Match Stats
- #16 Oregon def. Colorado 3-1 (25-21, 20-25, 25-20, 25-16)
- Oregon moves to 18-7 (11-5 Pac-12); Colorado falls to 13-12 (5-10 Pac-12)
- Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene, Oregon
Both teams needed a win on Thursday evening in the Matthew Knight Arena. After falling to #19 Utah on Wednesday, a surprising Oregon needed a win to stay in the hunt for the Pac-12 title. Colorado, on the other hand, who was ranked early in the season but have faded hard as of late, needs to start finding wins if they want to salvage a slot in the NCAA tournament.
One-or-the-other had to give, and it was the upward-trending Ducks who carried the day, winning 3-1 at home in front of 1,581 fans.
The match was the back-and-forth affair it was intended to be early, with Oregon needing a late three-straight rally, including a pair of kills by Taylor Agost, to pull away and finish the set.
Set #2 was all Buffaloes from the outset, leading by as much as 15-3, including 8-straight points on Cierra Simpson serves, before Oregon found their rhythm and was able to make the final score respectable.
Set 3 again had Colorado opening strong, but Oregon didn’t wait as long to make their move this time, pushing from a 5-8 deficit to an 11-9 lead, and ultimately a 25-20 win. The team’s star hitter, Lindsey Vander Weide, was clutch in the 3rd set with 5 kills and 2 service aces, part of 20 and 4, respectively, in the game.
After the game ping-ponged back and forth through 3, Oregon broke through to an 11-3 lead early in the 4th (including a 7-point, 1-ace run from Vander Weide at the service line) and put the Buffs away for good.
Other leaders for the winning Ducks include Amanda Benson with 28 digs and 2 aces, and Taylor Agost with 10 kills – the only other Duck in double-figures.
Colorado’s top scorer offensively was Alexa Smith, with 15 kills (7e, 37ta, .267), though Naghede Abu chipped in an efficient 9 kills on 18 hits. Colorado also had 9 team blocks – which has been their strength this season despite the overall struggle. They rank 4th in the Pac-12 and 44th in the NCAA in blocks-per-set this season.
Colorado plays 3 ranked teams in their last 5, making Saturday evening’s game against Oregon State a must-win.
Press Releases
Courtesy Oregon Athletics:
EUGENE, Ore. – The 16th-ranked Oregon volleyball team rebounded from a tough loss to beat Colorado in four sets, 25-21, 20-25, 25-20, 25-16, on senior night on Thursday at Matthew Knight Arena.
How It Happened: After falling a half game back of the Pac-12 lead on Wednesday with a disappointing loss to No. 19 Utah, Oregon (18-7, 11-5 Pac-12) responded with a much-needed home win over the Buffaloes (13-12, 5-10 Pac-12). The Ducks finished strong in a tightly-played first set to go up 1-0, but the Buffs built a commanding lead in the second and then held on to tie the match, 1-1. A 7-2 run by the Ducks to finish the third set gave them a 2-1 advantage, and they were had control of the fourth set from the start to finish their regular season home schedule with a win.
Lindsey Vander Weide once again fueled the offense for the Ducks, hitting .381 with 20 kills for her 10th straight match with double-digit kills and 18th this season while also adding a career-high four aces. It was Vander Weide’s fourth 20-kill match of the year. Taylor Agost added 10 kills, and Ronika Stone put down nine. Seniors Kacey Nady and Amanda Benson shined on their senior night, with Nady recording a season-high seven blocks and Benson tying her season high with her second straight 28-dig match.
Set 1: After an initial 7-7 tie, the Ducks scored four of five to go up 11-8. The Buffaloes were able to play their way back into a tie at 15-15 and then 19-19 before Oregon found its groove, going on a 6-2 run to open the match with a 25-21 win. Vander Weide paced the Ducks with six kills and Agost added five, and Benson opened her Senior Night with 10 digs. The Ducks hit .308 while holding Colorado to a mark of .179.
