Second Round Friday After Ducks Sweep Opener

Thursday, December 5

Eugene, OR

6:30 PM

University of Oregon

23-7,14-6Big Ten

High Point

23-7,13-1Big South

High Point

Oregon

Photo by: GoDucks.com

12/05/24 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Oregon will host TCU in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday after a sweep of High Point on Thursday.

By: Rob Moseley

EUGENE, Ore. — The competition gets tougher for the Oregon volleyball team Friday, and the Ducks know they'll have to get tougher, too.

The UO women will play for a spot in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, when they host Texas Christian in the second round at Matthew Knight Arena. Both teams advanced through the first round with three-set wins Thursday, including a 25-14, 25-17, 25-21 victory for the Ducks over Big South champion High Point.

Oregon dominated the opening set Thursday, but the next two were more competitive as the Panthers fought to keep their season alive.

"I thought it was not our best performance," UO coach Matt Ulmer said. "But we did a lot of really nice things, and I'm happy for this group to get their first playoff win."

Onye Ofoegbu had 12 kills and hit .750 to lead the Ducks, and Noemie Glover added 11 kills. Michelle Ohwobete had nine kills with five aces, Mimi Colyer had eight kills and freshmen setter Cristin Cline ran the show with 29 assists plus 12 digs in her postseason debut.

"It's different — it's really different than normal," Cline said. "Your nerves are going and just everything's crazy. But I definitely think we can do a lot of things better tomorrow."

The Ducks (23-7) hit .379 in the opening set Thursday but just .111 in the third set, while High Point improved from .037 in the first to .194 in the third. Oregon fell victim to two reverse sweeps in the final two weeks of the regular season, so the Ducks are still working to finish strong after winning the first two sets of a match.

"That's something that I think we need to continue to pay attention to," Ulmer said. "You come out and you've got to have that killer instinct to want to put teams down when you should. Hopefully it's just one more opportunity for the group to learn, and tomorrow will be different."

How It Happened: Ohwobete opened the match with two aces as Oregon took control of the opening set from the outset. She took over again at the service line with the Ducks up 15-11 and had another ace as the UO women bumped their lead up to 19-11. Ohwobete also had a kill to finish off the set, after Ofoegbu's sixth kill of the opening frame gave Oregon set point.

"She's so good that it's just so easy to set her," Cline said of Ofoegbu. "As long as the ball is high, she jumps so high that she's hitting everything. She's aggressive. When she's on, she's on, she's doing great."

Colby Neal was in on all four of Oregon's blocks in the first set, but the Ducks had just one more the rest of the way. That helped High Point keep the second set competitive as late as a 13-13 tie, before the Ducks pulled away. Neal had two kills to give Oregon set point, and Glover finished it off.

"They weren't going to get blocked anymore, so they just started tipping a bunch and just going high hands," Ulmer said. "So it was hard to find a rhythm. Good strategy by them; I thought it got them back in the game. But for us, I thought we just got undisciplined when that was happening."

High Point carried momentum over into the third, and had a 5-2 lead in the early going. Daley McClellan took over at the service line for Oregon when it was 5-3, and Mimi Colyer had three kills during an ensuing run that gave the Ducks an 11-5 lead. The Panthers wouldn't go away, closing within three at 13-10, 15-12 and again at 23-20, before a kill by Glover and an attack error clinched the UO sweep.

Up Next: The Ducks face TCU on Friday (6 p.m., ESPN+).