Weekend Update: Ducks Compete Across Nation

Oregon sports teams were in action from coast to coast this past weekend as the Spring sports season reached ludicrous speed. Here’s a brief review of the Ducks results.

Acrobatics & Tumbling

The Acrobatics & Tumbling squad pushed their season record to 3 - 0 with a 257.055 to 253.745 home victory over Gannon University. Gannon is a Division II school located in Erie, Pennsylvania. Their Women’s basketball team recently received a #2 seed into the Atlantic Regional of the NCAA Tournament.

The Ducks got off to a nice start in the Compulsory portion of the contest, winning Acro Heat and Tumbling Heat by significant margins to lead 38.150 to 36.35. Gannon came back to win the straight Acrobatics section, winning the 5, 6 and 7 element competitions and the overall points 28.50 to 27.850. Gannon also won the Pyramid competition, coming from behind. After the teams tied the Inversion portion at 9.80, the Ducks won Synchronized 9.85 - 9.75, but Gannon outscored the Ducks in the final, Open, portion by 9.80 to 9.60 to take the Pyramid overall by 29.35 - 29.25.

Heading to the final 3 events, the Ducks maintained a slight lead. Gannon continued to chip away, winning the Toss segment 28.90 to 28.15, showing particular quality in the 450 Salto part of the event. The Ducks, though, would finish strong, running up a huge scoring advantage in the Tumbling - 56.825 - 54.225 and then winning the team event 76.83 - 76.42.

The Ducks next face their toughest opponent of the season as the Baylor Bears come to Eugene for a Wednesday, March 8 matchup. Baylor is also 3 - 0, having defeated both #15 West Liberty and #14 Presbyterian College by wide margins.

Beach Volleyball

The Ducks had a tough weekend at the Pac-12 South Invitational against a stacked field. The Ducks went 0 - 4 overall and won only 2 matches out of 20 played. Oregon lost to #1-ranked UCLA ,#12 Cal and #16 Washington by 5 - 0 scores. Their best outing was against #17 Arizona on Saturday. Oregon won the first 2 matches on the day, giving them a chance to close out the Wildcats with 1 victory in the last three. But the Ducks suffered straight-set losses in all three and dropped the match 3 - 2.

Next weekend, the Ducks travel to Honolulu, Hawaii for the Queens Cup where they will again face Washington and other tough opponents.

Women’s Golf

The Ducks traveled to golf mecca Hilton Head, South Carolina early last week to compete in the Darius Rucker Invitational. Oregon struggled a bit on the Long Cove Club, unable to improve much on a slow start in the first round. Oregon’s team scores for the first 2 days were 295 and 297. The #3-ranked Ducks ultimately had their best round on the tournament’s final day, shooting a one-over-par 285 to finish 9th overall out of 17 teams.

Ashleigh Park led Oregon with an even-par tournament score of 213, going 70-72-71 over the three days and tying for 4th place overall. Hsin-Yu (Cynthia) Lu tied for 16th with a 4-over 217. Briana Chacon tied for 40th.

The Ducks are now off until the PING/ASU Invitational, held in Phoenix, Arizona March 24 - 26.

Women’s Tennis

The Ducks opened Pac-12 Conference play against the Arizona schools last weekend, ultimately earning a split decision. Oregon dominated Arizona on Friday, winning the Doubles point and then winning 3 of 4 singles matches for the overall 4 - 1 victory. Sophie Luescher, Jo-Yee Chan and Uxia Martinez Moral scored singles points for Oregon, each overcoming the loss of a set along the way.

Oregon had a tougher go against ASU on Sunday. The Ducks couldn’t get anything going against the Sun Devils, dropping all three Doubles matches to give up that point and then three straight singles matches to lose by a 4 - 0 overall match score.

The Ducks have a week off before facing Colorado and Utah in Eugene March 17 and 19.

Lacrosse

The Oregon Lacrosse team also went East this past weekend, playing games against the US Naval Academy and George Mason. In Friday’s game against the Midshipmen, the Ducks played a very competitive match for 3 quarters. After dropped the first quarter 4 - 1, the Ducks outscored Navy 4 - 3 in the second quarter on two goals from Gabby Cleveland and one each by Morgan McCarthy and Alyssa Wright.

Oregon ran into trouble in the third quarter, however, and were outscored 4 - 0 in the period to fall behind 11 - 5. Navy piled it on in the fourth quarter, scoring 4 more goals before Oregon could answer. Trailing 15 - 5 and with the game out of reach, Oregon went on to score 4 straight goals to close the final score to 15 - 9. Taylor Haley, Riley Taylor and Bailey Smith all netted for the Ducks late in the 4th and Cleveland scored her 4th goal of the game.

On Sunday at George Mason, the Ducks had their best offensive outing since their first game of the season. Scoring at least 3 times in each quarter, Oregon beat the Patriots 16 - 10. The game was close in the first quarter, as Oregon got early goals from Rachel Pallo and Katie Collins and a late one from Mara Zajac to lead 3 - 2 at the break.

Oregon really found its scoring rhythm in the second period as Morgan McCarthy scored 3 times in the first 3:15 and the Ducks defense clamped down on George Mason. Oregon held the Patriots to just 2 goals in the quarter, and Haley Taylor and Anna Simmons added goals for the Ducks to close out the half ahead 8 - 4.

Oregon continued its assault on the Patriot goal in the third quarter, scoring 5 more times and again holding George Mason to just 2 goals. Gabby Cleveland, Alyssa Wright, Zajac, Bailey Smith and Pallo all scored for the Ducks in the third and the team went into the final quarter leading 13 - 6. In the 4th, the Ducks closed out the game with 3 more goals in less than 2 minutes at the start of the quarter. Riley Taylor, Haley Taylor and McCarthy’s 4th goal of the game put Oregon up 16 - 6. McCarthy has now scored 12 goals on the young season and is the Pac-12’s leading scorer. The Ducks defense let up and George Mason scored 4 straight to provide the final score.

The Ducks open Pac-12 Conference play with home games against the Bay Area schools on March 17 and 19.