The Oregon volleyball team faced the Colorado Buffaloes in the first game of their series on Friday afternoon in Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks won with a final score of 3-0.
Colorado looked to rebound against the Ducks after suffering four straight losses to both Washington State and Washington. The Buffs were off to a 4-0 start, but now have fallen to 4-4 on the year.
The No. 22 ranked Ducks, however, entered Friday’s match on a five-game win streak since their loss to UCLA on Jan. 29. With Friday’s win, Oregon extended their streak to six making it the longest since the 2017 season.
Oregon’s strength this year has been their defense. The Ducks currently have junior Brooke Nuneviller, senior Taylor Borup and sophomore Georgia Murphy averaging over 2.50 digs a game.
In the first set, the Ducks held Colorado to a .194 hitting percentage, while Oregon maintained a .429 hitting percentage.
Sophomores Taylor Williams and Murphy combined for 11 digs along with seven kills from sophomore Karson Bacon in the first set, the Ducks held their lead for the entire match.
The second set looked different for Colorado as they increased their hitting percentage to .308 in the beginning. Early in, the score was 10-6. But, Colorado quickly lost their lead as the Ducks mounted a comeback, tying the game at 11-11.
From that point forward, the match was back and forth with the highest lead being by a point. At one point Gloria Mutiri and Williams almost collided going for a dig showing the miscommunication. Errors from serves were apparent on both sides as the second set was much grittier than the first.
Finally, the Ducks took the set with a score of 28-25, ending it with a 3-0 scoring run.
The third and final set was all Oregon, as the Ducks dominated right from the start, never losing their lead as they capitalized on errors from their opponent. The Ducks’ defense held Colorado again to a .068 hitting percentage. They finished the third set 25-20.
In Oregon’s impressive 3-0 sweep, several Ducks turned in solid performances from sophomore Abby Hansen who led with 13 kills and Junior Brooke Nuneviller who played a versatile game with 11 kills and 18 digs.
The 7-2 Ducks face the Buffaloes again this Sunday, Feb. 28, in Matthew Knight at 10:30 a.m.
