11-28-22 Emerald Media - ODE

FALL’S HEAVY POLICE PRESENCE AROUND CAMPUS

Students say the actions of EPD’s party patrol are excessive and unfair, while EPD officials say they’re trying to avoid a repeat of spring’s parties.

THE DAILY EMERALD

The Daily Emerald is published by Emerald Media Group, Inc., the independent nonprofit media company at the University of Oregon. Formerly the Oregon Daily Emerald, the news organization was founded in 1900.

Reader Recommends

BY KRISTA KROISS

SONG RECOMMENDATION: “EVERY SHADE OF BLUE” BY THE HEAD AND THE HEART

Summary: Based in Seattle, The Head and the Heart is an indie folk band with hits such as “All We Ever Knew” and “Lost in My Mind.”

The band’s latest album,“Every Shade of Blue,” is an hour-long compilation of indie, folk songs and poetic lyrics on the ups and downs of life. The title track is the album’s opener, and is a pop folk song not far from a Mumford and Sons sound. It tells the story of loving a person through the difficulties of a relationship, or “every shade of blue.”

Recommended by: Cara Thompson, a sophomore studying business administration. “I’ve just always listened to The Head and the Heart growing up and I saw them live this summer, so it’s just a really special band to me.”

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“Dizzy Dean’s owner allegedly throws water at unhoused woman” by: Caleb Barber

(Alexis Weisend/Daily Emerald)

status against in-state rival Oregon State” by Keiji Patterson

(Liam Sherry/Emerald)

(Maisie Plew/Emerald)

Dana Altman watches the teams lack of offense in the final minutes extinguish any hopes left of winning the game. The Oregon Ducks host the #3 Houston Cougars on November 20th, 2022, at Matthew Knight Arena. (Jonathan Suni, Emerald)

Rivaldo Soares boxes out his opponent and looks for a rebound. The Oregon Ducks host the #3 Houston Cougars on November 20th, 2022, at Matthew Knight Arena. (Jonathan Suni, Emerald)

Keeshawn Barthelemy walks off the court with a disappointed look after tweaking his ankle. The Oregon Ducks host the #3 Houston Cougars on November 20th, 2022, at Matthew Knight Arena. (Jonathan Suni, Emerald)

N’Faly Dante uses his body to protect the ball from the hounding Houston Cougar. The Oregon Ducks host the #3 Houston Cougars on November 20th, 2022, at Matthew Knight Arena. (Jonathan Suni, Emerald)

Rivaldo Soares extends his arm out to contest his opponent’s shot. The Oregon Ducks host the #3 Houston Cougars on November 20th, 2022, at Matthew Knight Arena. (Jonathan Suni, Emerald)

LARGE NEW APARTMENT BUILDING FOLLOWS A WAVE OF STUDENT HOUSING DEVELOPMENT

BY JACE ANDREWS

It has been a couple months since the lot next to The 515 apartment complex, which used to house several small businesses, has been gated off and development began for a seven story student housing building called The Standard.

It is currently being built at 435 E Broadway. The 703 bed apartment building is scheduled to be ready for students to move in September 2024. The building will have over 265,000-square feet of residential area.

The Standard is expected to be bigger in both size and units than its next door neighbor, the 515 Apartments. The 515 has 186 apartment units while The Standard is planning on having 247 units. The units will range in size from studio apartments to 5 bedroom apartments.

The Standard will have many of the same amenities as some other nearby student apartments, including an elevated pool and outdoor deck. The building will have a gym, a sauna, and a computer lab. Each unit will have its own laundry machines.

The building will also have around 300 parking spaces on the property, but the monthly cost of the spots has yet to be determined.

The building is 0.3 miles from campus and will be the closest student housing to the Market District and 5th Street Market. While being close to the Market District is one of the biggest selling points for the new student housing, some students think that doesn’t matter as much.

Harlem Taylor, a sophomore living in the 515, says being close to campus is better than being

closer to the market district or downtown. “You can walk almost anywhere in Eugene because it’s not that big,” Taylor said, “I’d rather it be closer to campus.”

