Sweep Gives Ducks Eighth Straight Win At Home

Sunday, October 27

1:00 PM

University of Oregon

16-3,8-2Big Ten

Rutgers

5-16,0-10Big Ten

Rutgers

Oregon

Photo by: Rob Moseley/GoDucks.com

10/27/24 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

No. 11 Oregon beat Rutgers in three sets Sunday at Matthew Knight Arena.

By: Rob Moseley

EUGENE, Ore. — Not even a late lineup change could disrupt the outstanding momentum Oregon volleyball currently is experiencing at home.

The No. 11 Ducks won for the eighth straight match at Matthew Knight Arena on Sunday, sweeping Rutgers before 2,277 fans. An injury to setter Cristin Cline in practice Saturday resulted in the Ducks turning to Roberta Purashaj, who helped the UO women hit .297 on the afternoon — including .542 in the third set.

Oregon (16-3, 8-2 Big Ten) completed its second sweep of the weekend. Two days after beating Maryland in three sets, the Ducks beat the Scarlet Knights by scores of 26-24, 25-18, 25-14.

"I thought the connections were just a little off (early), which is to be expected," UO coach Matt Ulmer said. "But as the match went on I thought they really improved, and we stayed steady and started to play some pretty good volleyball at the end."

Onye Ofoegbu and Mimi Colyer had 12 kills each to lead the UO attack, and Noemie Glover had eight. Purashaj had 37 assists and contributed to six blocks, while Maya De Los Reyes and Mackenzie Morris each had three of the Ducks' nine aces.

How It Happened: The change at setter didn't lead to any immediate issues out of the gate Sunday. With Morris at the service line, Oregon scored five straight points to lead 6-1 early in the opening set. It was still a comfortable lead at 13-7 when Rutgers reversed the momentum, pulling ahead at 16-15 and threatening to win the set when it was 23-20.

From there the Ducks scored four straight, with two kills from Colyer and an ace by De Los Reyes. Oregon was unable to convert its first attempt at set point, but Colyer broke a 24-24 tie with another kill and the UO women won the set on a Rutgers error.

"We adjusted well," Ulmer said. "It's a blessing and a curse that we're able to come back in some of these sets, and pull them out when it's not looking very good. We like that part; I'd rather not be in this situation, but we made it happen."

Ofoegbu had seven kills and Colyer had six in the opening set, but the Ducks were more balanced in the second. They never trailed in the set, and scored five straight points to go up 18-10, a run that included an ace from Daley McClellan. Another ace from De Los Reyes made it 21-14, and Colby Neal had back-to-back kills to close out the set.

De Los Reyes had three aces with no service errors on her 16 attempts from the line, continuing to thrive in a role she has embraced this season. Her third ace came during a 5-0 run that put Oregon up 10-5 in the third set, one of numerous examples from this season of the Ducks mounting an extended rally behind the serve of De Los Reyes.

"It's been so much fun, because a lot of my time here has been about giving all I can," De Los Reyes said. "And it's cool to feel everyone give back."

That 5-0 run broke open the third set after a back-and-forth start. Morris had consecutive aces during another 5-0 run that made it 19-11. Ofoegbu finished off the set and the match with her 12th kill, capping a day in which she hit .444 and assisted on four blocks as well.

"I was not sure what my role would be offensively this game," Ofoegbu said. "But I'm very grateful that Robbie put me in amazing situations, and I think it worked out really well for us."

Up Next: Oregon plays at Washington on Wednesday (6:30 p.m., Big Ten Network) before returning home to host UCLA on Saturday (8 p.m., Big Ten Network).