Sweep of USC Kicks Off Mighty B1G Week

Wednesday, October 9

6:00 PM

University of Oregon

12-2,4-1Big Ten

USC

11-4,3-2Big Ten

Southern California

Oregon

Photo by: Rob Moseley/GoDucks.com

10/09/24 | Women's Volleyball

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The No. 11 Oregon volleyball team returned home and returned to form Wednesday night, beating USC in three sets.

By: Rob Moseley

EUGENE, Ore. — It was, UO coach Matt Ulmer said, his team's most complete match of the year on both sides of the ball. And it couldn't have come at a better time.

Coming off just the second loss of the season, the Oregon volleyball team returned home and returned to form Wednesday night. The Ducks swept USC before 2,203 fans in Matthew Knight Arena, kicking off a home weekend against a pair of Pac-12-turned-Big Ten foes, the Women of Troy and then Washington on Sunday.

The No. 11 Ducks improved to 12-2 overall and 4-1 in conference play with the three-set win over No. 16 USC. The 25-18, 27-25, 25-19 win came five days after the UO women's second loss this fall, at No. 3 Penn State.

"After our last match, I think we had a lot to prove — to everyone and to ourselves — that we are a much better volleyball team than that," said UO junior Mimi Colyer, who led the Ducks on Wednesday with 17 kills and added nine digs. "I think we did a really good job of sticking to the game plan, and we executed on a lot of aspects of the game."

All three sets were tightly played, with the Ducks pulling away midway through the first and third, and digging out of a late deficit in set two to win 27-25. Oregon hit .245 while holding USC to .138 hitting.

"I had one request today, is that they were just going to get in a fight — I wanted to see us really battle again," UO coach Matt Ulmer said. "I thought (in Oregon's two losses) against Pitt and Penn State, those two matches in particular — teams that, we're physically alike — I just thought we were too wimpy. … I think sometimes we forget how good we can be, and we doubt ourselves. So I just wanted to see that (fight) consistently tonight."

Michelle Ohwobete added eight kills, eight digs and three blocks for the Ducks, Onye Ofoegbu had six kills and Colby Neal provided five kills with six blocks. Noemie Glover finished with four kills and four blocks, Cristin Cline had 33 assists and Mackenzie Morris dug 16 balls.

How It Happened: USC only had two scoring runs longer than three points Wednesday, and the first came early in the opening set. Oregon led 7-4 when the Women of Troy scored four straight to take the lead.

Oregon tied it at 8-8, and from that point on neither team led by more than two until late in the set. The Ducks were up 19-18 when Ohwobete took over at the service line, and the UO women scored the next six points to win the set.

"It's funny because that rotation should be one of our strengths, because you've got Mimi and Noemi in the front row; with Colby it should be a really good blocking rotation for us; and Michelle's a great server," Ulmer said. "But all year that has not been a good scoring rotation for us. So it's interesting. But tonight, what you think it should be, happened."

The second set saw Oregon get out to an 11-8 lead before USC scored four of the next five to forge a 12-12 tie. The Women of Troy scored four of five again later in the set to lead 22-19, and they were poised to take the set up 23-21. A kill by Neal put the serve back in Ohwobete's hands, and Oregon scored twice to set up set point.

USC fought off that chance for the Ducks to win the set and another at 25-24, but ultimately Ofoegbu clinched it for Oregon. The Ducks were able to side out on each of USC's last three serves in the set, siding out at 73 percent in each of the final two sets and 69.8 percent for the match.

"We are so good when we are siding out first ball," Morris said. "So that was my main focus for tonight. And I think everyone in the back row has stepped up and did a really great job of making sure we're siding out."

The other rare instance Wednesday of USC building momentum came in set three, after Oregon got out to an 11-9 lead. The Women of Troy scored four straight to take the lead before a kill by Ohwobete sparked a run that included two aces from Maya De Los Reyes as the Ducks went back in front, 15-13.

It was 16-15 when Ohwobete had another kill to put herself back on the service line. That resulted in another long run that gave Oregon a commanding 22-15 lead, on the way to clinching the set and the match.

"Michelle serve was so on tonight," Morris said. "Getting them out of system was super helpful for us, and (getting) the block set up. I'm so proud of her for going back there and being so aggressive from the service line. Yeah, I paid off for us."

Up Next: The Ducks host Washington on Sunday (1 p.m., B1G+).