Set 2: It was a struggle to start the second set for the Ducks after winning the first, with Colorado racing out to a 14-3 lead. Oregon began to turn things around, getting within 19-11 and forcing Colorado into its first timeout. Oregon continued its comeback bid with a 9-4 stretch, capped by three straight to get within 23-17. The Ducks scored two more after CU’s second timeout to get within four, but the Buffaloes were able to score two of the final three points to win the set and even the match. Vander Weide led the Ducks once again with five kills, and she and Benson each put down an ace. The Buffaloes rebounded form a tough first set to hit .325 in the second.
Set 3: The third set was tight from the start, as the two teams went back and forth to play to a 12-12 tie. The Ducks were able to put together a 3-0 run at that point to go up 15-12 and prompt CU’s first timeout, but the Buffaloes responded with a 4-1 stretch to pull back even, 16-16. Tied at 18-18, Oregon was finally able to gain separation with an emphatic 7-2 stretch to win the set. Vander Weide led the Ducks yet again with five kills, and put the exclamation point on the set with an ace on set point for her second of the set. Benson dug 10 balls for the second time in three sets.
Set 4: Coming off an emotional third-set win, the Ducks built a commanding 11-3 lead. After three straight CU points cut the Oregon lead to 11-6, the Ducks got back to work and put together a dominant 12-5 run to extend their lead to 23-11. The Buffaloes fought hard down the stretch to cut into the deficit, but the Ducks finished off a 25-16 win and a four-set victory. Vander Weide and Stone each had four kills to pace the offense, and Vander Weide and Alex Hojnar each put down an ace. The Buffaloes couldn’t get anything going offensively, hitting -.026 in the set.
What It Means: Entering the match a half-match back of the Pac-12 lead after Wednesday’s loss, the Ducks kept pace with the win to tally their 11th conference win. It was an important home win for a team that entered the night 10-7 at home after dropping four of its last five at MKA. Oregon moved to 16-0 on the season when leading in digs, and 15-0 when limiting its opponent to a hitting percentage under .200.
Senior Night: Benson and Nady were honored before the match on Senior Night for their careers as Ducks. Nady is currently fifth in UO history with a career .314 hitting percentage, and entered the match 10th in the Pac-12 in hitting percentage. Benson is one of only two players in UO history to surpass 2,000 career digs with 2,061 for her career, and is second all-time in both digs and digs per set.
Quotes:
Jim Moore, Head Coach
On the seniors…
“Well they’re obviously going to contribute. I know Kacey didn’t play very much last night, but that was just kind of the way it matched up. There is never going to be a time when Amanda is not going to contribute.”
On the third set…
“We didn’t attack into the second set and we were serving easy. When we came back we started serving tough again. Lauren Page went back and served tough. It’s not about missed serves. We should have been up two sets to none last night. I think a lot of people would agree with that. We missed nine serves and had no aces. There are not free throws. You have to attack serving, you have to go after it.”
On the team without Jolie…
“We didn’t do very well last night, we did better tonight. I don’t know when she’ll be back. She’s walking around great, she’s still in a boot right now, but that is mostly just precautionary. She is making us hopeful, that’s for sure.”
On finishing on the road…
“It’s going to be three in a row that are pretty tough. If we play the way we are capable of playing, we are fine.”
Kacey Nady, Senior Middle Blocker
On emotions tonight…
“I try to keep them under control as much as possible because this volleyball program has been the biggest part of my life. I started playing volleyball really late so I am more than blessed to be playing here.”
What are you going to miss most…
“I would have to say my teammates. Going to team dinners and talking and laughing. My team is so funny, they are so funny, and definitely my teammates.”
What changed about the last two sets…
“I think we realized that we could attack harder, and that’s our biggest thing. If we’re not attacking, we’re not going to win the point. We realized that we can just press harder and I think that we started serving tougher, that was a big deal, passing was amazing, and just once one person does something good it just starts rolling.”
Up Next: After finishing its regular season home schedule, Oregon will hit the road for four straight away matches to finish off the regular season. The Ducks, 7-0 on the road this season, will first take on UCLA, who is tied for the Pac-12 lead, next Friday at 7 p.m. before playing USC on Saturday at 7 p.m. Oregon will wrap up its schedule at Stanford (Nov. 23) and at Oregon State (Nov. 25).
Courtesy Colorado Athletics:
EUGENE, Ore. — Colorado sophomore Alexa Smith recorded 15 kills, but it was not enough to propel the Buffaloes past the No. 16 Oregon Ducks on Thursday night as CU lost another tough Pac-12 Conference match 3-1 (25-21, 20-25, 25-20, 25-16) at Matthew Knight Arena.
