MATCH NOTES
- #12 Oregon def. #14 Utah 3-2 (25-16, 25-13, 16-25, 17-25, 21-19)
- Oregon moves to 9-2, 2-1 Pac 12
- Utah drops to to 11-3, 2-1 Pac 12
- Salt Lake City, Utah
- Attendance: 1,923
- Box Score
- VolleyMob Top 25 (Week 6)
In a conference showdown that featured two top-15 powers, the visiting Oregon Ducks overcame a third and fourth set comeback to outlast the Utah Utes in five. In all, the decisive set featured 12 combined match points sides before the Ducks prevailed 21-19.
Oregon was led by junior outside Lindsey Vander Weide, who recorded her sixth double-double of the season (19 kills, 10 digs). Senior Maggie Scott also registered a double-double (29 assists, 11 digs) and sophomore outside Willow Johnson notched 17 kills, including five in the tiebreaker set alone.
“I’m really proud of our effort and our fight,” said head coach Matt Ulmer. “It was a crazy (fifth) set that could have been anybody’s. Utah had all the momentum and all the energy going into the set, and I thought Willow (Johnson) did a great job of getting us the momentum back. Utah is an excellent team and this is a really difficult place to play, so I’m just really proud of us.”
The Utes were led by senior outside Adora Anae, who also registered a double-double (18 kills, 13 digs). With her fifth kill of the match, Anae rose to #2 on Utah’s career kills list. Junior middle Berkeley Oblad also added 12 kills, converting at a .391 clip.
Oregon controlled the match early, winning the first two sets in convincing fashion, only to see Utah storm back in the third and fourth. The Ducks were the first of the two combatants to reach match point at 14-13, but Utah kept fighting until consecutive kills by Willow Johnson ended the deuce set 21-19 and sealed the victory for Oregon.
Utah hosts Oregon State on Saturday, while the Ducks travel to Colorado to take on the Buffaloes.
VIDEO
An insane finish to the fifth set. Here's a full look at how the Ducks clinched their five-set win over the Utes #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/znK2WSAP3I
— Oregon Volleyball (@OregonVB) September 30, 2017
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy: Oregon Athletics
Ducks Hold On to Win Top-15 Thriller
No. 12 Oregon took the first two sets in Salt Lake City and then held on in a dramatic and back-and-forth fifth set to beat No. 15 Utah in a thrilling top-15 match
SALT LAKE CITY – The 12th-ranked Oregon volleyball team took the first two sets against No. 15 Utah and then held on to win a back-and-forth fifth set in thrilling fashion and beat the Utes, 25-16, 25-13, 16-25, 17-25, 21-19, in a top-15 matchup on Friday night at the Jon M. Huntsman Center.
The Ducks (9-2, 2-1 Pac-12) earn a big road win in their second straight top-15 match and rebound after losing at UCLA last week, and they pick up their second win of the season against top-15 teams.
How it Happened: Oregon dominated the first two sets before Utah (10-3, 2-1 Pac-12) returned the favor in the third and fourth to force the match to go the distance. The fifth set was as back-and-forth as they come, with the teams trading points to a 12-12 tie. Oregon was able to string a couple points together to take match point, 14-13, but the Utes wouldn’t go away as they fought off six match points. Tied at 19-19, sophomore Willow Johnson found the floor with back-to-back kills to end the drama and seal the win for the Ducks.
“I’m really proud of our effort and our fight,” said head coach Matt Ulmer. “It was a crazy (fifth) set that could have been anybody’s. Utah had all the momentum and all the energy going into the set, and I thought WIllow (Johnson) did a great job of getting us the momentum back. Utah is an excellent team and this is a really difficult place to play, so I’m just really proud of us.”
Oregon broke an early 9-9 tie in the first with a 9-2 run that gave the Ducks command of the set, 18-11. A pair of kills by Johnson made the Oregon lead 20-13, and Alex Hojnar put down back-to-back aces before a Utah error ended the set and gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead.
A few Oregon kills and a slew of Utah errors gave the Ducks an early 10-4 lead in the second set. The Utes made it 11-7 before a 5-0 Oregon run gave the Ducks control, 16-9, and forced a Utah timeout. Lindsey Vander Weide and Ronika Stone took over for the Ducks down the stretch, combining for all of Oregon’s final nine points with a flurry of kills and a pair of aces by Stone. Vander Weide was dominant in the set with nine kills.
