Road Trip Begins Friday at #18 Indiana

EUGENE, Ore. – The Oregon volleyball team faces a pair of top-20 road tests beginning Friday at No. 18 Indiana. First serve is scheduled for 4 p.m. PT inside Wilkinson Hall in Bloomington, Ind. The weekend continues Saturday at ninth-ranked Purdue (4 p.m. PT, B1G+) in West Lafayette, Ind.

Series Info vs Indiana
Oregon and Indiana will meet for just the second time, having first played last season in Eugene. The Ducks picked up a 3-1 victory in that match, the 2024 Big Ten opener for both.

Series Info vs Purdue
Saturday will be the sixth meeting between the two programs with Purdue owning a 4-1 lead. Oregon's lone win in the series was a straight-set victory in the 2023 NCAA regional semifinal played in Madison, Wis. This weekend's match will also be the Ducks' first-ever trip to West Lafayette.

Last Time Out
Facing a 2-1 deficit, the Ducks forced a fifth set and had match point at 14-13 against Michigan State but the Spartans reeled off the final three points for the win. Alanah Clemente had 21 kills and Cora Taylor notched her team-leading fourth double-double with 41 assists and 10 digs. Taylor was one of three UO players with three aces along with Valentina Vaulet (15 kills) and Iva Sucuroric (six blocks)

Service Pressure
Oregon goes into its road trip tied for third in the Big Ten with 163 service aces. Individually, Alanah Clemente is tied for the league lead with 41 aces while Valentina Vaulet follows closely with 39 aces, good for third in the Big Ten. Collectively, the Ducks have six players with 10 or more service aces this year, adding the efforts of Cora Taylor (19), Iva Sucurovic (15), Sophia Meyers (14) and Reese Sheppard (11). Oregon has five or more aces in 21 of 24 matches including a season-high 12 in last week's four-set win over UCLA (Nov. 6).

RPI Watch
The Ducks (14-10, 5-9 B1G) held steady at No. 57 in this week's release of the NCAA RPI rankings. Beginning with its match at Indiana, Oregon faces three-consecutive opponents with an RPI inside the top 20: Indiana (14), Purdue (6) and USC (18).

Fresh Impact
Alanah Clemente is one of 10 freshman in the country averaging more than four points per set, and enters the week at sixth in the Big Ten with 4.35 points per set. The Santa Clarita, Calif., native leads the team with 3.55 kills per set and 41 aces. Clemente has reached double-digit kills in 12 of 14 matches in Big Ten play including three 20-kill performances.

Where She Stands...and Sets
Senior Cora Taylor enters Friday's road match at Indiana with 3,798 career assists, good for 10th among active NCAA DI setters. She has 40 or more assists in five matches this year, all during Big Ten play, including a season-high 48 assists against Wisconsin (Oct. 26). Taylor started her collegiate career at Butler (2022-24) where she had 3,036 assists. Taylor is averaging 9.37 assists per set in conference play this year.

Blocking is Fun
Sophomore Iva Sucurovic is seventh in the big with 106 total blocks this season, also good for 1.15 blocks per set. She has posted five or more blocks in 11 matches this year including a season-high 12 blocks in a straight-set win at Montana State (Aug. 31). Sucurovic had 13 blocks last weekend and averaged 1.44 blocks per set against UCLA and Michigan State.

Newest Members of the Flock
Oregon head coach Trent Kersten announced the Ducks' four-player signing class that is ranked 17th in the country by Volleyball Adrenaline. The UO recruiting class features Laura Eichert (OH/Lake Stevens, Wash.), Marlena Gracia (S, Monroe Township, N.J.), Alaina Pollard (MB/Frankfort, Ill.) and Lizzy Robinson (DS/Corona Del Mar, Calif.). Eichert and Pollard are ranked as the No. 26 and 48 recruits, respectively, by PrepDig.

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