To get a sense of how much higher the expectations are for the No. 12-ranked UO volleyball team in 2018 than they were in 2017, look no further than how head coach Matt Ulmer responded to an opening weekend loss to the Texas Longhorns.
In 2017, Ulmer’s first year in charge of the program, the Ducks hit .159 against number-1 Texas in a 3–1 loss during the VERT Challenge, and he commented afterward, “I thought we showed a lot of character in this match. . . . I’m proud of the way we responded in some tough situations.”
This year, the Ducks lost by an identical score to the same opponent in the same season opening tournament, but saw their hitting percentage against the Longhorns inch up to .205. Moral victory? Not according to Ulmer.
“I thought we had our chances tonight,” he said afterward. “I’m disappointed with sets one and two. . . . I just thought we were too cautious tonight.”
Consider that lesson learned.
On September 7, the Ducks went down to Stanford for the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge, and promptly sent the No. 1-ranked Minnesota Gophers packing. The 3-1 victory was the UO's first against a top-ranked team since 2012, and could well have been a sweep: the Ducks had match point at 25-24 in the third set, but saw the Gophers come back to win 27-25.
"I think we're really good, I've thought this the whole time, but I just really wanted to see how we would compete against the best competition," said Ulmer . . . . "I think our ceiling is really high, I don't even think we're close to it, so I'm excited to see where we go from here."
The UO outhit Minnesota .298–.295, had 3 more aces, 11 more kills, and 18 more assists. While they fell to the No. 5 Nittany Lions the following day, the win over the Gophers was enough to see them leap six spots in the AVCA Coaches Poll, from No. 18 to No. 12. Only Cal Poly moved more, jumping eight spots to No. 14 after handing No. 9 UCLA its only losses of the season.
Four players notched double-digit kills against Minnesota, with Ronika Stone leading the way with 19, followed by Willow Johnson and Lauren Page with 16 apiece, and Lindsay Vander Weide with 14. Stone also led all players in hitting percentage with a .615 clip on the night, while Page hit a tidy .324. August Raskie's 66 assists were 12 more than Minnesota had as a team.
On September 10, the Pac-12 announced UO libero Brooke Nuneviller as the Freshman of the Week, after the newcomer led all players with 28 digs against Minnesota, and led the Ducks with 16 against Penn State. Her 4.65 digs per set average is the third-best in the conference.
The Ducks are now 5-3 on the season with the conference opener looming on September 20, but those three losses have come against No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Texas, and No. 5 Penn State. Against teams not in the top 25 they have been nothing short of ruthless: Arkansas-Pine Bluff only scored more than 10 points once in a 25-10, 25-13, 25-7 loss, while Utah Valley was the only team to score more than 20. The UO's four unranked opponents averaged just 14 points a set against the Ducks.
This season’s roster is loaded with veteran talent, and a number of players are among the nation’s best at their positions. When combined with the fourth-best signing class in the country, the Ducks are as deep as they are skilled; it’s little wonder they were picked to finish behind only Stanford and USC in the Pac-12’s preseason coaches’ poll.
“This team is more well balanced offensively and defensively [compared to last year],” said Ulmer. “A lot of people are digging balls up, and that part is different. We ran a 6–2 in the past and we’ll run just one setter this year. We’ll try to get our middles the ball more. As we get more experienced, we’ll see how we do.”
Leading the way so far has been senior middle blocker Sumeet Gill. Gill has been on a tear, and her .541 hitting percentage going into the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge was the second-best mark in the country. Her 60 kills are good for fourth on the team, while she also ranks second in blocks with 24. Gill—who hit an even .400 against the defending national champion Cornhuskers—was particularly outstanding in the Oregon Classic, hitting .622 for the tournament, including an .857 mark against UAPB.
And for all that, she wasn’t even named tournament MVP.
Unfortunately for Gill’s trophy shelf, but fortunately for the Ducks, senior setter August Raskie has also been red hot to start the season.
Raskie, who spent her summer with the US Collegiate National Team in Croatia, averaged 12 assists per set during the Oregon Classic, and after averaging an unbelievable 16.5 against Minnesota, is now at 12.73 on the season, tops in the Pac-12 and one of the best averages in the nation. A triple threat, Raskie is also second among Pac-12 setters with 21 kills, and is tied for 17th among all conference players with eight aces. That number is eight fewer than UO teammate Brooke Van Sickle, who is second in the conference with 16, but leads the Pac-12 averaging 0.62 per set.
