No. 4 Penn State Tops No. 10 Oregon

Saturday, September 14

University Park, PA

5:00 PM

University of Oregon

2-3

Penn State

6-1

Oregon

Penn State

Photo by: Eric Evans Photo

09/14/19 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score #4 Penn State 3, #10 Oregon 0

By: Nate Krueger

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 10 ranked Oregon volleyball team battled from start to finish but fell short against No. 4 Penn State, 25-21, 29-27, 25-19, on Saturday night at Rec Hall in the final match of the 2019 Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge.

How it Happened: Penn State (6-1) came out swinging in front of a home crowd of 3,879, jumping out to an 11-5 lead and forcing Oregon into an early timeout. The Ducks (2-3) used an 8-3 run to get back within two, 21-91, but the Nittany Lions kept Oregon from scoring consecutive points down the stretch to win, 25-21, and take a 1-0 lead.

Brooke Nuneviller and Taylor Williams combined for six kills early in the second set, pacing Oregon to a 13-9 lead. Karson Bacon added two kills in a 5-2 run that gave the Ducks a 20-14 lead, but Penn State came roaring back with a stretch of nine points in 11 rallies to earn set-point, 24-23. The Ducks kept battling and played to a 27-27 tie, but a PSU kill and a UO error gave the Nittany Lions the set and a 2-0 advantage. The Ducks challenged the final point, on which there appeared to be a PSU touch, but the call was upheld.

Oregon played to an 8-7 lead out of intermission before Penn State ripped off six straight to take control. Trailing 17-12, the Ducks used a 7-2 run to pull even, 19-19, but Penn State finished the match with six straight points to secure the sweep.

Who Stood Out: Nuneviller put down 10 kills and added 10 digs for her third straight double-double, and freshman Taylor Williams put together the best match of her young career with 10 kills. Ronika Stone hit .500 with nine kills but got only 14 attacks, freshman Morgan Lewis showed flashes with seven kills and redshirt freshman Karson Bacon recorded a team-high six blocks to go with six kills. Freshman libero Georgia Murphy impressed defensively with a match-high 14 digs, and setter Kylie Robinson finished with 38 assists.

What it Means: Oregon was without senior Willow Johnson for the second straight match, as well as senior outside Taylor Borup. The Ducks went 0-3 in their stretch of three straight matches against top-10 teams, but Matt Ulmer's young squad had some really good moments and will use these matches as learning opportunities as they prepare for a grueling Pac-12 schedule.

Up Next: Oregon will continue East as part of its two-week road trip. The Ducks will play at Princeton on Tuesday before heading to New York to face Hofstra, Duke and St. John's next weekend in the Hofstra Invitational.