Ducks Unable to Break Through Against No. 5 Penn State

Saturday, September 8

Stanford, CA

2:00 PM

University of Oregon

5-3

Penn State

6-1

Oregon

Penn State

Ducks Unable to Break Through Against No. 5 Penn State

09/08/18 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: Nate Krueger

STANFORD, Calif. – The 18th-ranked Oregon volleyball team went point-for-point in the first two sets with No. 5 Penn State on Saturday afternoon, but was unable to break through as the Ducks fell, 25-23, 25-23, 25-19, in their final match of the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge at Maples Pavilion.

After putting together a complete effort to defeat No. 1 Minnesota on Friday night, the Ducks (5-3) struggled with mistakes against the Nittany Lions, hitting .136 on the day with 21 attack errors. Oregon finished its weekend in the Bay Area with a split against a pair of top-five teams.

How it Happened: Penn State (6-1) used a trio of 3-0 runs to open up a 14-9 lead, but the Ducks scored four in a row and seven out of nine to pull even, 16-16. A kill by senior August Raskie ignited a 5-0 Oregon run that gave Oregon a 21-17 lead, but the Nittany Lions responded with two more 3-0 stretches to take a 23-22 lead. After a service error made it 23-23, a pair of Penn State kills gave the Nittany Lions the set and a 1-0 lead. Willow Johnson and Lindsey Vander Weide carried the UO offense in the opening set with five kills apiece.

Both teams struggled on the attack in the second set, combining for 13 attack errors with neither team hitting better than .200. Oregon led 15-14 when Penn State put together five straight points to take the lead, but the Ducks responded out of a timeout with a 5-2 run to pull with a point, 21-20. Trailing 23-20, a pair of PSU errors and a Ronika Stone kill tied it up, 23-23, but a pair of ball-handling errors cost the Ducks the set as the Nittany Lions took a 2-0 lead into intermission.

The Nittany Lions controlled the third set from the outset, opening up a 5-1 lead before using an 8-1 run to push their lead to double digits, 18-8. Oregon began to find its groove late in the game with a 7-2 run to get within 24-19, but Penn State's Nia Reed ended the comeback attempt with a kill and gave Penn State the sweep.

Who Stood Out: Willow Johnson led the Ducks with 11 kills on .400 hitting, Stone hit .353 with eight kills and senior setter August Raskie notched her third double-double with 28 assists and 10 digs while adding three kills. Vander Weide was second on the team with nine kills, but she also led the team with seven attack errors. Freshman libero Brooke Nuneviller had a team-high 16 digs and an ace, and Brooke Van Sickle recorded two aces to go with 14 digs.

What it Means: The Ducks showed again early on they can go point-for-point with elite teams, but unlike Friday, they were unable to come up with the big point to put the set away. Oregon has gone 1-3 against top-five opponents in its first eight matches of 2018, experience that should prove valuable come conference and postseason play.

Notable: Van Sickle's two aces pushed her season total to 16, the most in the Pac-12 this year … Stone finished the weekend with a team-leading 27 kills … The Ducks struggled against Penn State's block, as the Nittany Lions finished with 14.5 total rejections to Oregon's five … Oregon and Penn State are now tied, 2-2, in the all-time series.

Up Next: The Ducks will head to Honolulu, Hawaii, next week to wrap up nonconference play with a pair of matches against Hawaii on Thursday and Friday (10 p.m. PT).