After Oregon beach volleyball lost its season opener against Portland (1-4) on Saturday, the Ducks traveled to the sunny state of California for spring break and earned the team’s first win of the season in Monday’s doubleheader.

At the IVC Sand Complex in Irvine, California, Oregon began the day falling to the No. 6 Cal Poly Mustangs (15-2); however, the team later regrouped and defeated the Irvine Valley College Lasers (3-8).

In the first ever meeting between the Ducks (1-2) and Lasers (3-8), Oregon’s victory was clenched by its No. 1 duo of Lindsey Vander Weide and August Raskie on the No. 1 court, defeating IVC, 21-19, 21-18, and earning the Ducks the 3-2 match win.

The Oregon duo of Maggie Scott and Ronika Stone earned the Ducks’ first point of the day on the No. 4 court, 21-19, 21-12. The victory marked seven total wins for Scott and Stone’s pairing over the last two seasons, moving them to first on Oregon’s all-time list.

Freshman Kyra Hanawahine and senior Marine Hall-Poirier also added to Oregon’s victory with a 21-17, 21-12 win on court No. 5.

The win over IVC came after a brutal loss to the No. 6 Mustangs. In the first match of the day, Cal Poly made quick work of the Ducks sweeping them 5-0 for the team’s 13^th straight win.

Two days prior to the doubleheader, Oregon opened the 2018 season falling 4-1 to the Portland Pilots (2-3) at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon.

In the Ducks’ second season opener against the Pilots, the team earned their only point of the match in court No. 5 with a win from Scott and Stone’s 21-19, 21-11 victory over Portland’s Elizabeth Reich and McKenzie Schwan.

After Tuesday’s quick pit-stop in Disneyland, Oregon will continue its California spring break road trip and travel to the city of Long Beach, California. There they will play Long Beach State and Saint Mary’s on Wednesday, March 28 at 11 a.m. and 12:45 p.m., respectively.

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Last season, on April 7, UCLA defeated Oregon and ended the Ducks’ record 35-game winning streak. The two losses to the Bruins during that weekend’s series were two of six Pac-12 losses for the Oregon team.

Two years ago, the Ducks were knocked out of Women’s College World Series contention by UCLA in Eugene.

In the long-time series between the two schools, the Bruins lead the Ducks 82-25. But these recent years have created a rivalry. 

“I think UCLA we care more about than any other team,” Oregon senior Gwen Svekis said. “It’s always going to be a good series. If there is a weekend to get out to Jane Sanders, it’s this one that’s for sure.”

The No. 6 ranked Oregon Ducks will look for redemption as they open this season’s Pac-12 conference play against the No. 3 UCLA Bruins at home this weekend in a three-game series at Jane Sanders Stadium from Friday through Sunday.

After sweeping the Oregon Invitational last weekend, Oregon (23-4) enters Friday’s first matchup against the Bruins with a five-game winning streak and an undefeated at-home record. The team has also won every conference opener since the 2013 season.

UCLA (24-0) enters the weekend remaining one of final two undefeated teams in the country, along with the No. 1 ranked Washington Huskies. This season UCLA has run-ruled their opponents 13 times with 11 shutouts.

“Whoever wins the series is going to have a pretty big jump on everything,” Oregon head coach Mike White said. “We gotta try and change the tide here and it’s gonna be interesting to see if we can step up and win the series.”

On Sunday’s 17-1 run-rule victory over Bryant, Oregon’s quick five-run inning began with a Shannon Rhodes RBI single in the first inning. The scored run got the Ducks on the board and propelled them to blast 13 more runs the following inning.

Rhodes ended the game with two hits and combined for hitting a 0.692 over the five-game weekend with her eight RBIs, five scored runs and one homer. On Monday, she was named Pac-12 player of the week for the week of March 12, Oregon’s 69th Pac-12 player of the week award and Rhodes’ first.

In the circle, junior Megan Kleist enters conference play with 15.1 consecutive hitless innings, on top of 20.1 consecutive innings not allowing a single earned run. Sophomore Miranda Elish owns a 0.22 ERA and is ranked No.3 in the nation this season with a perfect 10-0 record. She brings in her undefeated collegiate record of 20-0 into this weekend’s anticipated conference opener.

“I think we like to challenge to be honest,” Rhodes said. “I think what we take from last year is anybody can be beaten on any given day. So, it doesn’t matter if you are 35-0 or 0-35 — just anybody can be beaten, whenever, however, and you just have to be ready to step into the flames.”

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In the top of the fourth inning the Ducks were down 6-1 to the Aggies. Oregon’s offense wasn’t getting past first base, and the team’s only run came from a Jakob Goldfarb homer in the bottom of the second.

