No. 6 USC Thrives In Five At No. 23 Oregon

Saturday, November 20

Eugene, Ore.

7:00 PM

USC

Oregon

No. 6 USC Thrives In Five At No. 23 Oregon

November 21, 2010 | Women's Volleyball

Nov. 21, 2010

Final Stats

EUGENE, Ore. - Junior middle blocker Lauren Williams (Houston, Texas/Stratford HS) tied career highs with 19 kills and eight blocks Saturday as the No. 6 USC Women of Troy defeated the No. 23 Oregon Ducks in five sets (25-19, 25-23, 21-25, 27-29, 15-9) in a Pac-10 Conference match. Williams hit .533 (19-3-30) on the Ducks' final home match at McArthur Court before moving to the Matthew Knight Arena next year.

With tonight's win, USC (24-4, 13-4) clinches third place in the conference standings and trail second-place Stanford (13-3).

Freshman outside Falyn Fonoimoana had a team-high 22 kills with seven digs while hitting .392 (22-2-51) while junior All-American Alex Jupiter added 20 kills with 12 digs while hitting .347 (20-3-49). Junior setter Kendall Bateman had 61 assists, 13 digs and three blocks as the Women of Troy hit .360 as a team.

Alaina Bergsma had 19 kills for the Ducks (18-10, 6-10) while Ariana Williams hit .370 with 15 kills. Katherine Fischer posted 18 kills and 19 digs while Lauren Plum had six kills and 66 assists.

"This weekend was part of my plan to have our team finish strong," said USC head coach Mick Haley. "I told our players that these matches are preparation for the NCAA Tournament. I think our young kids are growing up. We are struggling with a few things, especially on the right side, but Sara (Shaw) came in and did a good job for us."

It was a match of two halves as once again, USC raced out to a 2-0 lead in the match before holding off an Oregon rally. Alexis Olgard gave USC a 15-9 lead in the first set with the kill. Heather Meyers brought Oregon within three at 21-18 with the USC timeout, but Fonoimoana used a kill to propel the Trojans to the opening set win. The second set was a battle for both teams with neither team holding a lead of more than two points. At 22-22, Lauren Williams put USC ahead followed by a Fischer hitting error. Bateman then recorded a service error, but Jupiter answered with a kill to put USC up by two sets.

After Oregon celebrated with a number of its alumni during the intermission on the final night at McArthur Court, the Ducks used the momentum to get back into the match in the third set. Bergsma used a kill, followed by an ace from Fischer to put the Ducks ahead for good at 6-3. Lauren Williams got the Trojans within one at 19-18, but Fischer sparked a 6-3 run as Oregon was in business after the third set.

Similar to the second set, the fourth set was another thriller going into extra play. Shaw gave match point at 24-23 for the Trojans, but Bergsma and a hitting error by Lauren Williams swung the set back into Oregon's favor. Williams and Shaw blocked Bergsma to give USC another match point at 26-25 before Bergsma atoned with a kill to tie it. Bergsma and Fischer later went back-to-back to send the match into a fifth set.

The Women of Troy took a timeout in the fifth set, trailing by a 4-2 score after Fischer put one down for the Ducks. A 4-1 run by the Trojans put the Ducks on the defensive with Fonoimoana putting USC ahead, 6-5. Fonoimoana added two straight after that as USC held the 8-5 lead on the side switch. A block by Olgard and Bateman kept the USC advantage at three points, 10-7. Olgard's kill gave USC the momentum it needed as the 5-1 run finished off the road victory for the Women of Troy.

USC concludes the regular season next Friday (Nov. 26) in a 5 p.m. match at UCLA.

Notes: Alex Jupiter is now second all-time for points in USC history with 1,526.5 points, passing Jessica Gysin (2006-09) and Bibiana Candelas (2002-05) after tonight's match...Jupiter trails Keao Burdine (2001-04), who posted 1,689.5 points in her Trojan career...USC is now 6-1 this season in five-set matches...Lauren Williams recorded eight blocks for the sixth time in her career and tied her previous best of 19 kills, set on Nov. 14, 2009, against Washington State...Williams is now hitting .428 on the season...USC needs one more win this season to record 25 victories in a season for the sixth time in 10 seasons during head coach Mick Haley's tenure.

USC   25-25-21-27-15UO    19-23-25-29-9
Records: USC (24-4, 13-4), Oregon (18-10, 6-10)Kills: Falyn Fonoimoana 22 (USC), Alaina Bergsma 19 (UO)
Team:    USC UO1   .395    .2162   .308    .2193   .357    .5254   .333    .2615   .409    .167Match   .360    .295