Volleyball suffers first defeat of the season

It took four sets, and almost went to a fifth, but Oregon Volleyball fell for the first time in the 2022 season at No.3 Minnesota.

Oregon actually held a set point to force a fifth set before the Golden Gophers rallied with three straight scores to seal the game. Oregon dropped the first set of the game 25-20 but rallied back to claim the second set 25-22. The third set went Minnesota’s way as the Gophers wrapped it up 25-18.

In the fourth and final set the Ducks jumped out to a 7-2 lead and were still in control at 15-10 later on before Minnesota scored five in a row to tie things up.

The lead then began to seesaw as a kill by Oregon put them 20-19 and the Gophers responded by earning three of the next four kills to snag a 23-21 edge. But the Ducks wouldn’t quit, and scored twice more to knot the score yet again.

A kill by Minnesota earned them a match point but it was Oregon that tallied two more to give themselves a set point. Unfortunately, a service error quelled the Ducks’ momentum, and the Gophers capitalized with two final kills to conclude the match.

Senior Brooke Nuneviller lead Oregon with 21 kills and 12 digs, Freshman Georgia Murphy tallied 15 digs and seven assists, and Sophomore Kiari Robey added seven kills and a match-high seven blocks.

This was the first game of the Pac12/Big 10 Challenge, which next pits the No.18 Ducks against No.20 Penn State on Saturday afternoon.

Following that, Oregon will head south to the Hurricane Invitational in Florida, where they will square off against South Carolina and Miami.