Ducks Seeking Consistency on Washington Trip

Wednesday, October 11

Seattle, WA

7:00 PM

University of Oregon

Washington

Photo by: Eric Evans/GoDucks.com

10/10/17 | Women's Volleyball

Notes: #14 UW, WSU Buy Volleyball Tickets

The No. 15 Ducks are looking for a more well-rounded effort than they've had in recent matches this week at No. 14 Washington (Wed., 7 p.m., P12N) and Washington State (Fri., 6 p.m., P12N)

By: Nate Krueger

Last year's road trip to Washington and Washington State turned out to be the most exciting of the season for the Oregon volleyball team.

The Ducks dominated the eighth-ranked Huskies in a straight-set sweep in Seattle, their first there since 2009, before outlasting No. 23 WSU in a five-set thriller.

The 15th-ranked Ducks (10-4, 3-3 Pac-12) are looking for similar results on this year's trip north, which begins Wednesday at No. 14 Washington in Alaska Airlines Arena (7 p.m., Pac-12 Networks) and wraps Friday in Pullman against the Cougars (6 p.m., Pac-12 Networks).

"Last year was very fun there," said first-year head coach Matt Ulmer. "We're going to see if we can spark that magic again."

Oregon heads to Seattle after a sweep of California on Sunday, which snapped a two-match skid for the Ducks. Despite a 25-19, 25-19, 25-19 victory, the Ducks hit just .205 against the Golden Bears and struggled with consistency throughout the match.

"Offensively we were not very good," Ulmer said. "Setters have to be better. I thought we passed well enough to hit much better than .205, which .205 for us, that just shouldn't happen.

"We have to be sharper and we have to make sure we're showing up every night."

Some of those errors can be cleaned up with match and practice experience for a new-look lineup, which Ulmer and the Ducks may turn to again this week with the status of hitter Jolie Rasmussen still unclear and the emergence of senior right-side Taylor Agost as a six-rotation player.

Agost moved to outside hitter and played all the way around for the first time since high school last Friday against No. 2 Stanford, after Ulmer learned Rasmussen had not been cleared through concussion protocol, and the Oregon native shined with a team-best 11 kills and a career-high 11 digs. Sunday against Cal, Agost once again led the team with nine kills and established another career-high with five aces.

Regardless of Rasmussen's status moving forward, Agost proved that she is more than capable of taking on an increased role and remaining on the court the entire match, with Ulmer calling her performance against Stanford "phenomenal."

"I have a lot of confidence in myself as a player," Agost said, "and having my teammates out there with me and knowing I have the support of them and the coaches really helps me rise to the occasion."

The new-look lineup also moved Lauren Page from the outside back to her natural middle blocker position, and middle Ronika Stone to right-side hitter, where she dominated for Oregon in the NCAA Tournament last year.

Page played well back in her normal spot, hitting .438 over the weekend, but Stone struggled on the right, hitting .000 and minus-.083 against Stanford and Cal, respectively.

"She's got to step it up," Ulmer said. "I know it's a new position for her, but I don't care. She's that good that she needs to make it happen. Right now, she's not accepting the challenge so that's a little disappointing."

Regardless of what the starting lineup and rotation looks like, Ulmer made it clear that a more well-rounded and efficient effort will be needed to repeat last year's Seattle magic against the Huskies or extend Oregon's impressive win streak over the Cougars to 22 matches.

"Washington is favored to win the conference for a reason," said Ulmer. "They've had a few injuries, their setter is injured, but they're extremely talented everywhere. Then we drive to Pullman, which is a very hostile environment, and they do a great job there. They are a really big physical blocking team so we will need to climb the ladder and bring our energy."