Kersten Era Starts with 3-1 Win Over South Dakota

Friday, August 29

Bozeman, MT

3:00 PM

University of Oregon

1-0,0-0Big Ten

South Dakota

0-1,0-0Summit League

South Dakota

Oregon

Photo by: Rob Moseley/GoDucks.com

08/29/25 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Valentina Vaulet and Alanah Clemente combined for 28 kills in Friday’s season opener.

EUGENE, Ore. — The Oregon volleyball team opened its 2025 season Friday afternoon with a 3-1 win over South Dakota at the EVEN Hotel Bobcat Invite in Bozeman, Mont. The victory also doubled as the first at Oregon for head coach Trent Kersten.

First one won. @OregonVB's Trent Kersten picks up his first win as Head Coach. #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/Qj856p3pFB
— GoDucks (@GoDucks) August 30, 2025

Junior Valentina Vaulet led all players with 17 kills coupled with a .395 hitting percentage. She added seven digs, three aces and a block against the Yotes. Freshman Alanah Clemente put away 11 kills on just 15 swings with one attack error, good for a .667 clip.
The setting duo of Cora Taylor (25 assists) and Kamden Mitchell (17) directed the UO offense to a .266 hitting percentage and saw five players register at least five kills. Defensively, Taylor led the team with nine digs and freshman Holley McFadden posted a match-leading eight blocks. Oregon held its foe to a .184 efficiency.

How It Happened: The Ducks used an early 11-2 run to take a 13-6 lead after four-consecutive blocks featuring McFadden, the last three in tandem with fellow freshman Maria Tabacuks. Oregon led by as many as nine—20-11—in the opening frame and jumped out to the 1-0 match advantage with a kill by Sophia Meyers.

Tabacuks and Meyers finished the match with eight and five kills, respectively.

Oregon never led in the second but saved four set points before South Dakota (0-1) pulled even with a kill from Lauren Medeck. The Yotes were led, offensively, by Amanda Loschen who had 12 kills Friday.

From 15-all in the third, the Ducks rattled off four of the next five points for a 19-16 lead and to force USD to call a timeout. South Dakota answered with a 4-1 push of its own to tie the score at 20-all. Off the bench to start the set, Clemente registered the team's next three kills. Tabacuks gave Oregon set point at 24-23 followed by USD attack error, and the Ducks led 2-1.

Clemente had seven kills on nine swings in the crucial third frame. Collectively, UO hit .324 in the set.

Riding the momentum of the previous game, the Ducks won seven of the first 10 points of the fourth and led 9-4 after a Vaulet ace which forced a South Dakota timeout. Oregon kept a cushion of at least four points for the remainder of the match. The team wrapped up the victory with a 4-0 run including consecutive Clemente-McFadden blocks and the match-ending kill from Clemente.

Notable: With her first service winner, Vaulet reached 100 career aces … Vaulet also reached—and surpassed—600 career kills … program win No. 996 … first-ever meeting between the two programs.

Up Next: The Ducks' season-opening weekend continues Saturday against Prairie View A&M with first serve at 1 p.m. (PT). It will be the second first-time opponent in as many matches to start the season. Oregon's home opener is next Wednesday, Sept. 3, against Portland.

For more news and information about Oregon Volleyball, follow @OregonVB on Instagram and Twitter, and @OregonVolleyball on Facebook.