Six days after posting arguably their best win of the season, the No. 16@@http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/volleyball-women/d1/avca_coaches@@ Oregon volleyball team suffered its worst loss.

The Ducks fell 13-25, 25-22, 28-26, 17-25, 15-8@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=234&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205324048@@ to visiting Utah on Friday night, wiping away any momentum they had from an upset win over then-No. 7 Washington last weekend. Oregon (15-7, 8-6 Pac-12)@@goducks@@ fell victim to a Utah squad that was only 3-10 in Pac-12 play entering the match and had yet to beat a ranked opponent all year.

“We came out well, and then decided it was over,” Oregon coach Jim Moore@@CE@@ said. “Just no concentration, no focus, no energy, and they got what they deserved. We definitely got what we deserved.”

After winning the first set with ease, Oregon struggled in the next two. The Ducks hit .415 and committed only two errors in the opening frame, but hit .176 and .082 in sets two and three, respectively.@@see previous link@@

“We stopped serving tough,” Moore said. “That’s how we won game one, we served the crud out of the ball — they didn’t pass anything. Then we stopped serving tough, you could just tell, they took a real deep breath, relaxed, and took it for granted.”

Oregon responded in the fourth set, hitting .275@@CE@@ in an easy win, but fell apart in the decisive fifth. The Ducks were out-blocked 5-0 and surrendered three consecutive service aces to the Utes.

Utah’s block — the Utes had an 18-6@@CE@@ advantage in that category — was a big reason why they were able to overcome a .176-.196@@CE@@ hitting deficit

“They’re definitely a big team, they’re physical, and they did get a lot of good blocks on us,” Oregon outside hitter Katherine Fischer@@CE@@ said.

Oregon’s mistake-prone play didn’t help. The Ducks committed 11 service errors, 35 hitting errors@@CE@@ and had frequent moments of miscommunication, particularly throughout the second and third sets.

“I don’t know what we’ll do, but we have practice tomorrow morning so I’m sure everyone will be fired up, and we’ll get after it and then hopefully take it into Colorado and hopefully kill them,” Fischer said.

That’s precisely what happened. The Ducks crushed Colorado 25-21, 25-18, 25-18@@CE@@ Sunday afternoon at Matthew Knight Arena. Oregon dictated play throughout nearly the entire match and dominated the Buffaloes.

“Obviously it went a lot better than Friday,” Oregon outside hitter Alaina Bergsma@@CE@@ said. “We came out and knew we had to focus and play really well, get some of that confidence back after losing a five-setter. It was good.”

Oregon overcame a nontraditional Sunday afternoon 1 p.m. start time and lackluster crowd of only 1,031@@CE@@ to find the necessary energy and motivation to pull out a victory.

“They had to work to find energy, which was real important for us,” Moore said.

Bergsma added, “The energy was lower, but the execution was there.”

Indeed, Oregon’s offense had one of its most efficient matches of the season, hitting .360 and committing only 12 hitting errors@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=234&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205325144@@. Oregon benefited from a balanced offensive effort (four players had nine or more kills@@CE@@), led by Bergsma (13, .379)@@CE@@ and Liz Brenner@@CE@@ (12, .526)@@CE@@.

Kerra Schroeder@@CE@@ led the Buffaloes by hitting .294 and notching 12 kills@@Ce@@, while Kelsey English@@CE@@ had six kills and hit .500@@CE@@, but no other Buffalo had more than four kills.

“I think we just had an all-around better focus as a team to make sure we got our hits in bounds and made good passes,” Brenner said. “Did everything the way we were supposed to do it.”
Oregon will return to action at 7 p.m. on Friday when they visit Arizona State.