University of Oregon
14-6, 7-5Pac-12
Colorado
16-6, 6-5Pac-12
Comeback Bid Falls Just Short Against Buffs
10/27/17 | Women's Volleyball
Down 2-0, the No. 15 Ducks stormed back against Colorado to force a fifth set, but the comeback attempt came up just short as the Buffaloes escaped with a win
EUGENE, Ore. - The 15th-ranked Oregon volleyball team dropped the first two sets against Colorado on Friday night before responding with two dominant sets to force a fifth, but the comeback bid fell just short as the Buffaloes escaped Eugene with a 25-17, 25-19, 17-25, 9-25, 15-10 win in front of 1,846 fans in Matthew Knight Arena.
How it Happened: The Ducks (14-6, 7-5 Pac-12) were a bit sluggish out of the gate, as Colorado hit .441 in the opening set to win, 25-17, and take a 1-0 lead. An early 8-1 run gave the Buffaloes (16-6, 6-5 Pac-12) momentum, and Oregon was able to score consecutive points just twice in the set while hitting .189.
Oregon started better in the second, scoring four of the first five points and taking a 10-8 lead, but Colorado ripped off six straight points and 10 out of 12 to take control, 18-12. The Ducks were unable to get closer than four points the rest of the way, with Colorado hitting .467 in the set to take a 2-0 lead into intermission.
The Ducks responded out of the break to win the third set, 25-17, enjoying a huge game on the block with 9.5 total rejections. Leading 16-14, a Jolie Rasmussen kill sparked five straight Oregon points, and kills by Rasmussen and Willow Johnson ended the set and forced a fourth. Rasmussen led the Ducks to a .333 hitting percentage in the set with four kills, while Lauren Page factored in on five of Oregon's 9.5 blocks to limit Colorado to minus-.067 hitting.
Oregon was even more dominant in the fourth set, rolling to a 25-9 victory to force a fifth. The Ducks hit a blistering .625 in the set with four players putting down three kills or more, while holding Colorado to a .000 hitting percentage. Oregon raced out to a 7-1 lead before using a 13-3 run to take a commanding 21-7 advantage, and the Ducks finished off the set with four kills on the final five points.The Ducks threw themselves a block party in the third set, sending back NINE. Here's each one #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/v6Q2z6b1Li
— Oregon Volleyball (@OregonVB) October 28, 2017
The Ducks scored the first two points of the decisive fifth set, but Colorado answered right back with four straight, including two on UO errors. Oregon was able to regain the lead a few times, including at 10-9 on a Ronika Stone kill, but the Buffaloes scored the final six points of the match to thwart the Ducks' comeback attempt and sweep the season series with Oregon.
Who Stood Out: Four Ducks finished with double-digit kills, led by Rasmussen's 14. Stone hit .455 with 13 kills and Johnson and Lindsey Vander Weide each had 12, with Vander Weide breaking out of an offensive slump a bit with a .308 hitting percentage. Lauren Page gave Oregon a spark off the bench with seven blocks and four kills, and Stone and Taylor Agost each had five blocks. Maggie Scott recorded her fifth double-double of the year and second in as many matches with a season-high 32 assists and 11 digs to go with four aces, and Vander Weide added 11 digs for her team-best seventh double-double. Former Duck Frankie Shebby led Colorado with 14 kills.
What it Means: After an impressive four-set win over No. 12 Utah on Wednesday, the Ducks came out flat to start the match against the Buffs. Oregon's response after intermission was encouraging, but head coach Matt Ulmer expects more energy and more consistent efforts from the Ducks moving forward. With a four-match road trip looming, the Ducks will look to regroup and get back on an upward trajectory towards the postseason.
Quotable: Matt Ulmer, Head Coach
On the loss…
"When you get in a fifth set, anything can happen. We would have liked to have made a little more plays, but I thought Colorado played well in the fifth set. I think who we are was the third and fourth set team, but who we can be are the first and second set team. So we need to be more of who we are."
On the sluggish first two sets…
"What I told the team was that I don't know if we believe we're good yet. So when good things happen to us, all of a sudden we kind of get cocky as opposed to thinking we're good, now let's go get better."
Notable: The Ducks suffered their second home loss of the season, moving to 11-2 … Oregon lost for just the second time when leading in attack percentage (.297 to .234), falling to 14-2 … The Ducks are now 4-2 in five-set matches this season … Colorado sweeps the season series for the first time, but the Ducks still lead the all-time series, 12-5.
Up Next: After wrapping up a four-match homestand against Colorado, the Ducks will begin a four-match road trip next week with matches at California (Nov. 3, 7 p.m. PT) and No. 2 Stanford (Nov. 5, 1 p.m., Pac-12 Network).
