University of Oregon
0-2
Nebraska
1-1
No. 2 Nebraska Tops No. 18 Oregon in Lincoln
08/25/18 | Women's Volleyball
LINCOLN, Neb. - The 18th-ranked Oregon volleyball team wrapped up its opening weekend at the VERT Challenge on Saturday night with a 25-21, 25-21, 26-24 loss to No. 2 ranked and defending national champion Nebraska in front of 8,135 raucous fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
"What a great environment to play volleyball; there's really nothing like it in the country," said head coach Matt Ulmer. "We need to be in that environment and we need to be uncomfortable, and we were really uncomfortable for at least the first half of the match, you could tell.
"The margins are so small when you're playing at the highest level, and I thought watching Nebraska, Texas, Florida and us, any one of those games could have gone either way. I think the talent for each team is very comparable as well as the styles of play, but we have to be mentally tougher and we have to outthink our opponents a little bit better."
How it Happened: The Ducks (0-2) started the match well, using a pair of 3-0 runs to jump out to an early 6-1 lead. Nebraska (1-1) cut the lead to 12-9 before a kill by junior transfer Taylor Borup ignited another 3-0 run to give Oregon a 15-9 advantage at the media timeout. After Nebraska scored eight out of 11 points to trim the UO lead to one, a Husker error and a Willow Johnson kill pushed the Ducks' lead back to three, 20-17. Unfortunately, mistakes late in the set hurt Oregon for the second straight night as Nebraska finished on a 7-1 run to take the opening set.
The Ducks scored three straight to take a 6-5 lead early in the second, but Nebraska responded with runs of 5-1 and 4-1 to move ahead by six, 17-11. Kills by August Raskie and Lindsey Vander Weide and a Ronika Stone ace cut the deficit to 17-14, but that's as close as Oregon would get as the Huskers took a 2-0 lead into intermission.
Nebraska earned a 3-0 lead out of intermission before a 4-0 Oregon run, but the Huskers fought right back with five in a row to force a UO timeout. The Ducks climbed back and then traded points to an 18-18 tie, and Vander Weide began to find her groove with kills on three consecutive plays to put Oregon ahead. Nebraska regrouped out of a timeout to force a 23-23 tie before Brooke Van Sickle sent a ball to the floor to give the Ducks set-point, but the Huskers scored three straight to steal the set and sweep the match.
Who Stood Out: Vander Weide led the Ducks with 11 kills while Johnson and Van Sickle both finished with eight, and Sumeet Gill had an efficient night with seven kills on .400 hitting. Senior August Raskie notched her first double-double of the season with 36 assists and 12 digs, and Van Sickle was solid defensively with 10 digs. Freshmen Brooke Nuneviller and Camryn Tastad had nine and eight digs, respectively.
What it Means: The Ducks may have gone 0-2 on their opening weekend, but they gained valuable experience playing a pair of top-three ranked teams in an atmosphere very similar to what they would see in the postseason. Nebraska went 0-2 at the 2017 VERT Challenge, including a season-opening loss to the Ducks, before going on to win the national title.
Quotable: Matt Ulmer, Head Coach
On the consistency of the team…
"I thought we had a couple lulls. I thought Lindsey (Vander Weide) struggled in the beginning and August (Raskie) struggled in the middle. We were in every set, but same with yesterday, we have to find a way to be tougher down the stretch and we have to find a way to accept the challenges that good teams will give us."
John Cook, Nebraska Head Coach
On the Ducks...
"I like Oregon's team. I really like their setter (Raskie), I think she's doing a good job and I like her a 5-1 more than a 6-2 … I think they have a high ceiling. They have a lot of experience out there. We could easily be in a fifth game out there right now."
Jerritt Eliott, Texas Head Coach
On the Ducks…
"I think Oregon has top-10 talent. They'll get better as the season goes on and they can be a real threat."
Notable: Johnson earned a spot on the VERT Challenge all-tournament team after leading the Ducks in kills (17) on Friday and adding eight on Saturday … The 2018 VERT Challenge was the final edition of the four-year, four-team tournament between Oregon, Nebraska, Texas and Florida ... Borup finished with a pair of kills in her Duck debut … The Ducks ended with more kills (43-40) than their opponent for the second straight night, but once again committed more attack errors (20-12).
Up Next: Oregon will return to Eugene to host Portland State in Matthew Knight Arena on Tuesday (7 p.m. PT) in its first home match of the 2018 season.