Utah turned the tables out of intermission, using multiple scoring runs to win the set, 25-16, and force a fourth. Utah broke a 13-13 tie with a 4-0 run, and then scored five in a row and seven out of eight to get on the board. The fourth set played out in a similar fashion, with Utah turning an 8-8 tie into a 16-9 advantage. The Utes scored five of the final six points after Oregon got within 20-14 to force the epic fifth set.
Who Stood Out: Vander Weide notched her team-best sixth double-double with a team- and season-best 19 kills and 10 digs, and Johnson finished with a career-high 17 kills on .412 hitting, with five of those coming in the fifth set. Taylor Agost hit .500 with 10 kills and no errors while adding four blocks, and Stone put down nine kills (.350) with a team-best three aces. Senior Maggie Scott earned her first double-double of the year with 29 assists and 11 digs, and classmate Alex Hojnar dug 12 balls to go with two aces.
Courtesy: Utah Athletics
#15 Utah Utes Fall to #12 Oregon Ducks
Utah drops top-15 matchup in five sets
SALT LAKE CITY- The No. 15-ranked Utah Utes (11-3, 2-1) fell in five sets (16-25, 13-25, 25-16, 25-17, 19-21) to the No. 12-ranked Oregon Ducks on Friday night at the Huntsman Center.
Utah dropped the first two sets to fall behind in the match 2-0, but forced a fifth set after taking the third and fourth sets. Utah would ultimately drop the fifth set after battling back-and-forth with Oregon. All three of Utah’s losses on the season have been in five-set matches against top-15 ranked opponents.
The Ducks jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the first set, but Utah countered and went on a 4-0 run to tie the set at 9-9. Leading the Utes 11-10, Oregon scored seven of the next eight points to take a commanding lead in the set, 18-11. Oregon later took the set after closing out the frame on a 4-1 run.
The Ducks picked up right where they left off in the first set, scoring four straight points to open the second frame, which forced Utah to use its first timeout of the set. A kill from Carly Trueman cut the Duck lead later in the set to 11-7, but Oregon would put together a 5-0 run to lead 16-7. With Utah trailing 19-11, Oregon finished the set on a 7-2 run to take the set 25-13.
Trailing 2-0 in the match, Utah came out of the intermission and jumped to an early lead in the third set, 8-4. Oregon notched things back up midway through the set 13-13, but Utah would score four straight points to force Oregon to call its second timeout of the third set. With the Ute lead at 18-15, a kill from Kenzie Koerber began the 7-1 Utah run that would clinch the third set 25-16. Utah hit .440 in the third set after hitting .000 and .148 in the first and second sets, respectively.
The fourth set opened with both teams trading points until Oregon held an 8-6 lead. Tawnee Luafalemana registered a kill give the Utes momentum to score five straight points. After an Oregon point, Adora Anae recorded back-to-back kills to force the Ducks to call timeout trailing 13-9. Out of the timeout, the Utes scored three more points, which would lead to the final Oregon timeout. Utah would force a decisive fifth set after closing out the frame with four straight points and the final three points coming from Anae kills.
Luafalemana recorded a kill and a block to open the fifth set for Utah, but neither team would be able to build a lead larger than two points throughout the set. Trailing the Ducks 11-9, Utah scored three straight points to force an Oregon timeout, but Oregon countered out of the timeout with a 3-1 run. An Anae kill tied the set at 14-14, but the Utes and Ducks traded point-for-point until the score was tied 19-19. On its seventh match point, Oregon clinched the win from a kill by Willow Johnson.
Anae, who finished the evening with 18 kills, moved up to No. 2 all-time in career kills. She passed Brenda Barton-Whicker’s total of 1,565 kills with her fifth kill of the match. Anae also posted 13 digs in the match.
Berkeley Oblad totaled 12 kills on .391 hitting, while recording a team-high six total blocks. Carly Trueman also chipped in 12 kills for Utes, while Luafalemana added in seven kills and four total blocks.
Bailey Choy registered 32 assists and 11 digs in the match, while Camryn Machado totaled 17 assists and seven digs. Along with Anae and Choy, Brianna Doehrmann recorded a double-digit dig effort with 12 digs. Shannon Scully added in eight digs for Utah.
The Utes are back in action tomorrow night against the Oregon State Beavers at 8 p.m. in the Huntsman Center.
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