No. 16 Oregon’s win streak is now at five games after beating Arizona State in three straight sets Friday at Matthew Knight Arena.
The game started out rocky with back-to-back unusual errors from the Sun Devils and a challenge call in the early points in the set. In spite of the atypical start, the Ducks came out ready for anything.
The Ducks took advantage of the Sun Devils’ inability to serve. With the ball usually being sent outside the boundaries towards the stands, Oregon made the most of the free points by going on short scoring runs that forced Arizona State to use all of its timeouts in the first set.
Oregon’s defense continues to stay hard to beat thanks to Georgia Murphy. Her agility was put on display as there wasn’t a spot on the floor that wasn’t covered.
Between the quickness of Murphy and the creativity from the front row, the Ducks took the first set 25-17.
When Oregon moved to the opposite side of the court, Mimi Colyer showed why she’s been named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week four times this early in the season.
As Colyer received the ball to prepare to serve, she ran far behind the white line, almost to the end of the trees on the court. She looked like she’s done this a million times at this level.
When she jumped and threw the ball up in the air, Colyer added speed and spin to the ball that threw off ASU’s back row twice in a row.
Once the rotations moved her back to the front, she used her power and height on the eight kills she had during set two, in addition to her two blocks. Colyer finished the night with 12 kills.
Oregon’s defense stayed tough as it held ASU to 15 points, taking the second set.
In the third set, the Ducks started off hot with a scoring run from an ASU service error and back-to-back kills from Oregon.
The Sun Devils’ serves continued to work in Oregon’s favor as Arizona State had five service errors in the set, seven on the night.
The strength and the athleticism of Oregon’s All-American hitters was on display tonight with Brooke Nuneviller’s 10 and Gloria Mutiri’s 14 kills.
“We controlled the ball really well,” head coach Matt Ulmer said. “Hannah [Pukis] had a lot of different options, and she made so many good reads and made the ball go in the right spot.”
ASU was only able to score 12 points as the Ducks took three straight sets for their fifth win in a row.
The Ducks will finish out their home stand on Oct. 2 against Arizona. The first serve will be at 12 p.m. and will be available to stream on Pac-12 Network.
