The No. 5 Oregon volleyball team handed No. 2-ranked Washington its first loss of the season 3-1 at Matthew Knight Arena on Saturday night. Outside hitter Alaina Bergsma led the team with 22 kills and Liz Brenner tacked on 14 of her own.
As expected, the matchup between the rival universities started competitively with both squads coming out looking crisp and executing effectively. The teams found themselves knotted at 4 early in the set and neither could separate by more than a few points.
However, after a small run by Washington that saw them take a 11-7 lead over the Ducks, head coach Jim Moore called for a stoppage in action to talk things over with his players.
After the timeout, Oregon continued to trail the Huskies but eventually pulled to within a point at 23-22 and forced Washington coach Jim McLaughlin to call timeout after seeing his team’s lead all but dissipate.@@http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/mclaughlin_jim00.html@@
Turning point. The Ducks eventually tied the set at 24 and an Ariana Williams spike at the net completed the comeback and allowed Oregon to take the first set 26-24 and re-energize the Matthew Knight Arena crowd of 3,978.
Oregon continued to ride the wave of momentum they had created at the end of the first set and went up 4-1 early in the second. The Ducks’ offense continued to look sharp and Washington called timeout down 10-6 early.
The Huskies managed to claw their way back into the match and once they got within one point of the Ducks at 18-17 Moore called timeout. Washington proceeded to tie up the set at 18 and eventually began to capitalize on their opportunities and took the second set 25-20 to tie the match at one set apiece.
At the beginning of the third set Washington jumped out to an early 5-2 lead over the Ducks. Oregon eventually tied up the set at 12 after an Bergsma attack but was forced to call a timeout after a Husky run found them down 20-15.
Once again, the Ducks would not go away and tied it up again at 21. Eventually a Kat Fischer attack completed the comeback and secured a 25-22 third-set victory for the Ducks.
Oregon jumped out to an early 8-5 lead in the fourth set, and following a Kellie Kawasaki ace that gave Oregon an 11-7 lead, Husky coach McLaughlin called a timeout.
Following the timeout, the Ducks offense really began to take off and McLaughlin called for another stoppage with his team down 16-11. The offensive barrage of Oregon proved to be too much for the Huskies, and an Ariana Williams kill put the exclamation mark on the set giving the Ducks a 25-17 and 3-1 victory to knock Washington from the ranks of the unbeaten.
On the horizon. Next on the schedule for the Ducks is a road trip to Arizona where they will face off against Arizona on Friday, October 19th at 6 p.m. and then against Arizona State the following night at 7 p.m. While coach Moore was pleased with his team’s effort and the result against the Huskies, he reinforced the fact that there was still a lot of season to go.
“It’s a big win,” Moore said. “And you know, I’m happy we were able to get that, but it’s only one win.”