Ducks Drop Big Ten Opener at No. 6 Wisconsin

Thursday, September 24

Madison, WI

5:00 PM

University of Oregon

9-2,0-1Big Ten

Wisconsin

7-4,1-0Big Ten

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Oregon	26	19	24	14	1
Wisconsin	24	25	26	25	3

09/24/26 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

Junior Sjakkie Donkers put down a season-high 20 kills in Thursday’s four-set loss.

MADISON, Wis. — The No. 20 Oregon volleyball team lost its Big Ten opener Thursday evening to sixth-ranked Wisconsin at the UW Field House in Madison, Wis. Sjakkie Donkers led all players with a season-high 20 kills while Marina Crownover collected her team-leading fourth double-double in the setback.

The Ducks are now 9-2 heading into Saturday's road match at No. 15 Minnesota.

Donkers hit .333 against the Badgers and added a season-high 11 digs for her first double-double of the year. Thursday marked the first 20-kill performance of Donkers' career at Oregon, and with that outing, she has reached double figures in three of the past four matches. Crownover finished the night with 43 assists and 10 digs.

Oregon won the first set for the second-consecutive meeting with Wisconsin and had set points in the third for a 2-1 match lead but the home Badgers ended that set on a four-point run and pulled away in the fourth to secure the win (24-26, 25-19, 26-24, 25-14).

How It Happened: With the score tied at 10-all in the first, Wisconsin (7-4, 1-0 B1G) rattled off four of five points to force the Ducks into their first timeout. Oregon came out of the huddle with a 4-1 run of its own to pull back even at 15-15. The Ducks began to inch ahead and led 19-17 after Valentina Vaulet put down consecutive kills.

Oregon took a 23-20 lead after a kill by Donkers—her seventh of the set—but the home team won the next three points to tie the score. The teams traded points and were tied 24-24 but Iva Sucurovic found the floor to give UO its second set point. Donkers made it stand with an ace to the corner, and Oregon led the match, 1-0.

Vaulet finished the match with nine kills and nine digs.

The Ducks won the first point of the second but Wisconsin jumped out to a 7-2 lead and never trailed the remainder of the set. Oregon saved a set point but the Badgers took care of the next rally to even the match at 1-1.

In a near reversal of the previous set, Wisconsin won the first point before the Ducks took control of play and led 7-3 after kills from Sucurovic and Vaulet. Oregon went on to build a 19-13 lead with the help of back-to-back kills from Donkers, and then took a 23-18 lead after kill from Laura Eichert.

The Badgers won the next four points but broke the run with a service error, and Oregon had set point at 24-22. Wisconsin freshman Decelise Champion saved both with kills though head coach Trent Kersten used a challenge on the second but the original call of a block touch was confirmed. Wisconsin went on to take the next two points, and third set, on UO attack errors.

Oregon kept it close early in the fourth, trailing by just three—UW up, 11-8—after another Eichert kill but the Badgers won 10 of the next 12 points to pull away. The Ducks saved a pair of match points but Wisconsin closed things out with a kill by Champion.

Audrey Flanagan and Champion led Wisconsin with 19 and 16 kills, respectively.

Notable: With her second kill of the night, Vaulet recorded the 500^th kill of her Oregon career … all four of the ORE-WIS matches played in Madison have gone four sets; UW is 4-0 in those matches … Eichert and fellow freshman Alaina Pollard came in off the bench to record the first conference kills of their careers.

Up Next: The conference-opening weekend continues Saturday afternoon at No. 15 Minnesota (4 p.m. PT, B1G+). The Ducks' Big Ten home opener is next Friday, Oct. 2, against Purdue followed by an Oct. 4 match up with Illinois.

Single-match and season tickets for all UO home matches are currently on sale.

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