Sunday’s rivalry match between No. 12 Oregon (8-1) and Oregon State (2-8) began with 3,207 fans watching intently, hoping for another home victory at Matthew Knight Arena.
It concluded with the entire crowd on their feet, a Sophie Gregoire kill and a Ducks win.
The match began with an 8-0 Oregon run. The Beavers had no answers for the Ducks’ front row — which had three early blocks.
“I thought [our blockers] were putting pressure consistently on them. I thought we were making great reads,” head coach Matt Ulmer said. “When your block is set up because of the serve all of a sudden, our floor defense, we know exactly where to go and we know the gaps we need to fill. It just all works together.”
Onye Ofoegbu was efficient and dominant in the first set. She recorded three kills on four total attacks to go along with her four blocks.
“We work on blocking a lot — a lot,” Ofoegbu said. “I feel like that helped a lot for tonight, but it’s a lot of work and a lot of practice.”
Both sides came into the match off wins at Portland State earlier in the week. Oregon hadn’t been home since its two-match homestand to open the season.
The return to Matthew Knight Arena resulted in the Ducks entering conference play continuing their eight-match win streak.
“I gotta think that for a non-conference match at home, this is probably our biggest crowd since I’ve been here,” Ulmer said. “I think that really provides us what we need, some experience with the big crowd before we get into Big Ten play.”
Oregon got off to a slower start in the second set. It had six attack errors in the set, which followed a first set with only one. The Ducks still controlled the second with multiple scoring runs to emerge 25-15.
The service line was the only thing that gave the Ducks any trouble in the match. Oregon had eight service errors but still recorded six aces.
The Ducks had the edge in just about every other statistic. They out-blocked the Beavers 14 to two and tallied 42 kills to 24.
“I thought it was our most complete match of the year. I thought we were very consistent throughout. I thought we controlled the ball better,” Ulmer said. “Our block is pretty dynamic and can really mess with a lot of people.”
Oregon State entirely ran out of steam by the time the third set came around. Between the collection of attack and service errors and emphatic kills from Ofoegbu and Mimi Colyer, any chance of a Beavers’ comeback came crashing down.
It was a complete performance from Oregon down the roster. Ofoegbu and Noemie Glover combined for 15 kills and 18 blocks, while Colyer finished with 10 kills and 11 digs.
“I think everything for us is consistency. I think we did a really good job in all areas. We’re really well-rounded,” Glover said. “We’ve been working on a lot of practice, kind of just like feeling ourselves in the court and knowing that we can do these things. So I think that we did a really good job executing.”
Oregon’s only loss this season was against the No. 1 team in the country — a University of Pittsburgh squad that hasn’t lost a single set all season.
“I think it’s important to try to maintain focus on our side because we’re going to play a lot of big teams, a lot of big names,” Ofoegbu said. “But at the end of the day, we have to play work in volleyball and focus on our side.”
Next week the Ducks start Big Ten play. They’ll begin their conference slate at Matthew Knight Arena next weekend against the University of Illinois (8-2) and Indiana University (7-3).