According to the public access city building permit for The Standard, the total cost to complete the building will be over $60 million. The permit states that two different buildings are set to be built. One building will cost almost $25 million and the other will cost $34 million.

There is not much information on what the floor plan is for the buildings, but the permit suggests that only one of the buildings will have an outdoor deck and gym.

Landmark Properties is the real estate firm in charge of the development and has more than 80 student housing properties across the nation. The CEO of Landmark Properties, Wes Rogers, spoke on the new project in a press release for The Standard.

“We are eager to welcome students to The Standard and believe that the combination of location and topnotch amenities will be well received by University of Oregon students,” CEO of Landmark Properties Wes Rogers said in a press release.

The Daily Emerald could not reach Landmark Properties’ media contact for a comment about its current project in time for this article’s publication.

The Standard is one of many developments coming close to the campus side of Eugene. The construction follows the announcement that a new 12 story student housing complex will be built on Alder street where

The Duck Store on 13th St. is also set to have a development coming soon. The five story development will be retail and dining on the first floor and mixed student housing above.

The development of student housing has already been trending upwards before The Standard too. The Unity and The Identity are two student housing apartments that opened in fall 2022. Both of these apartments are within a two block radius from each other on E Broadway. The new Hamiliton-Walton on campus dorm will also be ready to hold students in fall 2023.

As the UO student population has increased, so have student housing developments.This year alone saw a 16% increase in freshman enrollment at the University of Oregon, compared to last year, which was the largest freshman class on record at UO at the time. At this pace, the freshman class could keep increasing each year, as well.

Housing is going to get harder to find close to campus. Some students believe the goal of the new developments is to prevent a housing crisis for students moving out of the dorms. Justin Thomas, a junior at the University, says the increased development is a “necessary evil” with how big the student population has gotten.

Pre-leasing on The Standard is set to begin in September 2023, following the opening of the new on campus housing. If the freshman class continues to increase each year, the development of student housing in Eugene may increase with it.

A fourth student housing building is coming to E Broadway and is expected to be huge.

In recent years, the University of Oregon campus has undergone construction to improve facilities. Now, the city of Eugene is constructing new housing buildings to accommodate an increasing number of university students. (Marissa Willke/Emerald)

Glenwood Restaurant and a 7-Eleven.

FALL ‘PARTY PATROL’ LEADS TO AN INCREASE IN ARRESTS, CITATIONS AROUND CAMPUS

Students

negative incidents

BY CALEB BARBER, JAKE MOORE AND ALEXIS WEISEND

University of Oregon students are concerned about the actions and heavy presence of Eugene Police Department’s party patrol, an overtime enforcement effort by the EPD to curb illegal party-related activity around UO.

Students say enforcement levels have been excessive, making them afraid of the police.

In spring 2022, there were several parties with around 500 to 1,000 attendees. Police officers faced attempted assaults or were injured at some of these parties, according to EPD press releases. EPD Chief Chris Skinner said the large parties and volume of noise complaints caught the EPD off guard.

Skinner said the EPD wanted to set a tone early in the fall.

The EPD sends out press releases announcing the start of its party patrol, which wasn’t as staffed during the pandemic, Skinner said. According to EPD spokesperson Melinda McLaughlin, party patrol is cyclical, occurring in fall and again in spring.

Party patrol issued more than 200 misdemeanors, violations and arrests between Oct. 1 and 17. Almost 100 of those occurred on the weekend of Oct. 15, according to EPD press releases.

Although EPD did not put out a press release about the weekend before Halloween, students testified at a Nov. 14 Eugene City Council meeting that the actions of party patrol, especially during that weekend, were over the top. Several students recalled being handcuffed or cited as police dispersed parties.

‘I WAS TREATED LIKE A CRIMINAL’

At the city council meeting, UO junior and Phi Gamma Delta member Jack Stoutenberg said he was handcuffed by EPD officers at a party in the Phi Gamma Delta, also known as Fiji, fraternity house located on East 15th Avenue in Eugene on Oct. 28. Stoutenberg said the officers asked the

residents to come outside to be written up for an unruly gathering violation.