An inning and a half later, the Ducks regained hope as they tied the game 6-6 with a sacrifice fly-out to right field from Gabe Matthews.

Yet, the momentum didn’t hold. Instead, it fell.

The Ducks had a five-game winning streak entering the series finale against the UC Davis Aggies, but the Ducks (11-4) fell 9-7 Sunday afternoon at PK Park.

“We had no errors, but we set the table for them to get batters and not execute pitches,” Oregon head coach George Horton said. “[We] did the wrong things at the wrong times … I just don’t think we played as well as we should have today.”

When the Aggies (4-8) scored three runs for a four-run lead in the top of the fourth, Oregon began a series of three pitching changes. After pitching for three innings, allowing six runs on seven hits, starter Cullen Kafka was relieved by freshman Peyton Fuller.

Fuller, who ultimately received the game’s loss, made his third appearance this season for the Ducks. In his 1.1 innings pitched he allowed two runs off of two hits and one walk.

Parker Kelly was next on the mound and struck out six batters over three scoreless innings, until Oregon pulled up their closer, Kenyon Yovan, in the top of the ninth.

“It’s a though loss,” Goldfarb said. “We wanted to come out and get the sweep today, but from an offensive perspective, putting up seven runs is never really a bad thing. That being said, I just think that our pitches need to just fill out the zone better earlier in the count.”

The Aggies also made three pitching changes; however, they took advantage of Oregon’s week defense and brought up a surge of pat power to control the bases.

“We helped them,” Horton said. “We set the table in the second inning … We didn’t have as good as discipline as I thought we needed out there pitching.”

Both teams had 11 hits, yet Oregon was unable to bring in enough runs to catch up to the Aggies after tying them in the fifth inning. The Duck’s final run came in the bottom of the eighth, from a right field hit from Taylor Travess that brought home Ray Soderman.

In the final inning, and the final chance for an Oregon’s redemption, the Aggies scored two, while the Ducks’ left the bases loaded with a final out from Soderman.

“The good news is we stayed in there and hung in there,” Horton said. “We had a chance to win or tie late in the game, and I think that’s because of our guys’ toughness and confidence. You can’t give that kind of stuff away, we’re about ready to start conference and good teams make you pay for that. Today U.C. Davis was a better team.”

Oregon will play its final game before starting conference play this Tuesday, March 13, against Gonzaga at 6 p.m. at PK Park.

Follow Maggie Vanoni on Twitter: @maggie_vanoni

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After winning the NCAA title in the DMR the night prior, the women of Oregon earned another title thanks to redshirt senior Sabrina Southerland.

In the 800-meter final, Southerland won the event in two minutes and 1.55 seconds for her first national title.

Not only was it a two-second personal record for Southerland, but the time also marks the No. 3 fastest time in Oregon history, the second fastest meet time and the sixth fastest time in collegiate indoor history.

“I have no words,” Southerland said. “I just saw a spot and was like, ‘I can go,” and then I just made a definitive move and went for it and at the straightaway was like, ‘I’m not letting go.’ … I’ve come to this meet every year since my sophomore year and never even made the final. I was just trying to do my best to follow in Raevyn’s (Rogers) footsteps and do the best I could. I’m so happy.”

For Oregon, it’s the team’s third straight NCAA indoor 800m, its fourth in the last five years.

Southerland’s record-winning 800m, highlighted the second day of the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships for the Ducks in College Station, Texas, at the Gilliam Indoor Stadium.

The women of Oregon finished fifth overall with 31 points, one spot shy of earning a team trophy. The men of Oregon tied for 13th with a total of 16 points.

“I like the way we battled,” head coach Robert Johnson said. “I like that when it was dark, dim and gloomy, we stuck to our guns and battled. We had an outstanding final day; the girls did really well and I’m very proud of them for that, and the guys did as well. I’m most proud of the way that they competed, even though we were a little short of our goal.”

Redshirt senior Sam Prakel and freshman Reed Brown started the day off for the Ducks in the men’s mile. Prakel finished third with a time of three minutes and 58.39 seconds, and Brown in eighth with 4:01.94. Both earned first-team All-America honors and seven total points for Oregon.

In the 3,000 meters, Jessica Hull and Lilli Burdon, who both helped Oregon earn the DMR title last night, placed in the top-10. Hull came in third in nine minutes, 01.96 and Burdon in ninth in a time of 9:04.62.  In the men’s race, junior James West finished in sixth place in 8:06.94 for his first ever NCAA Championship meet. Both Hull and West earned first-team All-America honors for the event.

