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Women's Volleyball Match of the Week preview: Oregon at No. 2 USC

by Kevin Danna
Nov 11, 2015
Eric Evans / John McGillen

Who: Oregon at No. 2 USC

When: Wednesday, Nov. 11, at 7:30 p.m. PT on Pac-12 Network, Pac-12 Los Angeles and Pac-12 Oregon with Anne Marie Anderson and Tammy Blackburn on the call.

Second-ranked USC looks to keep the gravy train rolling along when it hosts an Oregon squad looking to stay in the hunt for an NCAA tournament berth.

The Story so Far: Oregon (12-11, 6-8 Pac-12)

Oregon has been to four straight NCAA tournaments and eight of the last nine but certainly has its work cut out for it to make that five in a row and nine of 10. After splitting a home weekend against the Bay Area schools – getting swept by Stanford and sweeping Cal – the Ducks are No. 68 in RPI and still without a win against any higher-RPI team.

In order to make a stronger NCAA case, the Ducks need to rack up a couple of marquee victories. Thankfully, the schedule provides those opportunities with this trip to Los Angeles, while Washington and Arizona State will be heading to Eugene. If head coach Jim Moore’s crew can split those four matches and take care of Washington State and Oregon State (two teams that are tied for last), the Ducks would be 16-13 overall and 10-10 in Pac-12 play with two top-25 RPI wins. You’d think that would be good enough to get into the Big Dance, or at least make a very strong case.

In order for the Ducks to win four of their final six, they will need to close out sets better than they have in recent play. Oregon blew a 17-11 first-set lead to Stanford on Thursday, dropping the set 25-23, and dropped sets in its 3-1 loss at Utah by scores of 25-23, 25-22 and 25-23. Oregon, which recently switched to a 6-2 offense (whipping it out in that Utah loss on Oct. 30 for the first time this year), is right there – it just needs to improve in the finishing department.

The Story so Far: No. 2 USC (25-1, 13-1 Pac-12)

It was going to be tough to run the table, especially in the Pac-12, and USC had its perfect season come to a halt when it was swept at Washington on Oct. 30. The last team in the nation to lose a match, USC has bounced back to win its last three by edging Washington State in five in the Palouse (taking the fifth 15-13) and taking care of the Mountain schools at home (3-1 over Colorado and 3-0 against Utah).

Despite the brilliant conference mark, the Trojans have been unable to create much separation from the rest of the top tier of the conference, as Washington trails USC by one game and Stanford and UCLA trail the Trojans by two. However, it’ll be tough for those three to catch Mick Haley’s bunch, as USC has just one game remaining against the other top-four teams (UCLA on Nov. 25) and plays four of its final six at home.

As long as the Trojans beat who they’re supposed to beat, the Trojans will wrap up their fifth Pac-12 title and first since 2011 just one year after finishing 10th in the Pac-12 with an 8-12 record. If it holds on to first, USC will be the first team in Pac-12 women’s volleyball history to finish first one year after finishing in the bottom half of the league standings the year before.

Three Players to Watch: Oregon

  1. #18 Martenne Bettendorf (Outside Hitter, Senior) – The leading attacker on the Ducks is coming off a huge game against Cal, hitting .591 with 13 kills in 22 error-free attacks in the three-set sweep of the Golden Bears. For the year, she has 284 kills and 3.59 kills per set.
  2. #8 Lindsey Vander Weide (Outside Hitter, Freshman) – The two-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week led the team with 15 kills in the win over Cal and was the only Duck to register double-digit kills against the Cardinal with 11. She’s second on the team with 3.22 kills per set and 274 on the season.
  3. #10 Amanda Benson (Libero, Junior) – Second in the Pac-12 with 4.52 digs per set, Benson is 43 digs away from moving into third on Oregon’s all-time digs list. She had an impressive 31 digs over a six-set weekend against the Bay Area schools last weekend and has registered at least 10 in all but one contest this year.

Three Players to Watch: USC

  1. #2 Samantha Bricio (Outside Hitter, Senior) – The frontrunner for Pac-12 Player of the Year is the reigning AVCA National Player of the Week (and reigning Pac-12 Player of the Week). Just 22 kills away from becoming USC’s career kills leader (so she could break that record tonight), Bricio leads the nation at 5.16 kills per set, 0.74 service aces per set and 6.32 points per set. Simply put, she’s an amazing player.
  2. #8 Alicia Ogoms (Middle Blocker, Senior) – She led the Pac-12 in blocks per set when the conference season started, and she still leads the Pac-12 in blocks per set with six matches to go (1.60). She recently posted a career-high 11 net rejections at Washington State in a five-set triumph.
  3. #10 Taylor Whittingham (Libero, Junior) – Whittingham leads the Pac-12 with 4.99 digs per set and had 17 of ‘em in a three-set sweep of Utah last time out. I mean, it’s really not fair – USC has the nation’s leader in kills, services aces and points and the conference leaders in blocks and digs. Now if only the Trojans went with one dedicated setter so either Baylee Johnson or Alice Pizzasegola could pace the Pac in assists per set…

Three notes to know

  1. More on Bricio’s greatness – Bricio has been named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week a conference-record six times this year. How dominant has she been? Bricio has six offensive POTW honors, while the rest of the conference has five combined.
  2. Road warriors – One of just two teams in the power conferences to not have a home match in nonconference play (Oregon State being the other), Oregon has gotten used to life on the road and actually has a better record in true road matches (8-5) than it does back in Eugene (2-4). So while the Ducks got swept in Eugene by USC, they might feel more comfortable at the Galen Center.
  3. Three-tiered league – There is a very clear order in the Pac-12 volleyball standings – Four teams are within two games of each other at the top (USC is 13-1, Washington is 12-2 and Stanford and UCLA are 11-3), the middle tier of four teams is separated by one game (Arizona State is at 7-7 while Oregon, Arizona and Colorado are 6-8) and all four teams in the bottom third (Washington State, Utah, Oregon State and Cal) are all 3-11. Talk about demarcation points.
  4. When they met in Eugene (bonus note) – USC made quick work of the Ducks in Oregon, sweeping Jim Moore’s squad 25-18, 25-18, 25-16. The Trojans hit a crisp .400 in the match, including a monstrous .552 in the first set. Taylor Whittingham had 19 digs (cookin’), while Samantha Bricio had 15 kills and four service aces. Sumeet Gill had a solid outing for the Ducks, notching eight kills in 11 error-free attacks (.727).

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