Oregon Volleyball Pulls Off Reverse Sweep In A Win Against USC

Oregon Ducks volleyball rebounded with a reverse sweep against the USC Trojans, 21-25, 23-25, 25-20, 25-20, 15-12. The win was a program-record 11th in a row in conference play, and the Ducks remain undefeated on the season at MKA.

Morgan L. Blackwell

In the first set, the Ducks played evenly and even held a brief lead at 9-8, but USC went on a 6-0 run to pull ahead 16-10. Oregon’s defending was somewhat uneven, but this was more a case of the Trojans placing their kills very effectively.

The Ducks held off three set points but were ultimately unable to close on USC.

Oregon found themselves down in the first half of the second set, but fought back to pull with one at mid-set.

The Ducks tied the set at 20-20 before USC went on a 4-0 run. Oregon was again faced with the prospect of having to save multiple set points and couldn’t quite pull it off.

Oregon never held a lead in the second set and again found themselves on their heels.

In the third set, the Ducks were playing more deliberate defense as well as finding their shots, but the blocking was beginning to gain some traction, such as this block after rally from Gloria Mutiri:

USC stayed in the game and held leads for much of the middle of the third set. Oregon then went on a 7-1 run, highlighted by a couple of service aces by Mimi Colyer to win the set.

That momentum carried the Ducks into a fourth set that they completed controlled from start to end. USC never had the lead, and could not keep pace with Oregon’s attack percentage of .571. Colyer was finding her shots en route to a career match in kills.

The Trojans did attempt to fight back, but with a comfortable lead the Ducks could just trade points going into the end of the set.

Hannah Pukis was masterfully distributing the ball, and USC had some difficulty tracking who was going to get it for the kill.

Pukis was also playing some amazing defense:

Oregon handily won set four, setting the stage for a second reverse sweep in as many weekends.

The Ducks pulled ahead in the middle of set five, 10-7, but USC rallied to tie the set after a 3-0 run. Oregon was having none of that, and a 5-2 run sealed the set, and match.

In spite of dropping the first two sets, Oregon sported impressive hitting numbers today, going .429 on the match.

Morgan L. Blackwell

The Ducks committed 12 service errors, but that number was mitigated somewhat by the fact that USC also had 12 service errors. Oregon helped their cause by getting nearly twice the aces of USC, 7-4.

Mimi Colyer’s 29 kills were a career high, thus far in her young career, and lead all Ducks. Brooke Nuneviller racked up 19 kills along with 7 digs, and Karson Bacon nearly broke into double figures with 9 kills.

Hannah Pukis tied her career assist high with 62. Georgia Murphy was the digs leader with 13.

Morgan L. Blackwell

Oregon blocked very well this match, with 10 total blocks to USC’s three.

The Ducks will be headed to Berkeley to face the California Bears before closing the season at home against Oregon State.

The Oregon Ducks next face the California Golden Bears in Berkeley on Wednesday, 11/23/22, at 12:00 pm PT. The game will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.

Morgan L. Blackwell