When not enough residents gathered, an officer said he would start arresting people for not following orders, Stoutenberg said. Stoutenberg didn’t know what was going on outside and was heading out of his room to walk a friend home when an officer stopped him, he said.

“I spent more than an hour in the van handcuffed, I was treated like a criminal and I spent the entire night in jail over an unruly gathering that I was barely part of,” Stoutenberg said.

Johnathan Bitrous, another Phi Gamma Delta member who was present that Friday night, said the police came back again at around 1:45 a.m. with a search warrant. The warrant was to locate and confiscate a stereo system in the house, according to Stoutenberg’s testimony.

Joshua Oladipo, a student who was present at Phi Gamma Delta during the search, testified to City

cite

with police that made them feel unsafe.

EPD officers shut down a party at the Phi Gamma Delta, also known as Fiji, fraternity house on Oct. 28. (Alexis Weisend/ Emerald)

Council that he and a friend who lived there had their laptops confiscated by police during the search.

Skinner said EPD is returning the laptops to the individuals.

“Technically, was it our authority to seize those laptops? The answer is yes,” Skinner said. “Was that the right thing to do at that time? The answer is no.”

After police arrested some residents of the Phi Gamma Delta house, they commanded students who did not live there to leave the party, Bitrous said, and some students received minor in possession citations as they were leaving the party.

Some of the residents who were on the property during the party were given unruly gathering citations, Bitrous said. Three of the residents were charged with criminal misdemeanors, he said.

Spencer Smith, a junior at UO, experienced a similar situation with police, who he said arrived at a party at his house at about 10:30 p.m. on the Saturday before Halloween in response to a noise complaint.

Smith said an officer told him if he didn’t get everyone who lives at the house outside as soon as possible, he was going to arrest him.

Only one of Smith’s four roommates was at the party, and Smith said he tried to explain to the officer that they didn’t know where their other roommates were. The officer wrote tickets for criminal misdemeanors for both Smith and his roommate, Smith said.

Smith was confused why the officer threatened to arrest him right away instead of asking him to shut down the party, he said.

“I wasn’t drinking that night,” Smith said. “I went out super respectful, doing everything that I was supposed to do, and I was still treated like crap.”

Smith and his roommate attended the court date on Nov. 14. The prosecutor dropped Smith and his roommate’s misdemeanor charges, instead charging each with a noise ordinance violation, leaving the students to pay $100 instead of the full $375.

A RISING NEED FOR STUDENT LEGAL SERVICES

Many students that have been cited or arrested by Party Patrol have gone to ASUO Student Legal Services, which can provide legal counsel or even represent students in court in some cases.

Andy Kraushaar, one of the three attorneys contracted by ASUO Student Legal Services, has represented many of the UO students that have been charged with criminal violations related to parties over the last three months.

“This fall, since October, has been a flood of students getting cited,” Kraushaar said. “Not only is that visible through my work with student legal services but also, regularly appearing in the courtroom, it’s not uncommon to see the 8:30 a.m. or 10:00 a.m. docket full of students.”

Kraushaar said this is his first time seeing this kind of demand in the three years since he began working with ASUO Student Legal Services. However, this kind of rise in student citations is not completely unheard of, according to ASUO Student Legal Services director and attorney Ilona Givens.

Givens has worked as a contracted attorney with UO since 1987 and has seen rises in citations and student arrests a number of times – most notably in the mid-to-late nineties and again in the early 2000s.

Givens said EPD’s party patrol efforts have continued to exist over the last 20 to 30 years, but they weren’t as intense or concentrated as they have been this fall. Citations rates normally rise during events like the football season or Halloween, and drop during periods like the summer when fewer students are on campus.

“It’s a cycle, but it’s not a predictable one,” Givens said.

are two additional offenses. The additional offenses can be any of the following: disorderly conduct, noise disturbance, criminal mischief, public urination or defecation, littering, assault, menacing, harassment, intimidation or a violation of city or state law relating to sale, service, possession or consumption of alcoholic liquor.

Eugene municipal code 4.190, which addresses consumption or possession of alcohol in public, states that the behavior is prohibited and, according to a brochure released by EPD, is a criminal offense.

