As the No. 16 Oregon Ducks continue its hot streak, it beats Washington State in four sets.

To start the game, the Cougars quickly came out with a 2-0 lead that included a service ace. The Ducks caught up as they placed the majority of their kills down the line and Washington State struggled to recover. 

The score stayed within one, with both teams going back and forth with the lead. Elise Agi had Oregon’s first service ace of the match to break that cycle, but the Cougars went on a scoring run and forced a timeout.

Once the timeout ended, there was an immediate touch challenge call that went in the Ducks’ favor. The team was able to add a couple points to the board, but Washington State continued to add to its lead. 

After a long rally, full of dives and sprints into the stands, Oregon slowly worked on closing in on the lead, but Washington State walked away with set one 25-20.

When the teams switched sides, the Ducks did what the Cougars did to them to start the second set — start with a quick lead. Washington State started to struggle. It couldn’t land their hits and there was miscommunication on their side of the floor. 

“I think you saw two really good teams going at it,” head coach Matt Ulmer said. “This is just what happens when you have really good volleyball players on the same court. This is the playoff atmosphere that we want to be in.”

Brooke Nuneviller dove far out of bounds to save the rally, and the Ducks were able to finish it off extending their lead to nine. The Cougars were able to close the scoring gap towards the end, but it wasn’t enough. The Ducks took set two 25-21.
In the third set, the match started atypical for the day. It started off close, with alternating leads. After another service ace by Agi, the Ducks were able to build a four point lead and the Cougars couldn’t siphon that margin t. until the end of the set when Washington State went on a scoring run to make it a one point difference. After the Ducks called a timeout, they stopped the Cougars from scoring anymore, and took the third set for a 2-1 lead. 
As the Cougars showed signs of taking a big lead to start the fourth set, the Ducks took one instead. When the score was 2-0 in favor of Washington State, a few kills and a service ace led to a six point run and a four point lead for the Ducks. 
Hannah Pukis, a transfer from Washington State, had two service aces to extend their lead. In the middle of the set, WSU tied it up at 17. The Cougars took a two point lead, but after a controversial call, the Ducks built enough momentum to take the fourth set and win the game. 
Mimi Colyer, arguably one of the best freshman and volleyball players in the country, had 25 kills during the match and had the match point in the last three sets. 
Ulmer attributed a lot of Colyer’s success to her teammates saying she has great role models and that everyone is on the same page right now. They’re back in the groove they had at the beginning of the season.
“I think we are a really good volleyball team, and you’re going to have to play excellent volleyball to beat us.” Ulmer said. 

Oregon will go on the road and head to Boulder to face the Colorado Buffaloes for the last time this season. First serve will be at 6 p.m. and will be available to watch on Pac-12 Network.