No. 12 Oregon couldn’t close out No. 1 Stanford as the Ducks dropped in straight sets 25-23, 25-21, 25-21 on Sunday afternoon at Matthew Knight Arena.

Oregon (17-5, 7-5) did everything it could to stick with the Cardinal (22-0, 12-0) throughout the match, managing ties at 23-23 in the first set, 20-20 in the second and 19-19 in the third set, but Stanford showed why they are the nation’s best team.

“They’re the number one team in the nation for a reason,” head coach Jim Moore. “We played well, they beat us. They were certainly better.”

Part of Oregon’s problems came at its own hand. The Ducks committed 17 attack errors, eight of which came in the first set, giving the Cardinal plenty of room to separate during critical junctures.

“If we don’t give them the eight points in the first two sets it’s different dramatically,” Moore said. “Part of it is we’re aggressive, but you have to be aggressive and stay within yourself. We’re right there. That’s the only two things we had to be smart on: not giving them extra points and closing out the set. After 20 we have to be a lot better.”

The two heavyweights traded blows throughout the first set, with neither team earning more than a two point edge. With the score tied at 22, Stanford kicked their defense into another gear, digging out multiple good looks from Oregon’s hitters to take the first set 25-23.

The Ducks turned around and jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the first set before Stanford battled right back to take a 17-16 lead. Oregon stayed the course, trading points with the Cardinal in multiple grueling rallies before Stanford separated at 22-20 to force an Oregon timeout. The Ducks responded with a point of their own before Stanford scored three unanswered points to win the second set 25-21.

Nothing changed in the third and final set as both teams continued to trade points. With the score tied at 19-19, Stanford outscored Oregon 6-2 to win the match on a clean sweep.

Stanford’s Inky Ajanaku struggled in the first two sets, but finished strong to keep up her astronomic attack percentage. Ajanaku finished with 11 kills on a .348 average, while outside hitter Jordan Burgess added 11 kills of her own on a .371 average.

“That’s what makes them so good,” Moore said. “We focused on their middles and Jordan (Burgess) and (Morgan) Boukather go off.”

Oregon’s Martenne Bettendorf led the team with 13 kills, but Liz Brenner struggled with a season low .083 hitting average.

The Ducks’ schedule doesn’t get any easier from here on out as they’ll face No. 3 Washington on Friday night in Seattle.

Follow Josh Schlichter on Twitter @JoshSchlichter