There is no requirement that people cited for an unruly gathering or open container offenders are to be arrested or spend the night in jail.

“They could cite it as a crime and release them,” Givens said. “They don’t have to take them in just because they’ve cited it as a crime. To arrest them on the criminal charge is an officer’s discretionary decision.”

PARTY PATROL HAS EASED, FOR NOW

Skinner said it’s an interesting dynamic to try to be responsive to community calls for help while trying to hold people accountable to a level that doesn’t feel heavy handed.

“From time to time we hit that mark,” he said. “And sometimes we don’t hit that mark, or at least, it’s perceived that we don’t hit that mark. But that’s that constant balance that we’re always trying to think about.”

EPD responses to parties are mostly complaint-driven, Skinner said, while its response to minors in possession usually is not. Some at the city council meeting said students are too scared to call 911 in moments of crisis after seeing the actions of party patrol.

According to Givens, arrests and citations associated with heavy drinking or alcohol near campus, especially around Halloween, are not unusual. However, Givens said she has seen more active policing in these last three months.

“We’re now hearing about people being stopped, as a group, by an officer just to engage them in casual conversation and see what comes,” Givens said. In these situations, officers might be looking for the smell of alcohol, asking for drivers licenses or asking to smell what’s in a water bottle or cup, she said.

Givens said the severity of the consequences for party-related activities has caught some off guard because of local laws making loud noise and open containers criminal offenses, which is not the case everywhere.

The Social Host Ordinance, or the Ordinance on Unruly Gatherings, passed in 2013 holds people criminally responsible for hosting “unruly” gatherings. The criteria for what is considered an unruly gathering are broad, Givens said.

Unruly is defined in the ordinance as a gathering where alcohol is served or consumed and there

“What I can assure all of the students is, if you’re a victim of a crime, you’re a victim. We’re not there to cite you for the MIP,” Skinner said.

Skinner said EPD is only able to measure the effectiveness of party patrol anecdotally, but he considers the fact that Eugene hasn’t had the same level of parties as spring a success.

The overall goal of party patrol is not to deter students from drinking, but rather to disrupt the cycle of large parties that occur in fall and spring and make students mindful before they do something illegal, Skinner said.

“We’re going to have drinking. We’re going to have parties. There’s going to be underage drinking, as much as we can debate whether that’s good or bad, or just a part of the culture, we know that that’s going to happen,” he said.

Although party patrol was more assertive and visible this fall following the wave of spring parties, its presence looks similar to party patrols done before the pandemic, Skinner said. Unless things start to get out of control, EPD doesn’t have plans for party patrol past Thanksgiving, Skinner said.

“My staff is exhausted in overtime right now,” he said.

“We’re gonna have drinking. We’re gonna have parties. There’s going to be underage drinking, as much as we can debate whether that’s good or bad, or just a part of the culture, we know that that’s going to happen,”

EPD CHIEF CHRIS SKINNER said.

Students are seen at Lillis Hall on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, Ore. on September 30, 2021. (Isaac Wasserman/ Emerald)

UO MUST SUPPORT STUDENT HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVES

Opinion: The university claims to have the best academic and professional interests of its students at heart, but its promises are currently falling flat.

BY SOPHIA COSSETTE

The University of Oregon Students for Justice and Human Rights is a student-run organization fighting for the university to recognize the need for a larger emphasis on human rights on campus. Despite our progressive and liberal school identity, we don’t have a university-supported human rights organization.

For clarification, universities the size of Oregon commonly host these civil rights organizations and centers on campus. Within our own Pac-12 network, the University of Utah boasts a large center for human rights, as well as UC Berkeley and the University of Washington.

Katie Moreland, a UO law student and UOJHR member, said, “It’s really interesting how the university can profess all of this, you know, liberal and humanistic ideology, but not educationally and professionally equip students to do this type of work.”

UO’s lack of support for human rights education outside the classroom is a central problem UOJHR hopes to solve. Each year, select UO students attend workshop series hosted by The Oxford Consortium for Human Rights. According to the OCHR, these seminars teach human rights, humanitarian aid and peacebuilding with the goal of understanding and constructing solutions to today’s global issues.

