Everyone thought it was a kill.
But, as Louisville’s outside hitter sent the ball over the net, Daley McClellan’s foot separated it from nicking the ground and Hannah Pukis subtly punched it over to continue what would be another long rally in a regional final that was full of those.
With teams fighting for a spot to go to Omaha, Nebraska, for the final four, you would expect long rallies with players sacrificing their bodies, and that’s exactly what you got in this game. But, volleyball is a game of momentum. Teams can get hot at any moment and build off of it, which is what happened.
Oregon lost to No. 1 Louisville in five sets on Saturday to end its 16-game win streak and the season.
“Everything good about college volleyball are these two teams,” head coach Matt Ulmer said. “It doesn’t get more special than that, and I’m so proud of this group that we have and I’m so thankful to be their coach.”
The Cardinals struggled to keep up with the Ducks at first. Louisville doesn’t run their offense as fast as Oregon does. Despite six service errors in the first set, the Ducks kept throwing Louisville out of its system, which affected its offense, eventually the Cardinals found their groove.
After Louisville won the first set, Oregon took the second one and handed the Cardinals their first set loss since November 11, and took that same energy into the third one.
Oregon went on a 6-0 run that included an ace to start the third set. Louisville, one of the best attacking teams in the country with the ACC Player of the Year, hit -.500, the lowest percentage in the tournament thus far.
Louisville scored its first point later on in the set, but the majority of its points came from Duck errors. When Oregon was up 11-5, it had three service errors. The Cardinals were able to put together a short scoring run, but it was quickly ended by Brooke Nuneviller.
During the set, Nuneviller had her 500th kill of the season, one match after Mimi Colyer reached that feat. She finished the match with 15 kills and a .375 kill percentage.
The Ducks won the third set by 12, which is the largest deficit in the tournament through four rounds.
“Oregon is a hell of a team,” Louisville’s head coach Dani Busboom Kelly said. “We had a really hard time stopping them.”
Before the match, Ulmer talked about the similarities between Louisville and Oregon’s style of play. He talked about how there aren’t many players in the country who are an equal match to Nuneviller, but one player who was is Claire Chaussee.
Chaussee, who was named the 2022 ACC Player of the Year, was the rock for the Cardinals. Even though Oregon was able to string together long scoring runs and were in sync for most of the game, she stayed consistent for Louisville.
“I think we held her pretty well,” Ulmer said. “She didn’t hurt us as much as I know she can.”
After losing their 16 set win streak and being defeated by 12 points, Louisville found a rhythm late in the game. But, at times they were visibly frustrated because Oregon dug every kill. The Ducks slowly inched their way back to the lead, and eventually tied it at 20.
Morgan Lewis, who didn’t play at all in the first two rounds of the tournament, found a hot hand during the last match against Nebraska and finished with 13 kills. Ulmer made a lineup adjustment before Saturday’s match to add her back into the game, and she kept the same intensity as she finished the game with 13 kills and helped the Ducks inch closer to keeping their season alive in the fourth set.
After 16 ties and eight lead changes, Louisville forced a fifth set.
“When you’re playing volleyball this elite, it’s important that you win the close ones,” Ulmer said.
Oregon started the set close, but eventually the Cardinals found the momentum that they needed the entire match. They went on long scoring runs, and took advantage of the Ducks’ mistakes.
Just as easy as it is to build momentum in volleyball, it’s also just as easy to allow mistakes to pile up. Oregon wasn’t communicating with each other and not covering spots on the floor. Ulmer tried to break up Louisville’s rhythm by challenging two different plays, but lost both of them.
The Ducks lost the final set by nine, and their historic season filled with AVCA awards, a Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, staying undefeated at home and the program’s longest winning streak ended.
“We’ve been in a lot of five-set matches, and we’ve won a lot of them,” Ulmer said. “It’s a strange feeling to lose. It’s weird.”
Despite the imminent departure of Karson Bacon, Gloria Mutiri, and Nuneviller, who have all received All-American honors throughout their career, the Ducks are confident that they’ll bounce back.
“We have to let this one hurt,” Lewis said. “We have to let it sink in, and when we return to the court next fall, we have to take it and run with it.”
