Oregon Volleyball Sweeps The Huskies

Oregon Ducks volleyball ended their road trip up north with a sweep of the Washington Huskies, 25-20, 25-22, 25-15.

At times it was not pretty, with the Ducks committing an inordinate number of service errors both today and on Friday, but they made up for it with fantastic hitting and excellent blocking.

Oregon started the game with the first of 18 service errors on the afternoon, committing 16 of them in the first two sets. The 0-1 lead was the only lead the Huskies would have in the first set. The Ducks made up for their service errors with brilliant hitting, and hit .400 in the first set. In fact, that .400 in the first set was their lowest hitting percentage of the three sets and match.

Oregon jumped out to a 12-7 lead, forcing the Huskies to call a timeout and regroup. Washington did close in on the lead with some plucky defensive work.

The Huskies pulled to within one at 17-16, but Oregon went on a 7-3 run en route to taking the first set.

Washington took the early lead in the second set and led 4-8, but three kills by Gabby Gonzales evened the set at 11-all. The Huskies put together a couple of small runs to again take a four point lead, 14-18. Consecutive kills by Kara McGhee tied the set at 19, and then it was Oregon’s turn to put together a couple of small runs to win the second set.

The Huskies enjoyed a very brief lead in the third set, but after the 0-1 lead the Ducks stormed past Washington and never looked back. Oregon hit .500 on the set and finally got a handle on all of those service errors in the first two sets and served much better. The Ducks put the hammer on Washington, closing with a 10-point lead to take the set and match.

Oregon’s .442 hitting on the match was a season high for the Ducks. Oregon hit well, but more importantly they limited attack errors, highlighted by Morgan Lewis stroking a team-high 15 kills with zero attack errors. Gabby Gonzales added 11 kills (almost had a double-double with 9 digs), and Mimi Colyer and Kara McGhee each ended with eight kills.

Hannah Pukis was her normal outstanding self with 43 assists, and Georgia Murphy co-led on defense with nine digs.

Oregon was loose and relaxed the entire match, and secured their first sweep in Seattle in seven years. The Ducks improve their season record to 19-4 (9-3 Pac-12), while Washington drops to 13-10 (4-8 Pac-12).

Oregon returns to Eugene this coming weekend, and will host Utah on Friday and Colorado on Sunday. Friday’s match at MKA starts at 6:00 pm PT and can be seen on Oregon Live Stream.