Bacon Named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week

EUGENE, Ore. – For a second time this season, Karson Bacon is the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week. The senior middle blocker averaged 2.00 blocks per set in a pair of sweeps and helped No. 6 Oregon to a pair of wins during the opening week of conference play.
 
Bacon had a season-high eight blocks in Sunday’s straight-set win at UCLA. The performance marked her fifth outing of the year with six or more blocks and fell just one shy of her career high. Bacon also had six kills and no errors on nine swings against the Bruins and accounted for 10.5 points, another season high.
 
The Ducks held UCLA to a -.021 hitting percentage, a new season best for the UO defense. Over the two matches to start Pac-12 play, Oregon held its opponents—Oregon State and UCLA—to a .000 combined efficiency figure.
 
In the conference opener, Bacon contributed six kills (.444) and four blocks in a sweep of the Beavers in front of a record crowd of 7,334 fans at Matthew Knight Arena.
 
Bacon moved from ninth to fifth in the Pac-12 rankings with 1.32 blocks per set. With her final block in Sunday’s match, a tandem stuff with Hannah Pukis to give Oregon a match point, Bacon registered the 400^th block of her career. She is the eighth player in program history to hit that milestone.
 
The Fontana, Calif., now has three Pac-12 weekly honors on her career resume. Bacon also becomes the first UO player to earn two Defensive Player of the Week honors in the same season.
 
Collectively, the Ducks averaged 16.83 digs per set, 4.00 blocks per set and served up 12 service aces in two matches this past week. Individually, Morgan Lewis and Kara McGhee each had 11 blocks this past week while Gabby Gonzales averaged 4.33 digs per set just ahead of Pukis and Georgia Murphy at 4.00 digs per set.
 
Oregon return to Matthew Knight Arena to host Washington on Friday at 6 p.m. and No. 7 Washington State on Sunday at 12 p.m. Season tickets, starting at just $54, are available through the UO ticket office or by clicking HERE.
 
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