The meet concluded with the women’s 4×400 meter relay with an Oregon team of Shae Anderson, Briyahna DesRosiers, Makenzie Dunmore and Southerland. The women placed fourth, running a season-best 3:30.00.

Concluding the indoor season, Oregon will now transition into outdoor competition, with their first meet at the Lewis & Clark Spring Break Open in Portland next weekend, March 16-17. A week later the team will travel to San Diego for the SDSU Aztec Invitational, March 23 and 24.

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For the past two seasons, the Oregon football team has been ranked within the bottom three in penalties. Last season, the Ducks ranked second to last, No. 129, averaging 9.1 penalties per game, according to teamrankings.com.

“The emphasis of the entire offseason has been discipline, due to the fact that we have to continue to work on improving our culture,” head coach Mario Cristobal said.

Saturday’s practice concluded the first week of preparation for the spring game come April 21. Today also marked the team’s first official day practicing in pads.

Among the concern of penalties, Cristobal also wants to focus on reducing the team’s turnovers. Last season, Oregon ranked 109 with an average of 1.9 turnovers per game.

For the upcoming practices, the team will start the day with a turnover tackling drill in order to key-in on those necessary improvements.

“We have been really emphasizing, that look, ‘You don’t get any medals just for trying,” Cristobal said. “Everybody is working hard during this time of year. We’ve got to address every single phase, the right way.”

With today’s first time in full gear and practicing with referees, he hopes the players will start to execute these “phases” and learn to play a cleaner game.

“We have to understand situational football,” Cristobal said. “We have to understand how certain formations, personnel groupings relate to substitutions and everything else. We got to work those details.”

In the case of penalties, he believes the problem draws back to the issues of the team’s pre-snap of the ball and its lack of focus within the moment.

The first step in finding a solution may rest in setting up identical situations in practice and improving on processes such as receiving signals from the sideline and utilizing the team’s cadence.

Cristobal wants to see players adapt to this strategy in practice while demonstrating their toughness through more than just drills.

“We’ve been making it a good point, that we have to develop an intolerance for anything less,” Cristobal said. “And when we do that as a team, our locker room, when we get to that level, where everybody is hitting on that cylinder, we’re gonna be in great shape.”

With Sunday off, the team will regroup for practice on Monday and Wednesday before taking the next two weeks off for finals and spring break.

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The women of Oregon provided a light at the end of a disappointing tunnel for the Ducks during the first day of NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships at Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium in College Station, Texas.

In the last event of the day, Oregon’s distance medley relay team of Jessica Hull, Venessa D’Arpino, Susan Ejore and Lilli Buron made history earning the DMR title.

Their winning time of 10 minutes and 51.99 seconds is the fourth-fastest time in collegiate history and the second-fastest time in Oregon’s program.

The title is Oregon’s first ever women’s DMR national title. The women’s program has now won at least one individual NCAA indoor title in five straight seasons.

“I believed in myself the whole way and we have all been working well together in practice, so I knew we could do it,” Burdon said. “I’m really happy with how we all ran today and I’m just so proud of us.”

Along with the 10 points scored for the women’s victory, the men of Oregon also scored points in their DMR.

In a team of Blake Haney, Cameron Stone, Mick Stanovsek and James West, the men  came in third with a time of 9:31.45, scoring six points for the Ducks.

“I think it’s a really easy argument to make that we’re one of the best middle-distance programs in the country with all the sub-4 (minute mile) guys we have,” Stanovsek said. “Obviously we wanted to win, so coming away with third is a little bittersweet, but we all ran our hardest and I’m proud of how we performed.”

Outside the DMR, only three of eight Oregon individuals qualified to advance to the finals.

Redshirt senior Sam Prakel won the first event of the day with his time of 4:02.65 in his semifinal heat of the mile. Freshman Reed Brown followed him in the second semifinal heat. Brown had an impressive final 100-meter kick to come from the back of the pack to finish third in 4:02.25 and also advance to the finals.

The only other Duck to earn a spot in tomorrow’s finals was redshirt senior Sabrina Southerland, who finished third in the 800m semifinal heat in a time of 2:03.57.

In the men’s mile, Stanovsek — who broke the four-minute mile barrier twice this season — tripped and fell midway through the mile’s semifinal heat. He finished the race in last place in 4:19.86, unable to advance to the finals.

Oregon will compete in six finals tomorrow, starting with the men’s mile at 2:10 p.m. and ending with the women’s 4x400m relay at 4:55 p.m.

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Oregon freshman Mary Iakopo stepped up to the plate. It was her first home game in the Oregon uniform. The bases were loaded in the bottom of the fourth.

