Four-Match Home Stand Begins Friday vs Maryland - University of Oregon Athletics

EUGENE, Ore. — The No. 12 Oregon volleyball team begins a four-match home stand Friday when it hosts Maryland (6 p.m., B1G+) at Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks' 17-3 overall record ties the 1974 and 2023 UO teams for the second-best, 20-match start in program history; the 2012 team was 19-1. Oregon also carries an 8-2 conference record through the first five weeks of Big Ten play.

Series History vs Maryland
Oregon leads the brief all-time series with Maryland, 2-0. The teams have only met as Big Ten opponents. The Ducks swept Maryland in Eugene in 2024 and closed out last season with a straight-set win on the Terps' home floor. Valentina Vaulet tied a career high with six service aces in that match.

Last Time Out
Oregon picked up a four-set road win over Ohio State (Oct. 24) on the back end of a back-to-back. All five primary attackers had at least 10 kills while the Ducks combined for 13.0 total team blocks including the final stuff by Alanah Clemente and Alaina Pollard. Oregon saved two set points in the fourth and ended the match on a 4-0 run to avoid a decisive fifth.

In the Rankings
After a split road weekend, Oregon (17-3, 8-2 B1G) dropped two spots to No. 12 in this week's release of the AVCA coaches poll. The Ducks held steady at No. 7 in the NCAA RPI with matches completed through Oct. 25. Oregon was the No. 10 team in the NCAA committee's top-16 reveal (Oct. 18).

Fresh(man) Start
It was a career day for freshman middle blocker Alaina Pollard who had 12 kills, seven blocks and two digs in the Ducks' four-set win at Ohio State. She hit .455 against the Buckeyes and teamed up with Alanah Clemente for the match-winning block. Pollard accounted for 3.00 points per set while hitting .472 (2.50 k/s) on the Penn State-Ohio State road trip.

Can You Dig It?
The Ducks picked up 78 digs in their four-set road win at Ohio State, good for the team's high mark in a Big Ten match this season. Alanah Clemente led all players with a career-high 17 digs while Sjakkie Donkers and Reese Sheppard each had 14, and Marina Crownover finished with 11 digs. Oregon is fifth in the Big Ten with 14.36 digs per set.

Erasing an Early Deficit
With its four-set win at Ohio State (Oct. 24), Oregon moved to 6-2 when losing the first set this season. The Ducks have also rallied from an early 1-0 match deficit for wins over Missouri, Washington State, San Diego, Purdue (down 0-2) and Indiana.

Killing It
Oregon enters the final week of October second in the Big Ten and sixth in the NCAA with 14.14 kills per set. Sjakkie Donkers and Alanah Clemente lead the Ducks with 3.75 and 3.31 kills per set, respectively. Oregon also ranks third in the conference and 12th nationally with 13.09 assists per set.

Active Ace
Senior Valentina Vaulet is third among active NCAA Division I players with 182 career service aces. She has 83 of those aces in her 49-match career at Oregon. Vaulet enters the weekend trailing only Autumn Martinez-Robinson (186) of George Mason and Olivia Babock (183) of Pitt. Vaulet is eighth in the Big Ten and leads the team with 27 aces this season.

Up Next
The home weekend continues Sunday against Iowa (1 p.m., B1G+). Tickets for UO home matches are currently on sale.

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