It echoed again and again.

“The Ducks can’t give up free points.”

Blame it on the 8 a.m. start? Either way Oregon came out lacking energy on Thursday.
One of volleyball’s best defensive teams couldn’t find a rhythm. Between letting the ball drop on empty spots in the court or attack and serving errors, Oregon let the nerves get the best of them and Nebraska took full advantage of it. 

The Ducks lost their first set to second-seeded Nebraska by 11 points and needed to tighten up quickly or it would mark the end of the 15-game win streak they had built and their season. 
After winning the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament in Matthew Knight Arena, Oregon entered the Round of 16 game in Louisville as the underdog. Out of the 15 NCAA appearances, the Ducks have been knocked out 12 times in the early matches of the tournament. 

Throughout the tournament, the Ducks have had a weird pattern of losing by a large deficit in the first set. Seemingly, it hasn’t hurt their progress. Nebraska, who was the runner-up in last year’s tournament, had five different players register a kill early in the set. They were able to put together serving runs while taking advantage of the free points that Oregon was giving away.

“Unfortunately, we’ve done that a lot this year,” head coach Matt Ulmer said. “I hate that characteristic about ourselves.”

By the end of the game, the Ducks had 31 attack, 14 service, and two block errors. The Huskers, who lead the country in blocks per set and opponent attack percentage, held the team to a .026 hitting percentage in the first set. 

“So far, we have started each game trying to do too much and we don’t need to do that,” Ulmer said. “We just need to play our game.”
Mimi Colyer hit .409 in the first two sets, while the rest of the team hit .020. She reached 500 career kills and her 40th ace this season after starting the second set with an estimated 40 mph serve. 
She’s the first person since Liz Brenner, who was a part of the 2012 team who upset Nebraska and was the NCAA runner-up, to reach 500 kills in a single season. 

“She’s so good,” Ulmer said. “On some of those swings, I have no idea how she’s scoring, but she is. We need other people to step up and take the load off of her, but if she’s going to score the rest of the way, she better do that.”

Colyer finished the game with 26 kills, .254 hitting percentage and 13 digs for her 12th double-double this season while she continues to make her case for National Freshman of the Year. 

Morgan Lewis and Brooke Nuneviller took some of the load off of her in the later sets of the game. They forced the Cornhuskers out of their system and kept rallies going, something the Ducks struggled with in the beginning. 

They finally found their groove heading into the fourth set. After being down 2-1, Oregon was in sync, and as we’ve seen all season, once that happens, they’re really hard to beat. 

Nebraska went on a four-point scoring run after consecutive aces to take a three point lead in the middle of the set before Hannah Pukis served five straight and took the lead at 22-20. After failing to close out the set three times, it was the Cornhusker’s match point. 
As Pukis backset it to Lewis, she kept their season alive with a kill to tie the game again. She had another kill to break at 30-30 tie and allowed the Ducks an opportunity for their fifth set point. She had eight kills in the fourth set alone. 

“Morgan just made some huge plays for us,” Ulmer said. “It was really important to spread the floor, because it was just really left-side dominant early. So to be able to get that separation, that was important.” 

Nuneviller complemented Lewis’ performance.
During the final match point, she bounced the ball behind the service line, getting ready to serve. Once the ball was over the net, Nebraska set up a typical kill from the left side. Nuneviller, who just wanted to keep the rally alive, bodied the dig over the net and it landed in the perfect spot on the right side of the court; shallow and right inside of the boundary lines. 

After 20 ties and nine lead changes in the fourth set alone, the Ducks took the set 32-30.
“I’m just so proud of these guys,” Ulmer said. “They never give up, ever. And I think you’ve heard it from them a bunch this year, but they never feel like they’re going to lose, no matter what the circumstances are. They just have total belief in themselves.”

Oregon carried the momentum from the fourth set into the final set. They couldn’t be stopped as they put together long scoring runs and took advantage of the free points Nebraska was giving as they had 6 errors in the fifth set.

The Cornhuskers didn’t go down easy as they saved six match points before Kiara Robey attacked the ball from the middle to end the game. 

The Ducks ran to the floor to form a giant group hug to celebrate. They later went into the locker room, waiting for Ulmer to finish his press conference before pouring water all over him to celebrate the team’s first Sweet Sixteen win since 2018.

Oregon will face the No. 1 seed Louisville on Saturday, with the first serve at 1 p.m. The game will be available to watch on ESPN+.