The winning moment is seconds away after the ball comes back to Oregon.
A receiving pass from Mimi Colyer sets Hannah Pukis up for the right set — a short, straight up, set for Kara McGhee to tip it over.
As the six Buffaloes on the court dive synchronously around the ball, it lands on the floor before anyone can get it back up in time.
Game point. Match point. The Ducks are back in the win column
McGhee’s 10th kill of the night and .909 total hitting percentage led the No. 5 Ducks (14-2, 4-1 Pac-12) to a weekend-opening sweep (25-18, 25-19, 25-21) over Colorado (9-7, 1-4 Pac-12) after Washington State snapped their previous winning streak at seven last weekend.
The Ducks trailed early in the opening set but strung together four straight kills to tie it up at 9-9. Soon after, Oregon used another 4-0 run to take its first lead at 14-12. The scoring run ended with a block by McGhee and Morgan Lewis, the senior opposite who had a career-high, eight blocks, surpassing her old record that she set earlier this season against UCLA with seven.
Colorado was able to cut the deficit to one, but was never able to capitalize on it. With back-to-back blocks from Pukis and Karson Bacon, the Buffaloes were forced to call a timeout because the Ducks had extended their lead to 21-15.
Approaching match point, McGhee gave Oregon a 1-0 lead with one of her 10 blocks of the night, the sixth team block of the first set.
After a similar start to the next set, the Ducks were able to rattle off eight of 10 points to take the lead at 18-12 after being tied at 10-10. Once both teams returned from a timeout, the Buffaloes got within four at 20-16, but a service error stopped their run. Colorado saved two match points, but Lewis ended it with a kill.
In the final set of the night, Oregon got started right away and jumped out to an 8-3 lead. But, Colorado responded with a five-point run. The Ducks answered the Buffaloes’ run with one of their own by winning nine of the next 12 points for an 18-12 lead with a kill from Colyer.
Colyer was one of the three players (Gabby Gonzales and McGhee) to finish the game with a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs.
Gonzales, who finished with 13 kills and 10 digs, and Colyer pushed Oregon to match point with consecutive kills before McGhee ended the game.
Her .909 hitting percentage is the second highest in program history for a player with at least 10 attempts, making her only slightly behind Serena Warner at .917 against Washington State in 2014.
Oregon had 18 kills and finished the third set hitting .452. The team’s total hitting percentage of .333 was its first .300 performance in conference play this season and its best statistically offensive game since beating Marquette on Sept. 17.
The Ducks will wrap up its weekend road trip against Utah (8-7, 3-2 Pac-12) on Sunday at 11 a.m. PT. The game is available to watch on Utah Live Stream.
