Oregon volleyball took down Colorado Sunday morning at Matthew Knight Arena, winning their seventh straight conference match. They are the first team in program history to do so.
After winning 10 consecutive sets over the previous four games, the Ducks dropped the first set to the Buffaloes.
Jenna Ewert, a preseason All-Pac-12 selection for Colorado, made her mark with seven assists in the first.
For the Ducks, Taylor Williams had seven of her 13 kills in the first, the lone positive in a rough first set, which Colorado won 25-23.
Oregon came out flat again in the second and Colorado was clearly playing with more intensity. Falling behind 11-7, Ducks head coach Matt Ulmer was forced to call a timeout.
“I felt like our energy level wasn’t great,” Ulmer said. “I tried to snap our mentality around to continuing to talk, communicating with our teammates… when we do that, good things happen.”
Following the timeout, Oregon fought back and rallied together an 18-9 scoring run to close out the set and win 25-20.
In the third, Brooke Nuneviller had a stellar performance, tallying six kills. Behind her, the Ducks rattled off a 6-0 scoring run where she contributed an ace and two kills, helping the Ducks pull away from Colorado with a resounding 25-19 victory in the third.
Oregon held the momentum heading into the fourth set.
The Buffaloes put up a fight, however, executing a 4-0 run that forced another timeout and cut the Ducks’ lead to 17-14.
Out of the timeout, Oregon went on a run of their own and didn’t look back, taking the fourth set 25-17 and securing the victory.
Sophomore setter Kylie Robinson finished the game with 20 assists and 23 digs.
“Going into it we knew that we were going to get a lot of balls towards us,” Robinson said.
Nuneviller, who has been one of the conference’s best players this season, recorded her ninth double-double in the season’s 10 matches, finishing with 15 kills and 17 digs.
Gloria Mutiri and Morgan Lewis added 10 kills each, helping Oregon out-shoot Colorado .209 to .098.
Next week, Oregon looks to extend their winning streak against Washington, who they will host at Matthew Knight Arena on Friday, March 5.
