Volleyball Celebrates Senior Day With Another Top-25 Win
by Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
EUGENE, Ore. — The Oregon volleyball team made it three straight over ranked opponents Sunday, beating No. 25 Southern California in four sets, 25-23, 23-25, 25-13, 25-22 in Matthew Knight Arena.
How It Happened: The Ducks and Women of Troy split two evenly played sets to start the match, but Oregon dominated the third set and then pulled away in the middle of the fourth to take the match. The Ducks benefitted from a career day by junior hitter Martenne Bettendorf, but they also displayed outstanding teamwork in winning every extended rally over the course of the afternoon.
The Ducks trailed in the first set before a Bettendorf kill tied it 17-17. That came during a four-point UO spurt that was the longest for either team to that point, and Bettendorf capped another three-point run with a kill at the end of a long rally for a 22-18 edge. Bettendorf later finished off the set with yet another point.
After USC pulled away from a 22-22 tie to win the second set, Oregon came back from halftime with renewed vigor and dominated the third set. Frankie Shebby capped a five-point UO rally with a kill to put the Ducks up 10-6, and USC never led again in the set. The Ducks scored the final seven points, with Bettendorf again finishing off a set with the kill. In the fourth, Liz Brenner gave Oregon the lead for good with a kill for a 14-13 advantage. The Ducks were up 23-18 when USC mounted one final flurry, but a service error clinched the match for Oregon.
Who Stood Out: Bettendorf finished with a career-high 22 kills, one better than her total on Halloween night against California. She came up with timely kill after timely kill, hitting an outstanding .419 for the match. Athletic freshmen Shebby and Taylor Agost each added 11 kills, and Brenner celebrated senior day with her 17th double-double of the season, on 10 kills and 16 blocks. Amanda Benson kept a number of Oregon rallies alive with athletics digs before finishing the night with 21.
Quotable: "I think (Bettendorf) has got it back now. She struggled there for a couple weeks, but Mar's got it back. Great job." — UO coach Jim Moore
"I think we're playing better. (The Women of Troy) scare me so much, because they're so talented; they hit the ball so high. But we played well. I thought we played great on Friday, (and) we played well tonight. I do think we're getting a lot better. That's what kind of concerned me; we could play well and lose this match. But it didn't happen." — Moore
"The one thing people have a hard time understanding, they think they're just players that come in, that play for four years, etc. (But) these kids are my daughters. You think about the people that have been here, this is a special relationship. It's more than four years when you put the recruiting into it and all that. It's a lot. I said in our 'chalk talk' before, it's getting hard doing this job, because everybody leaves you. Every year these kids go away, and it gets old. I want them to stay, and they don't let them stay." — Moore
What It Means: A third straight win over a top-25 team further strengthened the Ducks' case to host postseason play following the conclusion of the regular season next week. "There's no guarantees, but it would be difficult to have that not happen now, i think," Moore said.
Up Next: The Ducks close out the regular season on the road, at Utah on Tuesday and at Oregon State on Friday (3 p.m. PT, Pac-12 Networks).