Johnson 's 86 kills lead all Ducks, while right behind her with 83 is fellow senior Ronika Stone. Splitting middle blocker duties with Gill, Stone leads the team with 29 blocks through eight matches, and her 1.12 blocks per set average is good for 13th in the Pac-12.
Senior outside hitter Lindsay Vander Weide has moved inside the UO’s career top 10 list in points scored and is on pace to move into the top 10 in kills by the end of the season, though the biggest barrier to reaching that mark may just be herself. A PrepVolleyball.com College All-American Honorable Mention last year, Vander Weide is as physically gifted as they come, but lacks consistency—her .145 hitting percentage is only seventh-best on the team, and she was replaced in the starting lineup by freshman Brooke Nuneviller in the final match of the Oregon Classic. She excelled against Minnesota though, hitting .279 with 14 kills against the nation's top-ranked team, but hit just .056 against Penn State, though she was second on the team with 9 kills.
Nuneviller, who has played with the USA Youth National Team each of the past two years, has appeared in every set so far this season and looks composed and mature beyond her years on the back line. Wearing the libero jersey for five of the six matches, she leads the team and ranks seventh in the Pac-12 in digs with 121.
“Brooke Nuneviller is really solid,” Ulmer said. “She does her job really well, and that’s what I want from all of them—do their jobs. If they do that, then the team will work well. Brooke does that really well, and that’s a position that’s been up for grabs this season. I’m proud of the way she’s playing.”
Fellow freshman defensive player Camryn Tastad is also vacuuming up everything that comes her way, and in addition to appearing in every match as a defensive specialist, took over libero duties against UAPB when Nuneviller replaced Vander Weide on the outside.
One new face who is no stranger to the rigors of NCAA volleyball is junior outside hitter Taylor Borup. Borup, a native of Leesburg, Virginia, started 12 matches over two seasons for the University of North Carolina before moving to the West Coast to play for the Ducks. The 17th-ranked player in the nation coming out of high school, Borup was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team in 2016, but left the Tar Heels program after an injury-plagued sophomore campaign in 2017.
So far this year she has appeared in five matches, and sits sixth on the team in points per set with 2.00 as she gets up to speed with the UO offense.
One person who will not be joining Borup on the court is sophomore Jolie Rasmussen. Rasmussen, a two-time All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention honoree, missed the first part of last season recovering from an injury, but still finished fifth on the team with three double-doubles. However, Rasmussen is redshirting the 2018 season after undoing off-season surgery.
The UO’s depth is such that three of the five members of the number-four-ranked recruiting class are likely to redshirt this season. Setter Kylie Robinson, the highest-ranked recruit in program history at number eight in the nation; middle blocker Karson Bacon, one of the top 15 recruits in the nation and an Under Armour First-Team All-American; and middle blocker Chandlar Duff, a member of one of the country’s top five clubs, will all likely spend the 2018 season watching from the sidelines.
“[The newcomers] will challenge our returners all season long,” Ulmer said. “They make our other side that much better in practice, they’re raising the level of play overall. I expect big things for the future.”
The final new face in green and yellow this season is assistant coach Erika Dillard. Dillard coached with Ulmer at Long Beach State, primarily working with middle blockers, and under her tutelage seven 49ers earned All-American honors. The American Volleyball Coaches Association’s “30 under 30” award-winner in 2014, Dillard teamed with Ulmer to lead the 49ers to the NCAA National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship in 2013. As a player, she helped lead the 49ers all the way to the NCAA national championship game in 2001, where they lost to Logan Tom’s Stanford team.
“Erika’s probably my best recruit ever, as a coach,” said Ulmer. “She’s everything you want in an assistant coach. Her experience as a student athlete is fantastic, and she’s a really strong female presence to have around our student athletes—they can go to her for anything. She’s fantastic, we’re so lucky to have her.”
Want to learn more about this year’s team? Join fellow UOAA members at this fall’s Member Appreciation Night on September 21, where Matt Ulmer will be the featured speaker.
- Damian Foley, assistant director of marketing and communications