“Just find a way to drive and run,” Iakopo says she thought to herself before making her first swing on the plate.

On the third pitch from Weber State’s Kirtlyn Bohling, Iakopo found the drive. Her bat met the ball, driving it through center field and out of the park — her first collegiate grand slam.

With the help of Iakopo’s grand slam, the No. 6 Oregon Ducks (19-4) run-ruled the Weber State Wildcats (9-12) in five innings with a final score of 9-1, for their home debut Friday night at Jane Sanders Stadium.

“We battled through and I think they were pretty juiced to be playing at home for the first time,” head coach Mike White said. “I know I’m excited to be at home. It was great to see our bottom of the lineup.”

Oregon scored its first seven of nine runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.

The Ducks made their first move with a singled bunt from Haley Cruse. When Wildcat Ashlyn Visser missed the ball at first base, Cruse took DJ Sanders’ spot on second as Sanders ran home and tied the game, 1-1.

The play satisfied White, who had brought up Cruse from the bench at the beginning of the inning in place for Shaye Bowden.

“I didn’t think our discipline was at the plate,” White said. “Bowden was doing the same things I’ve seen several weeks in a row. I talked to her about making adjustments and she didn’t make the adjustments, so it was time to make a move.”

The decision paid off. An inning later, on a Wildcat throwing error, Cruse made the final run to home from second base, giving the Ducks the final score of 9-1.

“Right now it’s like who wants it,” White said. “That’s the good thing about having several kids that are buying for a spot. Step up and get out there, and do what we need for the team.”

After Weber State grabbed an early lead from its lone run in the top of the second, the Ducks went scoreless for the next three-and-a-half innings. White then reminded Oregon’s pitcher Maggie Balint of the same message he told Bowden.

“I was getting very frustrated,” White said. “It seemed like it was de-ja-vu all over again. … I just had to come to an ultimatum. You get to a stage where she was getting hit pretty hard, it was a one-nothing game … You’re either gonna do something different or I’m gonna have to make a decision.”

The pep-talk worked, and Balint turned things around after the second inning. She ended the game with the victory, now holding a 5-1 record, allowing only one run on three hits and six strikeouts. She improved her season ERA to 1.37.

Cruse and Lauren Lindvall led the team with two runs each. The two, along with Jenna Lilley, led with two hits each. Iakopo ended with four RBIs, all from her grand slam in the fourth, and Lilley finished with three.

The Ducks will play the Wildcats again Saturday evening at 5 p.m. for their next game at Jane Sanders Stadium as part of the Oregon Invitational.

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Oregon survived the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament, barely.

The sixth-seeded Ducks (21-11, Pac-12 10-8) battled their way through an ugly first half to overcome the No. 11-seed Washington State Cougars (12-19, 4-14) in overtime Thursday night, 64-62 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

After Oregon’s worst first half of the season, shooting only 29.2 percent on seven out of 24 basket attempts, the Ducks finally made moves in the final minute of regulation play.

A Payton Pritchard layup scored the final lead for Oregon with only a minute and a second left in overtime, getting them ahead of Washington State 63-62. A Troy Brown Jr. free throw claimed the final point for the Ducks with six seconds left.

It was the team’s lone lead of overtime and its second lead change of the game. The Cougars led for a total of 39 minutes of regulation play, while Oregon only held a lead for a total of a minute and 11 seconds.

It was the first big pressure Oregon had brought onto the court the whole game.

It was a final push for tournament advancement after trailing the Cougars 24-17 at the half. 

The Oregon team started the game slow with Pritchard scoring the team’s first points almost five full minutes into the game, however; the Ducks were already down 4-0 at that point.

At most, Oregon would trail Washington State by 11 points.

At the end of the game, Pritchard led the Ducks, alongside MiKyle McIntosh with 18 points. Following behind them was Elijah Brown with 10 points. Brown Jr. led the team with 11 rebounds.

There is no doubt that Oregon will need to play better in Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup against No. 3 seed Utah, with tipoff set for 8:30 p.m., if they want to punch a ticket to Saturday’s tournament finals and a trip to the big dance.

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The No. 40 Oregon Ducks (9-4) concluded their weekend road trip falling 2-4 in Sunday’s match against the No. 42 Iowa Hawkeyes (7-5).

Oregon’s loss to Iowa is its second straight loss going into the conference play starting next week.

The Sunday morning match in Iowa City, Iowa, began with a tight battle between the Ducks and the Hawkeyes for the doubles point.

