Oregon Volleyball Sweeps The ASU Sun Devils

The Oregon Ducks swept the Arizona State Sun Devils in Tempe, 25-21, 26-24, 25-20. The Ducks are on a five-game win streak and scored their eighth sweep of the season.

Oregon quickly came out of the gates and took a 10-5 lead after a 4-0 run.

ASU bounced back and came to within one at 14-13 before the Ducks pulled away behind the hitting of Brooke Nuneviller - who hit nine of her 20 kills for a H% of .615 in the set - and excellent serving. In fact, the set ended on a Georgia Murphy service ace.

The Sun Devils played their best ball of the match in the second set. ASU pulled ahead 4-7 on a 4-0 run. Their hustle for the entire match was commendable and was largely why ASU took the lead early in the set.

Oregon was able to tie the score at 10-10 after a 5-2 run and the teams went neck-and-neck, with 10 ties between points 10 and 19. Kills by Nuneviller and Gloria Mutiri put the Ducks up by two, 21-19.

ASU battled back and regained the lead, and the Ducks were presented with having to save set point, 23-24. Oregon rattled off three straight points to get out their the bind they were in, with a Karson Bacon kill, a Mimi Colyer service ace, and a timely ASU blocking error.

The Ducks jumped ahead early in the third set, and a 6-2 run put Oregon up by six, 11-5.

The Sun Devils battled back and didn’t give up at all, coming to within one on a 4-0 run, 14-13. Oregon again pulled ahead and ASU came to within two at 19-17 and 21-19. Every time that Sun Devils closed in on the gap, the Ducks would have an answer.

After the Sun Devils came to within two, 22-20, Oregon made it set and match with a three-point run.

Brooke Nuneviller lead the offense with 20 kills and an eye-popping .514 hit percentage. Mimi Colyer was next with 13 kills and Karson Bacon made her presence felt with 6 kills. Hannah Pukis had her second double-double in as many game with 42 assists and 12 digs. Georgia Murphy was the digs leader with 17.

The Ducks’ hitting percentage was .357 for the match, and it’s very rare when that kind of H% won’t win out for you.

Before today’s match, the second top-ten list by the NCAA Division I Volleyball Committee was revealed, putting the Oregon Ducks at #10. The only other Pac-12 team listed is Stanford at #8.

Oregon volleyball returns home next weekend to play the Washington schools in MKA.

The Ducks host the Washington Huskies on 11/4/22 at 6:00 pm PT in Matthew Knight Arena. For now, there is not a television listing for this match.

Morgan L. Blackwell