Oregon’s inability to stretch its scoring into runs almost cost it what should have been an easier win (25-15, 22-25, 27-25, 25-20) over the Northwestern Wildcats. The Ducks tallied more service errors and attacking errors than the Wildcats, but Northwestern just couldn’t match the talent at Oregon’s disposal.
“I thought we were very generous, we gave a lot of points away…I thought we tried to force things we knew they would take away, just weren’t very disciplined,” Head Coach Matt Ulmer said. “Probably one of our worst serving matches in a long time.”
The No. 11 Oregon Ducks (19-5, 11-4 Big Ten) entered Friday evening’s contest off the back of a 2-2 stretch in its last four matches, while Northwestern (5-18, 3-12 Big Ten) stumbled into Eugene winning just one of its last seven matches.
Mimi Colyer got out to the fast start the Ducks needed from her, scoring three of Oregon’s first eight points, which were the first three of her 15 kills on the night. Michelle Ohwobete joined in later in the set, as she picked up five of her 20 kills on the night in the opening frame.
“Michelle, I thought, was fantastic. 20 kills, definitely a season-high for her,” Ulmer said.
Northwestern stayed in the set, however, as the Wildcats even brought it as close as 11-8 toward the midpoint of the opening frame. That didn’t last, as an emphatic Noemie Glover kill extended an Oregon run to 4-0.
Onye Ofoegbu recorded her first of seven total blocks for the match after a Northwestern hit sailed behind the entire team due to the strength of Oregon’s ever-trusty middle blocker.
“I think it was all about discipline, even defensively…even though I felt like [her performance] wasn’t that good, the discipline helps,” Ofoegbu said.
The Wildcats found no success trying to defend the fast-paced Oregon offense, especially when the Ducks were able to find Cristin Cline for an easy set up to the various weapons up front — Cline finished with 51 assists.
A 7-2 stretch from the Ducks ensured a win in the opening set, as it put the home team up 18-10. Northwestern mustered a few solid offensive plays, but nothing to aid it in a 25-15 defeat to begin Friday’s match.
Northwestern jumped out to an impressive start to the second set, even taking a 5-3 lead, but the Wildcats failed to sustain that run of play.
Then, the second set became a battle. Each team carried runs at times, but the foothold on the match could not be maintained by either side. It was clear that the Wildcats wanted nothing more than to avoid the mountain of being down 2-0 on sets.
The strong Oregon block from the first set disappeared as the following frame droned on. Oregon found itself facing a Northwestern match point at 24-22 after the defense caved on two straight points where the Wildcats found a wide open outside hitter to smoke one into the Ducks’ back line.
“The third set was still not great, it was just like one long mess for us in sets two and three…we got really undisciplined, they stepped up the service pressure, they made some nice plays and made some better swings,” Ulmer said.
Northwestern’s improved defensive effort after the first set made this match competitive and forced the Ducks to get creative in order to avoid a resounding upset. Oregon just couldn’t string together any runs throughout the entirety of the third frame, which made it much harder to win the set.
Every single time the Ducks went up by three or four points, Northwestern came right back and forced Oregon on its heels.
Oregon finally hunkered down on defense and converted two attacks in a row to finish the third set 27-25 for a 2-1 lead — crucial in a game decided by such close margins.
In the fourth set, the Ducks started efficiently with a 4-0 start due to Ohwobete’s excellent serving and play from the back. That run quickly ballooned to 9-2, and the Ducks controlled the flow of the match in an attempt to end it.
The Ducks took a resounding 19-13 lead, but given the character of this match, the Wildcats could not be counted out. Northwestern nearly came back, and got the score as close as 20-17, but Oregon’s calculated attack proved too much.
The Ducks took the fourth set 25-20 and closed out the match 3-1, initiating the start of senior night ceremonies.
Oregon returns to action Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles when it takes on the USC Trojans.
