Checking The Temperature Of Oregon Volleyball

Before the season even started for Oregon volleyball, we knew that we were in for a bumpy ride. With a complete reset of the team, seasonal turbulence was a given, as was no expectation of seeing postseason play. The only matter left for debate was just how rocky this season was going to be.

The non-conference slate was about as soft in terms of the opposition as you could get. This is not a criticism; these new Oregon Ducks have to start somewhere and build from scratch. The non-conference schedule was not going to provide insight into the caliber of this year’s squad. It existed merely for Oregon to discover themselves as a team.

We are beginning to get a feel for how these Ducks will fare in conference play. Last weekend’s road trip provided some clues as to how much work Oregon volleyball has in the weeks ahead. As would be expected, the seasonal overall statistics do not show the issues that Oregon’s games against Illinois and Northwestern showed.

On offense, the categories where the Ducks are lacking are Errors (Oregon 40, Opponents 24) and Hit Percent (.250 to .350). Oregon is even in numbers of kills and has had more kill attempts.

The Ducks are even in (offensive) Sets, 96 to 95.

Oregon has performed better in Serving Aces, 16 to 12, but their Service Errors are killing them. The Ducks are committing twice as many service errors, 31-15.

Oregon’s struggle on defense shows up primarily in two categories. They are not digging well. with 79 Digs to 92 for their opponents. They are also not blocking quite as well, 14.0 Blocks to 17.0.

The numbers are problematic; even more so, given that Oregon has not yet faced any of the best teams in the Big Ten. The Ducks know this better than anyone else. After all, the players are the ones literally feeling their growing pains. It’s fair to ask, however, whether Oregon has a conference win in them and against whom the Ducks might secure a victory.

It will be a couple of weeks before Oregon faces the gauntlet of top teams that they likely will struggle against to be competitive: Minnesota, Penn State, UCLA, Wisconsin, and Nebraska. Wins will have to come from elsewhere – but where, exactly?

Let’s look at the teams in the Big Ten, other than Oregon, that also have two conference losses:

Maryland (7-5, 0-2 B1G). The Terps were swept by Iowa and #1 Nebraska.

Ohio State (3-7, 0-2 B1G). The Buckeyes lost in 5 sets to #24 UCLA and were swept by #17 USC.

Rutgers (9-5, 0-2 B1G) Rutgers played a soft non-conference schedule, same as Oregon. They were swept by #7 Wisconsin and #10 Minnesota.

Washington (5-7, 0-2 B1G) The Huskies were swept by #13 Purdue and (#27) Indiana.

Michigan (11-3, 1-2 B1G) The Wolverines played a soft non-conference schedule. They were swept by Nebraska and Michigan State.

All of these teams, unlike the Ducks, have played at least one AVCA top-25 team. At face value, there may be two or three wins to be had from this group. It’s also possible that there are no wins to be had here. There is still a sizable middle field in the Big Ten, and we’ll start seeing separation in the next few weeks. The Ducks may be able to get a win from that group, but in order to do so they will have to improve their defensive fundamentals.

Getting that first win has some urgency this weekend, when the Ducks host Iowa tonight and Ohio State tomorrow night. Wins will be scarce after this weekend, so Oregon needs to take that step in improving their game and give themselves some confidence against the difficult opponents to come later in the season. The Ducks need to find a win tonight or tomorrow night.