Oregon Ducks Volleyball Sweeps The Washington Huskies

The Oregon Ducks dominated the Washington Huskies tonight in MKA, taking the match in three sets; 25-13, 25-19, 25-18.

The Ducks were defensively on fire to begin the match, and there was little letup later on; however, their 6-0 run to open the game was built primarily on some incredible digs to keep the ball in play.

There was no pulling off the gas for Oregon in the first set. As head coach Matt Ulmer said after the game, “For us, when you come out right away (and apply the gas), (we’re saying) this is how hard it’s going to be for you to score a point every rally. That’s going to wear you down.”

The Huskies battled back, making it 7-4 in an attempt to competitively get into the set. The Ducks pushed Washington back on a 6-2 run that included a successful challenge of a UW point. Later in the set, the Ducks poured fuel on the fire with a 7-2 run to finish the set.

The Huskies came into this match with the Pac-12’s best offense, and Oregon shut them down in set 1 to a H% of only .034, while the Ducks hit .500. It was truly an impressive offensive and defensive display.

UW regrouped and started the second set on much better footing. The Ducks took the first two points before the Huskies went on a 6-1 run to establish their first lead of the match.

Oregon bounced back and kept pace with a trio of kills from Kiari Robey, who had a stellar night. Hannah Pukis was setting the ball here, there, and everywhere, keeping the Huskies defense guessing. Of course, Oregon’s great defensive display did not go away. The Ducks pulled even, and then began to pull away.

The second set featured the most incredible rally of the match; a rally that survived a UW challenge.

The Huskies could not keep pace with Pukis sprinkling serves to all of her hitters. UW hit better in the second set at .176, but the Ducks doubled that at .364.

In the third set, Oregon charged out to a 4-1 lead, but Washington inched it back to pull even at 7-7 and 8-8.

That’s as close as UW would get. The Ducks went on a 9-3 run to extinguish any hope the Huskies might have entertained in taking a set.

Tonight, a talented Washington team would be completely dominated by Oregon, who would finish the sweep with a Brooke Nuneviller kill.

The Pac-12’s best offense was held to a hitting percentage of only .152, while Oregon’s H% was an outstanding .402. Mimi Colyer, Gloria Mutiri, and Brooke Nuneviller all had double-digit kills. Kiari Robey nearly got in to double-digit territory, while sporting a spectacular perfect H% of 1.000.

Nuneviller was outstanding on defense, with her 11 digs once again taking her into double-double territory. Georgia Murphy was the digs leader with 15.

A big factor in Oregon’s earlier road losses to the Washington schools was a relatively poor showing at the service line. The Ducks have been steadily improving their serving and it showed tonight, with Oregon committing only six service errors with three aces (Oregon’s struggles against Washington earlier in the year resulted in 15 service errors).

Oregon next hosts the Washington State Cougars on Sunday, 11/6/22, at 12:00 pm PT. The game with be televised on Pac-12 Oregon.