The problem is the university won’t sponsor its students to attend these educational workshops. For the past few years, the group has struggled to find outside donors and funding to send students.

In January, the OCHR is hosting its “Human Rights, Activism, and Community Action” workshop in Sonoma, California, and UOJHR is requesting funds from the university to send five students. UOJHR has totaled its predicted trip

expenses and asked the school to provide $1,300 per student to cover the cost.

These programs have been transformative and inspirational for past attendees. Current UOJHR president, Josephine Kim, attended the workshop as one of the select UO students in the past. “It is no exaggeration to say that this workshop has changed the course of my educational goals and pursuits. The workshop has really made me ponder upon the question of how I can contribute to the community and by extension, to the global world,” Kim said.

UO claims to have the best academic and professional interests of its students at heart, but its promises are currently falling flat. In its mission statement, the university says, “We are devoted to educating the whole person, and to fostering the next generation of transformational leaders and informed participants in the global community.”

Despite the message, the university has not provided these resources for students to attend educational opportunities that will help yield this supposed “next generation of transformational leaders.”

UO has willingly spent over 129 million dollars for its athletic program just this year, but the concept of forking up a couple of thousand dollars for an educational seminar on human rights is met with opposition. If this doesn’t blatantly demonstrate where our school’s priorities lie, I’m not sure what does.

The first and foremost purpose of universities should be to provide students with the best educational opportunities possible. And, if UO truly wants to prepare us as students to be “informed participants in the global community,” it will support and fund the needs of the UOJHR.

Human rights initiatives encompass all the

work our “liberal” university claims it strives to accomplish. “Civil activism, civil rights, racial justice, climate justice, gender, sexuality, et cetera, et cetera. These are human rights… and really it’s the bare minimum,” Moreland said.

There are countless student organizations on campus fighting the good fight and working to combat these countless issues, from social justice to climate change and environmental activism. And the UOJHR hopes to create a place where all these groups could combine their causes and work in unison to combat these issues in addition to seeking school funding.

UOJHR member and global studies senior Krystal Rosas-Avelos said, “I want a hub. You can go to a Latinx thing, or you can go to an African American thing. But they don’t all talk to each other. There’s not that integral human rights communication.”

While student affinity groups are amazing for creating safe spaces and inclusivity, activism is most successful when it’s intersectional.

“If it’s a universal human right, we’re all involved, and we’re all responsible, and we all have to advocate,” Moreland said.

A space where UO students can come together to fight for an overall goal of achieving human rights and justice is necessary for creating true progress both on our campus and community.

This is what UOJHR ultimately hopes to accomplish in addition to funding, but it needs the university’s full support and recognition for this plan to become a reality. Because, as UOJHR president Kim said, “the university talks a lot about doing all this good stuff, but they aren’t actually doing it.”

DUCKS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

BEAT SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY DESPITE INCONSISTENT PLAY

Oregon’s goal going into Monday’s basketball game was to play consistently. The Ducks were successful in that task in the first and third quarter but fell short in their goals in the second and fourth. The Southern Utah Thunderbirds were Oregon’s strongest competitors yet this season. The Ducks ended on top 66-54, their smallest margin of victory so far.

The Ducks’ lack of consistency and intensity throughout periods of the game caused them to be outscored 21-7 in the fourth quarter. This included an 11 point run by the Thunderbirds making the score closer than it should have been.

“We started out really strong in the third and I think we can work harder in the fourth and finish out games stronger,” Te-Hina Paopao said.

With a large majority of the team composed of freshmen and the whole team coming off

BY EMMA LOGAN

and on the bench, some of that lack of intensity throughout the entirety of the game comes from the younger players figuring out the game during the early season.

“Through three quarters we played relatively well and we were close to being on pace to what we normally score,” head coach Kelly Graves said. “We just let it get away from us.”

Paopao was the strongest player in the Oregon lineup. As one of the few veteran older players on the team, she is starting to grow into that role as the season gets into full swing. Paopao led in scoring with 17 total points and added on four assists.

