Ducks visit
Seattle for first time in two years; have done damage in the past
- #11 Oregon at #2 Washington | Fri, Nov 7 | 7:30PM
- Oregon State at #2 Washington | Sun, Nov 9 | 5PM
A recent Volleyblog
Seattle post (Washington volleyball on record run, will fans respond?) drew a torrent of reader comments.
As new television contracts demand live volleyball on scattered dates and times
throughout the week, many readers longed for the return of Friday/Saturday home
matches.
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| Washington's Krista Vansant (16) attacks against Oregon during an October 12, 2014 3-1 victory in Eugene -photo courtesy Shutter Geeks |
This Friday night, Washington
volleyball is back home against rival Oregon.
And, as we detailed in that blog post, the undefeated second-ranked Huskies
deserve to be the hottest ticket in town.
The match will be televised, but not on the Pac-12 Networks. You need to subscribe
to ESPNU (different than ESPN or ESPN2) to hear Karch Kiraly
and Sam Gore call the match.
Otherwise, here are five reasons to
attend the match in person:
5. POTENTIAL RECORD-BREAKER. The Huskies are 23-0. A win against Oregon sets Washington’s all-time record for wins to start the season. In both 2010 and 2012, the Ducks handed the Huskies the season’s first defeat. In 2009, an Oregon five-set victory in Seattle cost UW a share of the Pac-10 title.
4. LIZ BRENNER. Probably your last chance to see the Ducks’ remarkable outside hitter in person. A Pac-12 volleyball standout throughout her four-year career, she’s played FIVE varsity sports at Oregon: indoor volleyball, sand volleyball, track & field, softball and basketball.
3. JIM MOORE. The Oregon head coach puts on a sideline show like no other. If you attend the match in person, you’ll likely see him have animated conversations with the officials and—sometimes—his players. Moore doesn’t hide either his emotions or his opinions.
2. SEEKING REVENGE. This is Oregon’s first Seattle visit since the epic five-set match in 2012, won by the Huskies 3-2 (26-24, 16-25, 21-25, 32-30, 25-23). Thanks to the new Pac-12 schedule, one home opponent is eliminated each season, and 2013 was Oregon’s turn. The Ducks lost FOURTEEN match points in that November 16, 2012 contest, leaving some Oregon players grumbling about home-town officiating. In volleyball, however, questionable calls invariably balance out, particularly in long matches. And don’t forget that Washington star Krista Vansant left the match for good at the start of the fourth set with an ankle injury, leaving it to Gabbi Parker, Lianna Sybeldon and others to pull off the heroics.
1. IT’S THE OREGON DUCKS. Enough said.
A few more volleyball attendance numbers ...
11/07/14: CORRECTION: Chart corrected to reflect that 2012 match against Nebraska was in Omaha, not Seattle.
Here is my letter to the Seattle Times, which I hope to see in print in Sunday's Sports section:
ReplyDeleteHusky Volleyball team should be ranked #1
The undefeated Husky women's volleyball team, at 23-0, is rated #2 in the nation, garnering only one of 60 first-place votes in the AVCA poll, the rest going to 23-0 Stanford. Wanting to understand why two teams from the same conference with identical records should be treated so differently, I looked up their schedules and results. To my surprise, the scores seemed to indicate that the Huskies are the better team. For example, Washington has swept seven of the twelve matches it has played against Pac-12 rivals; Stanford has won 3-0 in only four of its thirteen conference meetings. What gives with the poll results?
The upside is that sports fans here will soon have a chance to watch, live, a battle between the two best teams in their sport. Stanford visits on the day before Thanksgiving, in what might be the match of the year in college volleyball. With enough crowd support, there's a good chance that the Huskies can make the voters change their minds as to who should be ranked number one.
Our local media does a pathetic job of covering our women's sports teams in general. Here we have this awesome team arguably 1st in the nation and all we hear about is a mediocre football team. Sad.
DeleteThe 12.07.12 match was @ Nebraska.
ReplyDeleteThanks for catching this. Correction made and posted.
DeleteAt least last night they had the largest home crowd in the Pac 12 in their 3-0 sweep with a crowd of 4,803. I was glad that the Memphis kicker hit the FG so that it did not go into overtime and who knows they maybe would have only shown 1 1/2 sets on ESPNU instead of from about 16-17 in the first set. I wish that ESPN would have more time in between their live events so that this did not happen so often.
ReplyDelete