Oregon improved to 18-7 overall with an 11-5 mark in Pac-12 play, while Colorado is now 13-12 overall, 5-10 in the Pac-12.
WHAT HAPPENED: The Buffs played three very good sets, but could not get anything going in the fourth set despite some great individual performances. Besides the 15 kills, Smith also added seven digs and a block. Sophomore Naghede Abu had a good all-around performance, recording nine kills and hitting .444 with just one error on 18 attacks. She also posted three block assists for 10.5 points in the effort.
Junior Joslyn Hayes had seven kills for the Buffs while hitting .263 with only two errors on 19 attacks. She too had a good evening at the net posting five block assists. Junior Anna Pfefferle was the top blocker for CU, putting up six with one solo and five assists, while adding five kills.
In the back row, senior Cierra Simpson recorded 21 digs to lead CU. This is the fifth time this season she has tallied 20 or more digs in a match.
SET 1: The first set was very close. Oregon got out to a 5-3 lead, but the Buffs quickly came back to even the game up with the next two points off a pair of blocks. The two sides battled and again the Ducks went ahead, this time by three at 11-8. CU rallied back and evened the score a short time later at 15-15. The set was tied again at 16-16 when the Ducks took two straight points for an 18-16 advantage, causing the Buffs to take a timeout. The Buffs came back again to tie the frame up at 20-20, but that was the closest they were going to get as UO finished the game with a 5-1 run (25-21).
SET 2: CU was hot to start the second set, taking a 9-3 lead before the Ducks were forced to take their first timeout. The Buffs just kept going out of the break, recording four straight kills to increase the lead to 13-3, causing Oregon to take another timeout. The Buffs took the next two points off a pair of block assists by Pfefferle and Hayes (15-3) before the Ducks recorded a point off a kill. Oregon was able to cut CU’s lead to eight (19-11), at which point it was CU that needed a timeout. UO got within four points late in the set (23-19), but the Buffs regrouped and closed the game 25-20.
SET 3: The Buffs had a 9-7 advantage to start the set, but the Ducks took the lead with a 4-0 run (11-9). Oregon continued to hold the lead and at 15-12, CU took its first timeout of the set. The Buffs responded by taking four of the next five points to even the score at 16-16. The next point was pivotal – it was called an Oregon attack error, but the Ducks challenged and it was reversed, giving them the 17-16 edge. A service error by the Ducks tied it back up (17-17) and the game would be tied again at 18-18 before UO finished the set with a 7-2 run (25-20).
SET 4: Oregon put together an 8-0 run to take an 11-3 lead to start the fourth set. The Buffs answered with three straight points, but the Ducks kept adding to their lead, increasing it to 21-9. UO wrapped up the set 25-16 after CU fought off three straight match points. The Buffs struggled in the set, recording eight hitting errors to hit -.026 in with just seven kills on 38 attacks.
TEAM STATISTICS: The Buffs hit .167 with 48 kills and 23 errors on 150 attacks, while Oregon hit .267 with 60 kills and 21 errors on 146 attacks. Oregon handed out 58 assists to CU’s 46 and also had the edge in service aces (7-4). OU out-dug the Buffs 66-56 and posted 12.0 blocks to CU’s 9.0.
NOTEABLE: Oregon leads the all-time series 12-3…The Buffs are 4-9 against ranked opponents this season…CU is also 1-8 on the road in 2016…The Buffs are 2-6 in four-set Pac-12 Conference matches; 3-6 overall in four-set matches.
NEXT UP: The Buffs travel to Corvallis, Ore. to face Oregon State on Saturday, Nov. 12. The match is scheduled for 8 p.m. and will be streamed on Pac-12 Plus.
QUOTABLE:
Jesse Mahoney, head coach
“This was a tough loss tonight because our team played hard and we were competitive in each of the first three sets. We lost some discipline in set four and gave Oregon too many free points on our own errors. Bright spots for us tonight were Cierra Simpson, defensively and from the service line, as well as a great offensive night from Naghede Abu. Oregon State is now a must win for us Saturday.”
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