EUGENE, Ore. - Cleaning up the errors is something that Oregon women’s indoor volleyball (14-9, 5-8 Big Ten) head coach Trent Kersten has been asking for all season. In the Ducks’ second matchup against the UCLA Bruins (13-10, 7-6 Big Ten) this season, the story was the same, despite squeaking out with a four-set victory (25-9, 25-22, 23-25, 25-22).
“Our team stepped up defensively,” Kersten said. “And offensively, our team was super balanced.”
Kersten had to completely rebuild the team in the offseason, with only one player, Maya De Los Reyes, returning to the team after last season. For his first season at the helm in Eugene, he brought on eight true freshmen, with four athletes coming from overseas.
With so many new faces on the team, the chemistry on the court was a question mark entering the season. However, the squad has pulled off major victories so far this season against ranked opponents.
Entering the night, the Ducks were ranked 42nd in the nation in hitting percentage, recording a .257% on the attacking front.
In its first battle against the Bruins on Oct. 22, the Ducks hit .327% in Los Angeles, on its way to a three-set win. However, in its second battle against UCLA on Nov. 6, Oregon hit significantly worse, recording a match attacking percentage of .160%.
The Nov. 6 matchup was a tale of errors on both sides of the net. The Bruins hit negative .061% in the opening set, with six kills and nine errors. Oregon had a clean first set, hitting .391% with 11 kills and only two errors, on its way to a 25-9 set win.
“Our offense was firing on all cylinders,” Kersten said about the first set.
The second set found the Ducks struggling to make any momentum on the attacking front, hitting .000% with nine kills and errors. However, crucial mistakes made by UCLA led Oregon to be able to capitalize on the Bruins’ errors in the closing part of the set, en route to taking the second set 25-22.
“Set 2, we weren’t super offensive,” Kersten said. “But they missed a few serves, which helped us out.”
Mistakes by the Ducks, on both the attacking and defensive sides early on, led the Bruins to jump out to an early lead in the third set. Mistakes made by the Bruins’ attack line in the closing stages of the set hurt UCLA in its attempt to extend the match, allowing Oregon to come within two points of the match.
After a Bruins timeout, the errors returned to Oregon’s side of the net, allowing UCLA to end the set on a 3-0 scoring run, and taking the set 25-23.
The fourth set was cleaner on both sides of the net, with the Bruins only recording three attacking errors en route to hitting .289%. But it wasn’t enough to force a fifth set. The match ended. Errors made by UCLA in the pivotal closing stage of the set allowed Oregon to take the fourth set 25-22 and secure the match.
Oregon will look to clean up the errors on Senior Day on Nov. 9 when the Ducks take on the Michigan State Spartans, with the first serve set for 1:00 pm.
“We’re just trying to be good tomorrow,” Kersten said.