaLee was named the con
ference’s Player of the Week last
week, and she leads the nation with
a .458 attack percentage. In limited
action, DaLee and Napier combined
for 24 kills in a 3-0 decision against
Oregon earlier this season.
Arizona swept No. 17 Stanford
Junior setter Julie Gerlach, junior hitter Monique Tobbagi and sophomore blocker Amanda Porter look to point the Ducks in the
right direction this weekend as they travel to No. 4 Arizona and Arizona State.
and California last week for the
first time in school history.
“In the past we have been a team
on the way up," Napier told the Ari
zona Daily Wildcat. “Now we are on
top, and we have higher expecta
tions than sweeping Cal and Stan
ford. It is nice to have swept them,
butiit really does not fire us up.”
As a team, the Wildcats — who
are ranked third according to Vol
leyball Magazine — share the Pac
10 lead with a 12-1 conference
record (19-2 overall). Arizona
leads the conference in three major
categories: kills, assists and attack
percentage.
“Against these top teams, you
have to give yourself an opportuni
ty to win,” Oregon head coach Carl
Ferreira said. “You have to take a
punch and ask yourself, ‘What are
you made of?’ Because good teams
make it hard to execute, and we
need to be as good as Oregon can
be on both sides of the ball.”
With six conference matches re
maining, winning in the home of
one of the nation’s best would
surely fire up the Ducks.
When was the last time you told your professor
wanted to study?
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