Ducks Fall in Battle with No. 1 Texas

Saturday, August 26

Gainesville, FL

4:30 PM

University of Oregon

1-1

Texas

1-1

Oregon

Texas

08/26/17 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box: #1 Texas 3, #18 Oregon 1

The No. 18 Oregon volleyball team went toe-to-toe with top-ranked Texas on Saturday, but ultimately fell in four hard-fought sets, 23-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-23, to wrap up the VERT Challenge

By: Nate Krueger

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Oregon volleyball team went toe-to-toe with top-ranked Texas on Saturday, but ultimately fell in four hard-fought sets, 23-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-23, to wrap up the VERT Challenge at Exactech Arena.

The 18th-ranked Ducks (1-1) went back and forth with the Longhorns a night after taking down No. 5 Nebraska in head coach Matt Ulmer's debut, leaving the VERT Challenge with a split against a pair of top-five teams to kick off the 2017 season.

"I'm really proud of our fight," Ulmer said. "I thought we showed a lot of character in this match and this whole weekend. Texas is a really good team, and I'm proud of the way that we responded in some tough situations.

"Overall I'm very pleased with the weekend. I was really looking for two things this weekend, and the first was how we would handle serve receive without Amanda Benson for the first time. I thought (senior libero) Alex Hojnar was fantastic, and I thought we passed well as a team most of the weekend. The other is still just a change in attitude. I want us to be the aggressors, but we still don't really believe in how good we are and how good we can be. I think we're starting to get it, and once that clicks it's going to be a lot of fun."

How it Happened: Texas (1-1) used a pair of early scoring runs in the first set to take a 17-13 lead and force Oregon into using both timeouts, but the Ducks responded and played their way back to a 21-21 tie. After a Texas point, kills by Lindsey Vander Weide and Ronika Stone gave the Ducks set point, and Vander Weide followed a UO attack error with another kill to win the set.

Ducks take the opening set! @lindseyvdub finds the floor to clinch the 25-23 win. #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/Y5UTQlKxDn
— Oregon Volleyball (@OregonVB) August 27, 2017

Oregon started the second set well with a 5-2 lead, but Texas roared back to go up 10-8 and force Oregon into a timeout after four straight points. The Ducks played back to a 16-16 tie before Texas again scored four straight to take back control, and the Longhorns maintained their momentum out of an Oregon timeout and finished the set on a 9-1 run to pull the match even at intermission.

Texas gained a two-point advantage in the third at 16-14 after the two teams traded points the first half of the set, and the Longhorns extended their lead to 20-16 to force Oregon into taking its second timeout. Texas surged to set point, 24-18, but the Ducks fought off four straight set points to get within two before the Longhorns finished off the set, 25-22, to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

Looking to force a decisive fifth set, the Ducks came out hot in the fourth, jumping out to a 10-5 lead. Texas battled back to within a point, 18-17, but two straight kills gave Oregon a three-point lead and forced a Longhorn timeout. Texas responded out of the break to pull even, 21-21, and then earned match point at 24-22. The Ducks got within one after a Texas error and appeared to pull even on a Vander Weide ace, but the play was ruled a jump ball due to camera interference and the Longhorns took advantage on the do-over to win the set and the match.

Who Stood Out: Vander Weide led the Ducks in kills for the second straight match with 16 to earn a spot on the all-tournament team, while Brooke Van Sickle enjoyed another strong all-around performance with 10 kills and 15 digs for her second double-double. August Raskie joined Van Sickle with her second double-double after digging 15 balls and dishing out 19 assists, while fellow setter Maggie Scott led the way with 29 assists. Taylor Agost put down 11 kills, Willow Johnson had eight and Hojnar finished with 10 digs.

What it Means: The Ducks weren't able to complete the sweep of top-five teams at the VERT, but should be extremely pleased with the opening weekend of the Matt Ulmer era after winning their first match against a top-five opponent since 2012 and their first-ever match in the VERT Challenge on Friday.

Notable: The Ducks now have five double-doubles through the first two matches of the year, with Raskie and Van Sickle accounting for four of the five … Both teams struggled with service errors, with Oregon racking up 12 and Texas committing 11 … The Ducks finished with 61 team digs to the Longhorns' 48 ... Oregon is now 1-5 all-time against Texas, and 1-5 in the VERT Challenge.

Up Next: The Ducks now return home to host a pair of tournaments at Matthew Knight Arena, the Oregon Classic and the Nike Classic. UO will open the Oregon Classic on Thursday against the University of Texas Rio-Grande Valley at 7 p.m. PT.