Season Opens in Portland
04/01/16 | Women's Beach Volleyball
The Ducks kick off the 2016 season by hosting the Oregon Tournament in Portland. The two-day event is slated for Saturday and Sunday at the Delta Park - Owens Sports Complex. Participating teams include UO, Stanford, Boise State and Portland. The Ducks will face Stanford at 12 p.m. Saturday followed by a contest against the Broncos at 2 p.m. They will close out the tournament with a 2 p.m. match on Sunday against the Pilots.
OFFICIAL NCAA SPORT
This spring marks the first season that beach volleyball is an official NCAA sport. Oregon added beach volleyball in 2013. It became the school's 12 women's sport and 20th overall. There are eight schools in the Pac-12 sponsoring the sport, making it an official conference sport. The first-ever NCAA beach volleyball championship will feature eight teams competing for a team title in Gulf Shores, Ala. May 6-8.
PROGRAM HISTORY
In the two years that Oregon has sponsored beach volleyball, the Ducks have compiled a 5-14 record. In its inaugural season, the Ducks captured wins over Louisiana-Monroe, Washington and Portland State. Martenne Bettendorf and Amanda Benson led the team with a 5-1 record. Bettendorf's nine wins remain the most wins in a season by a UO player. Last year, the Ducks went 2-6 as they logged wins over Cal Poly and Oregon State.
ROSTER BREAKDOWN
In her third year at the helm, head coach Stacy Metro returns seven players from last year's squad.
Martenne Bettendorf and Amanda Benson are back playing after taking the 2015 season off. Bettendorf is the winningest player in program history as she went 9-2 in 2014. Together, Bettendorf and Benson were 5-1 in the inaugural season and will provide leadership for the team.
Joining them is red shirt senior Liz Brenner, who has been with the program since its inception. Brenner has competed at the top two spots during her career. Junior Kacey Nady rounds out the upper-classmen as the San Diego-native played all but one match last year at the No. 1 spot.
Three sophomores return to this year's team including Taylor Agost, Roni LaPierre and Marine Hall-Poirier. Agost went 1-7 in 2015, picking up a win at No. 3 with Serena Warner over Oregon State. LaPierre and Hall-Poirier played at the No. 5 spot for seven of the eight matches, going 3-4. The duo won against Stanford, Saint Mary's and Cal Poly. Their victory over the Mustangs clinched the win for UO.
Newcomers this year include sophomore Alex Hojnar and freshmen Lindsey Vander Weide, August Raske, Sumeet Gill, Lauren Page and Haley McLaren.
TOURNAMENT FIELD
The Oregon tournament will feature round-robin play with each team playing twice on Saturday and once on Sunday. This is the season-opening contests for the Ducks, Broncos and Pilots. The Cardinal enter the tournament with a 2-3 record.
Stanford won its first two matches of the 2016 season, sweeping Sacramento State and then picking up a 3-2 win over San Jose State. Since then, the Cardinal have dropped three straight, falling 4-1 to Pacific, St. Mary's and San Francisco. Stanford went 11-4 in 2015.
Boise State went 4-11 a year ago, picking up wins over San Francisco, San Jose State, Cal and the Ducks. The Broncos have eight returners on the roster including the top two pairs in Hannah Hubbard/Maddy O'Donnell (2-11 at No. 1) and Sarah Baugh/Sierra Nobley (6-7 at No. 2).
This season marks the inaugural year for Portland as the Pilots added beach volleyball in August of 2015.
