No. 19 Bruins Fall in Three at Oregon
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EUGENE, Ore. - Junior Devon Chang posted her second double-double in a row with 14 assists and 10 digs, senior Mac May led all players with 14 kills to go with four digs and junior Zoe Fleck added 14 digs and two aces, but the 19th-ranked Bruins dropped a three-set decision at Oregon on Sunday at Matthew Knight Arena. Set scores were 23-25, 22-25, 19-25).
Freshman Allison Jacobs recorded seven kills and seven digs, junior élan McCall added seven kills and freshman Kate Lane tallied 18 assists and four digs. Freshman Iman Ndiaye had five kills and redshirt junior Emily Ryan notched four kills. The Bruins (3-1) hit .169 for the match.
The first set was a close one with 14 ties and five lead changes. The Bruins never led by more than one, while the Ducks' largest lead was four. A 6-3 run for Oregon late in the set would put the home team up 23-19. The Bruins stayed alive with four in a row on back-to-back Duck errors, an ace by senior Sabrina Smith and a Jacobs kill. But Oregon netted the final two to win the opener by a couple. May had half of the Bruins' 12 kills in the opening set. Fleck added eight digs. The Bruins were out-hit .256 to .106.
UCLA led by as much as three in set two, scoring six of the first nine on two McCall kills, a May kill and ace, an Ndiaye kill and an Oregon attack error. At 13-12, kills from Ndiaye, Smith and Jacobs during a 3-1 run again put the Bruins up by three. Oregon (2-2) reeled off five in a row to go up 18-16 and led for the rest of the set, winning the second by a score of 25-22. May had five kills, McCall added three and Jacobs and Ndiaye were both error-free with three kills each. Fleck had five digs. The Bruins were out-hit .400 to .225.
The Bruins led 1-0 and 2-1 in set three, but those would be the only leads. Oregon's largest advantage would be six on numerous occasions, with the Ducks winning the third by a score of 25-19. McCall was 3-for-9 with no errors in the third, May added three kills and Chang had four digs. The Bruins were out-hit .289 to .194.
The Bruins are back on the road next weekend for a two-match series at Washington State. The first contest will be Thursday, Feb. 4 at 6 p.m., with match two taking place on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 11 a.m.