“Te-Hina played a really great game tonight and it was under control the whole time. She’s been doing that for us all year,” Graves said.

Southern Utah came in strong and gave Oregon a level of intensity that it had not yet seen in the

four games previously. SUU totaled 41 rebounds while Oregon had 33.

“For the first time this year we got out worked and out rebounded,” Graves said. “That was a little disappointing.”

Moving forward, Oregon will need to take some of the lessons learned from this game and apply them to the games moving forward. This weekend the Ducks begin the start of a tough month-long schedule.

“Sometimes we go through lapses where we’re high and then we’re low so the biggest thing is just trying to keep the energy high,” Chance Gray said.

Gray and Grace VanSlooten both each had 12 total points and three assists.

The Ducks will have their first big test against a ranked team this Thursday when they take on the No. 8 ranked North Carolina team.

Chance Gray (2) looks back as her shots makes it through the hoop. The Oregon Ducks host Carroll College for an exhibition match on October 28th, 2022, at Matthew Night Arena. (Jonathan Suni, Emerald)

Oregon lacked overall intensity and effort in a 12 point win over SUU

PERFORMERS LOOK FORWARD TO THE UO HIP HOP JAM

The UO Hip Hop Jam is returning to Global Scholars Hall on December 1. The event will take place in the Great Room (123) from 6:30 p.m. until 10 p.m. It will feature a variety of artists along with student dance groups. The event is hosted by K.I. Design and there will be a live painting by Tasko. The show is open to the community and offers free admission to all.

Several performers from last year’s Hip Hop Jam will be returning this December. Justice Gbada decided to return because of the great energy in the crowd and the positive experience he had last year. He was also able to connect with some of the artists and looks forward to meeting the new artists joining this year.

“It was just really fun,” Gbada said. “It’s the reason why I’m doing it this year—because I really thought it was a great experience for everyone to come to.”

The event will also feature some new performers. Among them are ePP and Kunu Bearchum. ePP released his new album, Fold, just last month. At the UO Hip Hop Jam attendees can expect to hear a variety of tunes from him. In his music he draws inspiration from personal experiences.

“I talk a lot about my past and stuff I’ve gone through,” he said, “that’s what kept me going and kept me motivated—the amount of loss I’ve experienced, the amount of heartache I’ve experienced. But also it’s given me an ability to

BY ROMIE AVIVI STUHL

really appreciate everything more.”

ePP looks forward to sharing his music with the UO community. Through his music he hopes to help the audience find confidence in themselves.

“What I want people to feel is just confidence,” ePP said, “my music is very genuine—if I’ve talked about it, I’ve done it, I’ve experienced it.”

The performers come from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. In creating music, many of them draw inspiration from their life and community. Bearchum is part of the Ho-Chunk Nation and Northern Cheyenne tribe. He includes Native American rhythms, vocals and words in his music in order to honor his Native American heritage.

“I feel like I have this kind of responsibility to represent Native American people,” he said. “Through my hip-hop music I want to share another aspect of modern tribal identity.”

Bearchum’s music features a blend of pain and love. His latest album was inspired by his love for his wife, their son and his heavy experience at Standing Rock in 2016. In April of 2016 protests began against the Dakota Access Pipeline due to the threat it poses on sacred native lands.

“That feeling of powerlessness and not having any freewill to express without feeling like you were gonna get hurt or killed,” Bearchum said. “That kind of pain that came from there, that’s the shell around the music. But inside it’s about love.”

Along with vocal performers, the UO Hip Hop

Jam will also feature two student-run dance clubs. Ava Chand, a member of Duck Street Dance Club, was involved with the Hip Hop and Politics of Race FIG last year. Each year, students in the FIG, led by Andre Sirois, work on organizing the event throughout the term.

“That was honestly the highlight of my year last year,” Chand said. “I loved being in the FIG and I loved being able to perform at the hip hop jam. It was super fun.”

This year, Chand looks forward to performing her choreography for Tints by Kendrick Lamar and Anderson Paak along with her teammates from Duck Street Dance Club.

