After a three-game homestand sweep, the Ducks headed to Pullman to face the Cougars. Prior to this game, Oregon and Washington State had played five five-set matches in their last 10 meetings. Following Friday’s bout, make that count six in the last 11. 
Right out of the gate, Brooke Nuneviller had a soft kill from the back row to tie the game at 2-2. A few points later, Elise Ferreria went up to set the ball to middle blocker Kiari Robey, but instead sent the ball over the net to take the lead. 

At the first media timeout, Washington State had begun to catch up. The Cougars built momentum, taking six of the next seven points to capture the lead before that break in play. 

When the teams returned to the court, Oregon responded as Robey hit an aggressive kill that landed in the back row. After an energetic block by Mimi Colyer, Oregon took a three point lead and Washington State called its first timeout of the set. 

Colyer ended the set after a kill from the left side. The Ducks won set one 25-21.

In the last nine matches, Ferreria had at least one ace. Tonight, she had her 14th ace of the season to take the lead in the second set. Later on, Colyer had another big block that extended their lead. 

Oregon led 23-20, but Washington State scored four in a row yielding Ducks’ timeout. Despite saving two match points, the Cougars pulled away with set two 28-26.
In set three, the Ducks seemed ready to bounce back after Colyer and Robey had a block that sent the ball directly down in front of the Cougars. 

Oregon went on a scoring run to push their lead to double digits and the Cougars called their second timeout of the set. That didn’t slow down the Ducks as Colyer had her third game-changing block of the night that extended their lead to 12. 

The Ducks took set three after hitting .364 and they never trailed after WSU won the first point of the set. 

The Cougars took a quick 4-0 lead in the fourth set and the Ducks called an early timeout. Oregon showed signs of a comeback with long rallies and strong defense, but WSU went on another 4-0 run to take an eight point lead. Washington State took set four to tie it up at 2-2 pushing the game into its fifth set.

Gloria Mutiri started the fifth set with a kill, but the Cougars gained momentum at the right time and took the set and the game. Despite their first conference loss, Nuneviller and Colyer each had 20 kills on the night. 

The Ducks will stay in the state of Washington as they will face the Huskies on Oct. 9 at 4 p.m on Pac-12 Network.