Trailing 2-1 against Colorado on senior night with a set score of 24-20 in the fourth set, No. 16 Oregon volleyball’s Willow Johnson managed a kill, her 16th of the night and 6th of the set, to tie the match 2-2 and secure one more set for Oregon and a chance at a victory.

It wasn’t enough; coming off back-to-back sweeps against California and Utah, No. 16 Oregon volleyball fell to its unranked opponent, the Colorado Buffalos. In a five-set match, Oregon went 19-25, 25-22, 25-21, 20-25, 16-14 to give Colorado the 3-2 victory.

“I liked our fight,” said head coach Matt Ulmer. “We worked really hard all match and Colorado’s a really good team. They have some real athletes on their side and can do some frightening things.”

The Ducks are graduating four seniors including Lauren Page, Sumeet Gill, Lindsey Vander-Weide and August Raskie. The latter two both recorded double-doubles in what may be their last home game in Matthew Knight Arena. Vander-Weide managed 16 kills and 11 digs, while Raskie recorded 58 assists and 13 digs.

“I think they’re pretty special people, really fun, fun-loving group, very bonded; they work hard every day,” Ulmer said. “We’re definitely going to miss them.”

Johnson led in kills for Oregon with 18, a career-high, followed by junior Ronika Stone who had 17. Freshman Brooke Nuneviller had 30 digs, and Raskie topped Oregon with assists.

In the first set, the Ducks earned set point at 24-14 with a kill from Gill. Following a 5-0 run by the Buffalos, Oregon secured the set victory 25-19 to lead the match 1-0. Stone recorded four kills, while five Ducks had two kills apiece.

The Buffalos opened the second set with a 2-0 lead before giving the Ducks two points in attack errors from Colorado’s Anyse Smith to tie the set early at twos; this early exchange of points would foreshadow the back-and-forth set, which had 11 ties. After tying at 20s, the Buffs went on a three-point run to eventually take the set 25-22 and tie the match 1-1.

Colorado led much of the third, and despite a brief lead snagged by a kill from Raskie, the Buffs went on another 3-0 run late in the set to secure the 25-21 victory and game advantage.

The Ducks responded in the fourth with an early 6-0 run followed by another 5-0 run to lead 12-4. Oregon finished five points ahead of Colorado, 25-20, to send the game into a fifth-set.

The Buffs won the final set on back-to-back attack errors by the Ducks. The final point delivered by an out-of-bounds attack by Stone. Ulmer said he saw a touch by the Colorado blocker before the ball landed outside the line and challenged the call. The Buffalos were awarded the point to upset Oregon.

The Ducks have two more regular-season matches against Washington and Oregon State, before the NCAA tournament selection and seeding.

“If we can get our RPI as close to 16 as possible, then I feel like we have a lot of quality win and a pretty good resume,” said Ulmer. “I think we have a lot of things going for us.”

Follow Sierra Webster on Twitter @WebsterSierraE