No. 3 California Bear Volleyball Claws Oregon Ducks, 3-0

(EUGENE, Ore.) - The Pac-10 leading and No. 3-ranked California (20-1, 10-1) volleyball team handed No. 18 Oregon (16-7, 4-7) a 3-0 loss Saturday night at McArthur Court.

The returning NCAA regional finalist Bears avenged a 3-0 sweep at Mac Court last year with a 25-22, 25-17, 26-24 effort, thanks to a balanced attack both offensively and defensively.

“Cal is really good,” Oregon head coach Jim Moore said, “and played and hit really well. I’m more disappointed with how we came out. Even though we out-hit them the first set, we had a lack of focus at the beginning and gave away seven points early. Looking back, some of our players were trying to battle and some weren’t. I was pleased with how Kat (Fischer) did – she played really well.”

Fischer led UO in kills (14) for the team-leading 10th time this year, and hit .273. Sophomore outside hitter Alaina Bergsma added 11 kills and her sixth +.400 mark of the slate (.444).

Freshman middle blocker Ariana Williams logged her fourth +.400 mark in league play (.462, 6 kills) and shared the team high in blocks (3) with senior outside hitter Heather Meyers. The latter player added 10 kills for her 17th double-digit effort of the campaign, and climbed two spots to sixth all-time for Oregon career-wise (1,285).

Freshman setter Lauren Plum notched her fifth double-double of the season and first in three sets, thanks to her 11 digs and 38 assists.

Sophomore defensive specialist Kellie Kawasaki and sophomore libero Haley Jacob added nine and eight digs, respectively, and were among five players that ended with +6 digs with Plum (11), Fischer (7) and Meyers (6).

As a team, Cal hit .349 Saturday - .34 points higher than its season average (.315) that ranked second nationally this week, while UO hit .278 - its third-highest mark in league play behind its totals vs. Oregon State (.433) and WSU (.354) and exponentially better than its mark (.051) from the their first meeting four weeks ago in Berkeley.

In other team comparisons, Cal led in service aces (4-1), kills (48-47), blocks (9-4) and side-out percentage (70-59); UO held advantages in digs (44-37); and the two teams were tied in assists (44-44).

Golden Bear category leaders included Tarah Murrey (19 kills, 20.5 points, .302), Carli Lloyd (39 assists, six blocks) and Robin Rostratter (10 digs). Three other Cal hitters ended with +.300 marks - Shannon Hawari (.500, 6 kills, 5 blocks), Correy Johnson (.500, 7 kills, 2 blocks) and Adrienne Gehan (.312, 6 kills).

In other action around the Pac-10 Saturday, No. 8 USC won 3-2 at No. 7 Washington; and on Sunday, No. 11 UCLA plays at Washington State and No. 4 Stanford plays at Oregon State.

Next week, UO hits the road to open a three-match swing at No. 23 Arizona and Arizona State (Fri.-Sat., Nov. 5-6) and Oregon State (Fri., Nov. 12).

Source: UNIVERSITY OF OREGON ATHLETICS