After Oregon’s Armando Soemarno and Charles Roberts won the first doubles match, 6-4, in the No.1 spot, Cormac Clissold and Thomas Laurent fell, 5-7, in the No. 2 spot which meant the doubles point came down to Stevens and Gentry’s tiebreaker set in spot No. 3.

Iowa’s duo of Jake Jacoby and Joe Tyler took the set 7- 6(8) and the Ducks entered singles play trailing the Hawkeyes 0-1.

Singles play proved to be just as tough as a battle for the Ducks. The opening sets split with each team recording three victories.

Iowa went on to take the victories in the No. 3 and 4 spots, while Laurent earned Oregon’s first point of the match, defeating Josh Silverstein of Iowa, 6-1, 6-2, in the No. 1 spot.

In singles spot No. 5, Gentry was the only other Duck to defeat a Hawkeye. His win against Jonas Larsen, 6-4, 6-4, got Oregon within one of Iowa, 2-3, and marked his 11th straight singles win, improving to 16-2 for the year.

Iowa clinched the match victory after defeating Riki Oshima, 6-3, 7-5 in the No. 6 singles spot.

Akihiro Tanaka’s single match against Kareem Allaf was left unfinished and both Stevens and Clissold lost their matches against the Hawkeyes in 6-1, 6-3 and 6-3, 6-1 respectively.

Oregon will begin Pac-12 play March 9, at 5 p.m. against UCLA in Eugene.

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At the Columbia Challenge in New York last month, Oregon redshirt sophomore Mick Stanovsek clenched his hands up in fists as the finish line tape broke apart around him.

It was a reaction of utter elation from a feeling that only comes from running a sub-four-minute mile for the first time.

Stanovsek’s first place time of three minutes, 57.90 seconds was a personal best and made him the 20th Duck ever to break the four-minute indoor-mile barrier. The mark also places him ninth on Oregon’s all-time indoor mile list.

“On the really cold wet mornings, when you’re out in the morning running on Pre’s trail and it’s muddy and you don’t want to be there,” Stanovsek told reporters after the meet. “The only thing I was thinking about was moments like those … I just kind of thought to myself, this is exactly how I pictured it. This is exactly how I thought it would go.”

Freshmen Cooper Teare and Reed Brown also joined the sub-four club at the Columbia Challenge.

In Oregon men’s program history, only 23 Ducks have ever run such an accomplishment in the indoor mile — six of them currently on this season’s roster.

This season alone, the men ran eight sub-four miles. Three of those times were fast enough to earn spots in Oregon’s top-ten indoor-mile all-time list. Redshirt senior Sam Prakel ranks third on the list with his time of 3:56.89 and right behind him sits Brown at fourth with a time of 3:57.23.

Being at opposite ends of their collegiate careers, Prakel has used his experience in the mile to help propel Brown to a successful first indoor season.

A member on both Oregon’s track and cross country teams, Prakel has raced countless miles, each one being just as hard as the last.

“You’re doubled-over after the race and it’s always the hardest effort of the year,” Prakel said. “But I think having that experience and that mental strength that you develop over the years, you get used to running at that pace.”

During Prakel’s freshman season, he came in sixth at the MPSF Championships with a time of 4:05.8. Over the course of his five years at Oregon, he has cut down his time by seven seconds.

“The way you feel in the race is something to look back on,” Prakel said. “I just remember how I felt running 4:06 and that race felt incredibly hard. I was just thinking to myself, there was no way I could break four.”

Prakel joined Oregon’s sub-four mile club at the Husky Classic on Feb. 13, 2015, coming in third with a time of 3:37.95.

Three years later at the same meet, Prakel took home the first-place title with his record time of 3:56.89. Right behind him in second place was Brown.

Brown’s mile time of 3:57.23 is not only his personal record, Oregon’s fourth-best mark and the second fastest freshman time this season, but it also ranks him 11th in the nation.

“Just with all the great athletes that have come through here, it’s just kind of unbelievable that like I’m already running some of those times,” Brown said of his spot on Oregon’s all-time list. “Being up on a list with some of those names is very breathtaking.”

Brown will join Prakel and Stanovsek competing in the mile at the NCAA Indoor Championships next weekend, March 9 and 10 at College Station, Texas.

And with his last NCAA Indoor Championship opportunity, Prakel will lead the Ducks with the ninth-best time in the nation, yet he hopes to run even faster.

“It’s hard to ever settle as a runner,” Prakel said. “You run a time and you think, ‘I could go faster.’ So, I think it’s always going to be a challenge, and I think I am always going to challenge myself to run it faster. It’s never going to be easy, but as long as I keep it fun, I think I’ll keep doing it.”

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