“The performers feed off of the audiences’ energy” Chand said “we want [the audience] to give us that energy so we can embody it as well.”

Artists are enthusiastic about the mesh between music and dance on stage. They look forward to the atmosphere dance creates.

“I’m super excited because it’s always full of people who are ready to dance,” Gbada said, “I love to see that there is dance attached to it. I think that’s super important for hip hop.”

People attending the event should be prepared for a night full of high energy and good vibes. More information can be found on the UO Hip Hop Jam website.

Artists and University of Oregon students are preparing for the 9th Annual UO Hip Hop Jam. They are excited to bring attendees high energy, quality entertainment, and great performances.

A performer holds a one-armed handstand. The Duck Jam, a celebration of hip-hop culture and dance, took place on June 1st, 2022, at the Dougherty Dance Theatre in Eugene, Ore. (Molly McPherson/Emerald)

OREGON EXTENDS SCHOOL

OREGON EXTENDS SCHOOL RECORD

TO

TO 11 STRAIGHT WINS AFTER A FIVE-SET WIN AGAINST USC

Ducks libero Georgia Murphy (10) serves the ball. University of Oregon Womens Volleyball take on the Colorado Buffaloes on Oct. 23, 2022 at Matthew Knight Arena. (Maddie Stellingwerf/Emerald)

Ducks demolish on the court, solidifying second place in Pac12 rankings

BY NINA-GRACE MONTES

Down 22-24 in the second set, Daley McClellan ran far behind the service line, preparing to serve. When she ran and threw the ball up, the Trojans were composed, ready to finish the match. As their outside hitter jumped to send the ball back over, outside hitter Mimi Colyer and middle blocker Karson Bacon built a wall and survived the second match point. Regardless of losing the second set, Oregon started to look like their typical selves.

When the Ducks are in sync, they look like poetry in motion. Once they turn that switch on, they’re hard to beat. After losing the first two sets to USC, Oregon pulled off a reverse sweep, the second one

this week, and set records while doing it.

Colyer had a career high 29 kills. Hannah Pukis tied her career high of 62 assists all while extending the Ducks’ win streak to 11 and staying undefeated at home.

“We talk a lot about gelling as a team,” Pukis said. “And so that cohesiveness is what makes us so good, what makes us able to come back like that.”

Each player on the court knew the significance of today. USC is on the verge of being eligible for the NCAA tournament. Oregon is on the brink of first place, which makes the team qualified for the Pac-12 Championship — the first in school history.

Oregon has only lost three conference games all season, and one of them was to USC. Despite the Trojans being unranked, they’re still ranked fourth in the Pac-12, one of the best volleyball conferences in the nation.

Building off that momentum that came to the Ducks late in the second set, they came out hot in the third. Early on, they put together a scoring run and had a three point lead. USC stayed competitive, inching closer to taking the lead and even tying it a few times, but was only able to take a one-point lead once during the set. Oregon scored four straight points at the end to avoid

being swept.

When the teams switched sides, Oregon started out with three straight points. USC was able to score points here and there, but the Ducks couldn’t be stopped. They took a seven point lead, the largest of the day, and held the Trojans to a .091 hitting percentage. Oregon won set four easily and forced a fifth.

There were a lot of long rallies that forced players

outside of court lines in the final set. The Ducks scored four in a row before a media timeout was called. Afterwards, USC challenged a touch call and was able to tie the match at 10. Ulmer was forced to call a timeout in an attempt to stop the Trojans’ momentum. His strategy worked as Oregon held USC to two points after the timeout and won the game.

“We really try to go one point at a time,” Ulmer said. “You can see why we need to. We can go on

huge runs against really good teams if we focus in. We are our best selves when we do that.”

The Ducks now have sole possession of second place, right behind Stanford who has only lost one game in conference play — against Oregon at the beginning of the season. As the regular season finishes up next week, the Ducks will know their fate in the NCAA tournament on November 27 during the selection show.

Ducks huddle together after scoring. University of Oregon Womens Volleyball take on the Colorado Buffaloes on Oct. 23, 2022 at Matthew Knight Arena. (Maddie Stellingwerf/Emerald)