EUGENE – Two days before its home opener, the No. 13 University of Oregon volleyball team (6-0) climbed four more positions in Monday’s second AVCA Coaches Poll of the regular season.
The Ducks were one of five Pac-12 schools spotted Monday in the top 15 overall with returning national champion and No. 3 UCLA, No. 5 USC, No. 7 Washington and No. 8 Stanford.
Among those rankings, Washington and Stanford improved five and one positions, and UCLA and USC held steady.
Among other Duck foes, No. 19 Kentucky fell nine spots; California dropped one position out of the top 25 and received votes with Ohio State; and St. Mary’s picked up votes in the preseason and first edition.
For comparison’s sake, last week’s Pac-12 rankings follow: No. 3 UCLA, No. 5 USC, No. 9 Stanford, No. 12 Washington, No. 17 Oregon, No. 25 California.
Overall during head coach Jim Moore’s eight-year tenure, Oregon has now been ranked top 25 for 77 editions (2012-3; 2011-14; ’10-13; ’09-16; ’08-16; ’07-13; ’06-2), including 41 in the top 15, and all 14 of the team’s ever top-10 honors.
The complete poll follows at the bottom of this article, and is also available at the AVCA website at the http://www.avca.org/divisions/division-one-women/polls/ URL address.
Last weekend in the Baymont Invitational, UO staked its 17th upset of a top-10 opponent under Moore with its 3-0 sweep of then-No. 10 Kentucky. The Ducks also swept Western Carolina and beat host Ohio, 3-1, in the tourney finale in Athens, Ohio.
Afterwards, All-American and redshirt senior outside hitter Alaina Bergsma claimed her second straight tourney MVP honor after she led UO in kills (5.00 p/s) and aces (6, 0.75 p/s), and ranked second in hitting (.452) and third in digs (20, 2.50 p/s).
Against Ohio, her career high 25.5 points and 23 kills stood as team season highs, and her .500 hitting mark vs. Kentucky is UO’s second-best of the season. That latter total trails only senior outside hitter Katherine Fischer’s total in the same match (.619, 14 kills) on the team season best list.
Fischer was also tabbed an all-tourney pick after she logged her second double-double of the season (and 30th career-wise) vs. Ohio (.395, 20 kills, 11 digs).
Other top Duck weekend stats came from junior middle blocker Ariana Williams (.524, 2.89 kills per set), senior Haley Jacob (3.00 digs p/s), junior setter Lauren Plum (14.22 assists p/s), and freshmen middle blockers Canace Finley (0.88 blocks p/s) and Clelia DeFelice (0.83 bps).
Looking ahead to this Wednesday, September 5, Oregon welcomes UC Santa Barbara (4-2), then hosts St. Mary’s (4-2) next Monday, Sept. 10. Both matches at Matthew Knight Arena start at 7 p.m.
Promotions-wise, the UCSB match is a Bi-Mart $3 Day (show your card at the door for the discount), and fans can also show an Arkansas State football ticket stub to get a $1 G.A. ticket.
Against St. Mary’s the Patriot Night promotion means that military that show their ID will receive G.A. tickets for $3 each for them and their family.
The remainder of UO's home schedule - all league contests - includes last year's national champion (UCLA), two more NCAA second-round qualifiers (Stanford, Washington), and two other postseason first-round advancers (Arizona, California).
Fans can order home season ticket packages and individual match tickets via the ticket link at the top of the www.GoDucks.com website, or can also visit the Duck ticket office or call (1-800-WEB-FOOT) during normal weekday business hours.
AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll - Week 2: September 3, 2012
Rank Team (1st Place Votes) Votes Record Last Week
1 Nebraska (43) 1479 5-0 1
2 Penn State (13) 1430 5-0 4
3 UCLA (1) 1351 3-1 3
4 Texas (1) 1283 5-1 2
5 Southern California (2) 1262 6-0 5
6 Florida State 1168 6-0 8
7 Washington 1079 6-0 12
8 Stanford 1070 3-2 9
9 Hawai’i 1047 5-1 6
10 Dayton 907 6-0 11
11 Purdue 890 5-1 7
12 Pepperdine 806 4-1 13
>13 Oregon 788 6-0 17
14 Minnesota 652 5-0 16
15 Florida 501 3-2 18
16 Tennessee 458 4-2 14
17 San Diego 447 3-1 20
18 Iowa State 422 2-3 15
19 Kentucky 396 5-2 10
20 Illinois 382 2-3 19
21 BYU 375 6-0 NR
22 Kansas State 345 6-0 21
23 Michigan 314 7-0 22
24 Louisville 216 6-1 NR
25 Northern Iowa 147 4-2 23
Others Receiving Votes (and appearing on two or more ballots): *Ohio State 71; *California 59; San Diego State 41; North Carolina 38; Michigan State 34; Texas A&M 14; Wichita State 10; Arkansas 4; Miami (FL) 4
Dropped Out: California 25; Colorado State 24
Next poll: September 10, 2012
DUCK ALL-TIME TOP-25 RANKINGS UNDER JIM MOORE: *2012 (3 weeks): Preseason – 20th; 8/27 - 17th; 9/3 – 13th. 2011 (13 weeks): 8/29 – 16th; 9/5 – 16th; 9/12 – 16th; 9/19 – 15th; 9/26 – 15th; 10/3 – 15th; 10/10 – 16th; 10/17 – 18th; 10/24 – 16th; 10/31 – 20th; 11/7 – 20th; 11/14 - 15th; 11/21 – 13th; 12/20 – 24th. *2010 (13): Preseason – 20th, 8/30 – 18th; 9/6 – 19th; 9/13 – 16th; 9/20 – 15th; 9/27 – 11th; 10/4 – 13th; 10/11 – 17th; 10/18 – 16th; 10/25 – 18th; 11/1 – 20th; 11/15 – 23rd; 11/22 – 24th. *2009 (16): Preseason - 14th, 8/31 - 14th, 9/7 - 12th, 9/14 - 14th; 9/21 - 7th; 9/28 – 7th; 10/5 – 11th; 10/12 - 15th; 10/19 – 12th; 10/26 – 15th; 11/2 – 14th; 11/9 – 16th; 11/16 – 18th; 11/23 – 18th; 11/30 – 17th; 12/22 – 18th. *2008 (16): Preseason - 11th; 9/2 - 13th; 9/9 - 12th; 9/17 - 12th; 9/24 - 11th; 9/30 - 11th; 10/6 - 7th; 10/13 - 6th; 10/20 - 7th; 10/27 - 7th; 11/3 - 8th; 11/10 - 8th; 11/17 - 8th; 11/24 - 8th; 12/1 - 7th; 12/23 - 9th. *2007 (13): 9/18 24th; 9/25 21st; 10/1 – 19th; 10/8 – 19th; 10/15 – 19th; 10/22 – 19th; 10/29 - 19th; 11/5 – 20th; 11/12 - 14th; 11/19 - 13th; 11/26 - 13th; 12/3 - ninth; 12/10 - ninth. *2006 (2): 10/30 24th; 11/6 24th.
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