There wasn’t a better opportunity for No. 13 Oregon (21-7, 13-6 Big Ten) to finally get a resume-boosting victory than in its last home match of the regular season against No. 9 Purdue (24-6, 15-4 Big Ten).
The Ducks played a top-15 opponent at Matthew Knight Arena for the third time this season. The first two matches they ended up getting swept by Pitt and Nebraska teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 nationally.
Following Wednesday’s match, Oregon is now 0-3 in such matches. It had endless chances to win on Wednesday night but fell in five sets (25-19, 25-22, 27-29, 23-25, 13-15).
“You just have to be really disciplined in order to stop a good team,” head coach Matt Ulmer said. “We had a lot of good stretches, but just didn’t make enough plays. But that’s a couple of matches now where that’s happened for us, and it’s very frustrating.”
The Ducks began the first set dominantly by forcing four attack errors while hitting north of .400 percent.
At a critical juncture in Set 1, the two sides engaged in one of the longest rallies Kilkenny Court has seen this season. Oregon didn’t waver despite several scramble plays. A Boilermaker attack error gave the Ducks a 12-7 advantage.
Wednesday was the first time the two sides met at Matthew Knight Arena, although they have a history of facing off under the brightest lights. Last postseason, they met in the Sweet 16, which the Ducks won in a resounding sweep. Before that win, the Boilermakers were undefeated in the series.
Purdue continued its dominance against Oregon, this time on Duck territory.
Oregon weathered a 6-1 Purdue run to win the first set. Mimi Colyer recorded five kills in the period to lead the team. Her 20 kills and 12 digs on the day followed a 14-kill, 11-dig double-double in the 2023 matchup.
Then Onye Ofoegbu stole the show in a tighter Set 2 with a collection of blocks and kills — but attack errors added up for the Ducks as a whole.
The Boilermakers returned the favor with back-to-back errors to spark a 5-0 Oregon run at the end of the second.
Colyer slammed the ball to the other side of the court to clinch the second — and potentially put the Ducks one set away from getting to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
“I thought we served well enough that I thought they had really tough swings in the first two sets that they had to score on,” Ulmer said. “We were able to slow them down enough and transition some of those.”
A strong string of rallies from Raven Colvin, however, put Purdue on a 7-0 run in Set 3 and the Boilermakers were in prime position to extend the match.
The Oregon front row banded together to extend the third to multiple set points. Ultimately, this match wouldn’t be done in just three sets.
“We just lulled there for too long,” Ulmer said. “That could have been a sweep.”
The Ducks couldn’t cash in on any of the opportunities Purdue gave them to seal the match. An Eva Hudson kill completed the reverse sweep in favor of the Boilermakers.
“We just didn’t make enough adjustments quickly throughout the match, and they did,” Michelle Ohwobete said. “So that’s something that we have to get better at going into the tournament.”
The Ducks head to UCLA (14-14, 8-11 Big Ten) on Friday before finding out its NCAA Tournament first-round destination and opponent during Sunday’s Selection Show at 3 p.m.
“We put ourselves in a position where you can leave some doubt and so that’s that’s on us,” Ulmer said. “Hopefully we’re playing our best ball here in another week.”
