Written by the Sports information department of the University of Arizona.
TUCSON, Ariz. — Down two sets to zero at intermission, Arizona volleyball stormed back out of the intermission, winning the final three sets over 16th-ranked Oregon to upset the Ducks (24-26, 16-25, 25-21, 25-21, 15-13) in UA’s penultimate home match of 2017.
“It’s nice to win a match like that, especially being down 0-2 and getting clobbered in game two,” said Arizona head coach Dave Rubio. “I am proud about how we responded to being down in the second set. It is a terrific win for us and it has been an internal battle this season. In our conference it is tough to win. You can still be really good and still lose matches; which is what we have done this season.”
Career nights from Kendra Dahlke (23 kills), Candice Denny (12 kills, .500 hitting, 7 blocks) and Makenna Martin (22 digs) led the way for the Cats. Freshman Kelly O’Neil also set career marks with 10 digs and two aces.
“It feels good,” said Denny of her career figures. “I’ve personally had a couple of rough matches, so it feels good to contribute to the team winning. We’ve both been working really hard in practice. We’re coming off of rough matches. So I think that every day we went into the gym this week, and we were determined to win. We followed our scouting report. Especially after the second set, losing those first two sets, there was a noticeable shift when we got onto the court. We were all ready to come back in.”
Julia Patterson (45 assists, 14 digs) and Dahlke (23 kills, 12 digs) posted double-doubles for the Cats.
The Cats had a season-high 74 digs in the match led by Martin’s 22, the most by any Wildcat this season. Martin was one of four Wildcats with double-digit digs.
Arizona had a season-high 10 aces in the match. Katie Smoot led the way with a career-high three while Dahlke, O’Neil and Martin had two apiece.
In the two clubs’ first meeting in Eugene earlier this year, the Wildcats took the Ducks to five sets. This time, UA finished the job. The victory was Arizona’s first in five tries in five-set matches in conference play. The victory marked UA’s second win over a ranked opponent this year and improved the Wildcats to 10-15 (4-12 Pac-12). Oregon fell to 16-8 (9-7 Pac-12).
Arizona was in control of the first set, but could not hang on to a 19-12 lead. Oregon scored 14 of the final 19 points, including four straight to end the set while fighting off two Arizona set points.
The Ducks followed with a 25-16 victory in the second set to take a 2-0 lead.
Arizona responded with a decisive victory in the third set, 25-21, to force a fourth set.
Dahlke had eight kills in the fourth set, leading UA to a 25-21 victory to force a fifth set.
The Wildcats and Ducks battled in the fifth with UA outlasting Oregon to win it, 15-13.
Up Next: Arizona hits the road for three straight matches. Up first, UA will face Colorado (Friday) and Utah (Saturday).
