Oregon Volleyball: Ducks Land In Sweet 16 Top Feisty Baylor

Oregon and Baylor battled into a fifth set and the Ducks and Lindsey Vander Weide pulled out the win to get to the Sweet 16.

Oregon Volleyball met the Baylor Bears Friday night for a Sweet 16 berth on the line. Thursday night Baylor came back to beat Hawaii in a five set thriller at Matthew Knight Arena. Oregon was able to get past New Mexico State. Lindsay Vander Weide was a big reason why. The Senior hit better than .350 with 11 kills against the Aggies. The Ducks would need a similar performance against Baylor.

The Oregon Ducks jumped out to an early lead with 11 kills forcing Baylor into their second timeout with a 15-6 lead. Oregon was hitting better than .700 in the first set. It was an early team effort with Ronika Stone, Lindsey Vander Weide and Brooke Van Sickle leading the way with a combined 8 kills.

Oregon held on for the first set win 25-18.

Set two was a different story as the Baylor Bears jumped out to a lead hitting .333. They took a 16-8 lead on Oregon forcing a Ducks timeout. The Ducks saw two more points from the Bears before gaining possession and giving it right back to Baylor down 19-9. Baylor won the set 25-13. The Bears his .458 in the set led by Shelly Fanning with 7 kills through the first two sets. The Ducks were tied and would need a better effort in the third set.

Oregon was off to a good start with a service ace to open the third set. The Ducks found a 4-0 serving run leading 11-6. The team was hitting .267 with six kills in the set. Oregon added to their lead for a 17-10 lead with Lindsey Vander Weide getting a key kill. Shelly Fanning was leading in the set hitting over .500 while Vander Weide was finding her stride for Oregon.

The Ducks found momentum and won the third set 25-17 to take a 2 to 1 lead over Baylor.

Oregon opened the fourth set with three straight points, two off errors by Baylor. The Bears battled back and tied the set at 6. Baylor had three services aces and took the lead 7-6 over the Ducks. Both teams were not hitting well, with service points through the first part of the set. Oregon saw to back to back points with Lindsay Vander Weide and a key block to take a 10-7 lead.

Vander Weide had back to back kills to give Oregon a 19-15 lead in the set, but a service error kept Baylor close. The Bears tied the game at 20 after a 3-0 scoring run. The Bears would win the set tying the match at two games a piece and a fifth deciding set.

Oregon found momentum in the fifth set, along with the crowd to take an 8-4 lead as the teams switched sides. The Ducks pushed their lead to 10-5 hitting .333 in the shortened fifth set. Baylor again battled to get to 13-11. Ronika Stone had the kill that sealed the win for Oregon.

For the game, Stone and Vander Weide keyed Oregon. Stone had 11 kills and 12 digs. Vander Weide had 21 kills, 12 digs, and four block assists accounting for 23 Oregon points on the night. The Ducks move onto the Sweet 16 and will travel next week to possibly take on Kentucky – the team that sent them home last year.

Oregon will first see Minnesota on Friday at 1:30 pm Pacific Time.