How long does a streak last, anyway?
Records are meant to be broken. Winning streaks are one of the most pinnacle things in sports, but everybody is after one. In 2007, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh’s 112 beach volleyball wins eventually ended a year later.
In history books, this day will mark the first time that the Oregon Ducks lost at home in over a year.
In the hard-fought matchup between two top-10 teams, No. 7 Washington State defeated No. 6 Oregon 3-1 (25-14, 20-25, 29-27, 25-23) after two critical scoring runs.
Right off the bat, the Cougars went on a 10-0 run that included three Duck errors and three Washington State blocks. Despite both teams hitting at least 150 points under their season average, it wasn’t until 20-11 before either Mimi Colyer or Morgan Lewis could land a kill. They finished the match with a combined 23 kills and 23 errors.
“Every time we play them it’s like that,” head coach Matt Ulmer said. “It’s two good defenses, it’s two really physical blocks, two good serving teams. It’s not a match if you like offense. We just gave so many points away.”
The Ducks quickly responded in the second as they got ahead with a 7-3 lead. By the time it was 14-11, Oregon went on a 4-0 scoring run that included an ace from Daley McClellan. Karson Bacon had five kills in the set, including match point that tied up the game.
“We talked about it in the huddle a few times — like, if things aren’t going your way, you better be aggressive going about it,” Bacon said. “So at that point, I trusted my connection with Hannah [Pukis], trusted my footwork and I knew it was open. And it was, so it felt good.”
Bacon, who finished the match with 11 kills and six blocks, ended WSU’s four-point run early in the third set and cut their deficit to three. As the set was winding down, Bacon sparked another scoring run in an attempt to get ahead in the game, but while going deep into extras, Oregon couldn’t close it out. The Cougars took a 2-1 lead after winning 29-27.
In the last set of the day, Oregon maintained a scoring cushion and cruised all the way to the end. At 23-19, the Ducks had the lead after a Washington State error, but they closed out the set with a 6-0 that included five Oregon errors for their first loss at home this season.
“I always want to go against people at their best, and if you win then you know you’re legit,” Ulmer said. “And so for us, what this taught us is hopefully a lot. There’s a lot of things that we’re gonna have to get better at if we want to achieve our goals that we want to achieve.”
