When Oregon volleyball found itself at match point in game five against Utah tonight, senior outside hitter Martenne Bettendorf had only one thing in mind.
“I was ready to put it away,” Bettendorf said.
And that’s exactly what she did.
Bettendorf’s kill won the Ducks the fifth set 15-11 and the match, 3-2. After four previous sets of back-and-forth, the Utes had the Ducks thinking back to their fifth set loss last night.
Remembering yesterday’s defeat, Bettendorf told setter Maggie Scott in a huddle just before match point to “set me this ball right now.” There were no questions asked.
“She told me she trusted me,” Bettendorf said. “And it made me feel really confident.”
Bettendorf’s match-winning kill was her 25th of the match, giving her the most kills on either side of the court for the night.
“We needed somebody to step up, and she stepped up,” head coach Jim Moore said.
Bettendorf was followed closely in kills by freshman Lindsey Vander Weide, who added 17 kills for the Ducks through the match. The 69 total kills won the Ducks their first home match of the season and advanced their record to 8-5 overall.
“This is what we needed,” Moore said, happy with his team’s performance especially at the offensive positions.
But the road to this victory wasn’t as easy as its final kill.
The Ducks came out with a slow start, struggling to make kill connections and allowing the Utes to win the first set 25-23. In the second set, Oregon went on a 4-0 scoring run at mid-set, which provided it some much needed momentum. The Utes tied the set at 22 before freshman Sumeet Gill put up one of her seven blocks of the night, and Vander Weide finished off the set with a tip kill.
Oregon took set three with relative ease, going on an 8-0 scoring run before ultimately winning the set, 25-20.
Set four went to the Utes when Oregon couldn’t contain Utah’s middle. The Ducks lost the set 19-25. Despite flashbacks of their fifth set loses to both Nebraska and Colorado, the Ducks went in to the final set determined to get the win.
Oregon opened the final set with some difficulty, never owning more than a one-point lead over Utah until the end of the set. But once the Ducks had their 10-7 lead over the Utes, they pushed on with kills and didn’t let up until the end. Bettendorf’s match-winning kill came right after Oregon took a final timeout to calm the team’s nerves, and the decision paid off. Oregon won the set and match 15-11.
While Coach Moore admitted he’d rather win in three sets, he also said this down-to-the-wire experience was good for the team.
“We have to be put in this situation,” Coach Moore said, “and we have to learn from it,” knowing that once the team could win a close-fifth-set match, other matches wouldn’t be as intimidating.
Next up, Oregon goes back on the road for matches against Cal and Stanford next week before returning to Matt Knight on Oct. 23 for its match against UCLA.
Follow Madison Layton on Twitter @MadisonLayton01