The Ducks were defeated by the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison Thursday night, in a fashion resembling the season on the whole — hopeful, but rocky. Oregon lost 3-1 in its final match of the season, 25-18, 21-25, 25-21, 25-19.
The Ducks finished with a 16-14 record after an end-of-season-surge earned them an NCAA Tournament bid.
“I felt we deserved to get in,” head coach Jim Moore told GoDucks. “If you’re taking the best teams that are playing the best volleyball at the end, I thought we for sure should get in.”
Oregon did its best to prove its position in the tournament and kept up with the No. 6 seed in the first set, until an 8-2 run earned the Badgers the first set point.
The Ducks, determined to keep thoughts of earlier matches out of their head, pushed ahead in the second set.
A 5-1 scoring run by Oregon gave the Ducks a 19-18 advantage. With three hitters above five kills after that set, the Ducks took the second set point and showed they weren’t going out so easily.
Wisconsin gained control of the third set with a 10-7 lead and held that control until the score was 19-12. At that point, Oregon turned things around but still fell by four points in the third.
The fourth set was the last nail in the coffin for the Ducks. Although it did put up a fight — Kacey Nady held a .529 hitting average at mid-set and a block by Lindsey Vander Weide tied the score at 10 — Oregon couldn’t hold on.
Hopes of an upset vanished as the Ducks lost the final set 25-19.
The match was not only the last of Oregon’s season, but also the last for seniors Martenne Bettendorf and Chelsey Keoho. Bettendorf, at the outside, came in second in kills for the season for Oregon, totaling 202 before tonight’s match. Defensive specialist Keoho made her mark with 137 digs this season prior to tonight’s match.
Follow Madison Layton on Twitter @MadisonLayton01