Sweet Sixteen At Hand For Ducks

PITTSBURGH — After arriving in the Steel City on Tuesday night, the Oregon volleyball team practiced Wednesday at the Petersen Events Center, site of Thursday's NCAA Tournament regional semifinal matchup against host Pittsburgh.

For the Ducks, it was a return to Western Pennsylvania a little over a year after beating the Panthers in their regular volleyball facility, the Fitzgerald Field House. Three members of the 2024 team played in that September 2023 match, including two — Mimi Colyer and Daley McClellan — who participated in a press conference prior to Wednesday's practice.

Among the questions the duo fielded was about the memory of last season's win in Pittsburgh, and what this year's group can draw from that entering the Sweet Sixteen matchup. Immediately, McClellan's head went to strategy and tactics.

"It's just a matter of remembering what worked for us," the UO senior back-row specialist said. "Kills that worked, everything like that. It's adjusting to them but staying with us, staying with how we play our game."

There was no talk of summoning emotions from that win to fuel the Ducks entering Thursday. A coldly analytical approach, the UO women have learned, is what works best for the 2024 team.

"We're a very emotional team," McClellan said. "Sometimes that takes us super up, which is great, but it also takes us super down. So I think kind of just keeping that steady pace throughout the game and reminding us, like, OK, this is how we can work technically to get us points in the game."

The Petersen Events Center is Pitt's basketball facility. The volleyball team will be hosting its fifth match of the season there Thursday, after two in the regular season and then two more to open NCAA Tournament play last week. Oregon will look to avenge a loss to the Panthers earlier this season when they meet at 12:30 p.m. PT.

With a capacity of 12,508 fans, Petersen Events Center holds three times as many people as Fitzgerald Field House. The Ducks are used to playing in front of hostile crowds, including in NCAA regionals, at Louisville in 2022 and at Wisconsin in 2023. For a team looking to keep its emotions on an even keel, Oregon knows that will be a challenge Thursday.

"They're going to be at their place; they're comfortable here, and we maybe aren't as comfortable," Colyer said. "So it's just playing our volleyball, and making sure that we're taking care of the ball on our side of the net. Managing emotions, not getting too high, not getting too low."

The 2024 regular season was a journey for the Ducks. In the early going, head coach Matt Ulmer was working through ways to maximize the talents of a new-look roster. Midway through the fall, injuries took their toll and Oregon had to adjust. Now, the UO women hope to be peaking at the right time — and their coach hopes the leadership strategies he's developed to manage their emotions will pay off Thursday.

"I'm not sure there's, like, one special button that I can push that makes it happen," Ulmer said. "I think you're just trying to feel the group and what they're dealing with that day. And sometimes it takes a while.

"Like, I thought the first set against TCU (in the second round of the tournament last week), we were so amped; again, generally when that happens for us, we're out of control. We give too many points away. I think we gave 13 points away in the first set. If you do that against Pitt or any of these teams, you're in trouble.

"Between sets one and two it was just like, here's what happened, and if you want to be successful, this can't happen again. So we need to calm back down. When you start breathing, we look at each other and communicate more, those are generally signs for us that we can respond better."

Thursday's Sweet Sixteen match will feature two of the best blocking teams in the country. Pitt is fourth nationally with 2.93 blocks per set, and Oregon is seventh at 2.89.

Though Oklahoma lost its second-round match here Saturday in three sets, the Sooners had a significant blocking advantage over the Panthers, 17-9. The Ducks would love to come out of Thursday's match with a similar edge — much easier said than done, of course.

"They just don't make many mistakes," Ulmer said. "They don't give you many points. So the more pressure we can put on them with our serve and our block, I think that will be really important for us."

Pitt of course will be looking to do the same. The Panthers average a little more than two aces per set, and they'll look to put pressure on Oregon's back row to keep them from feeding crisp passes to UO setter Cristin Cline.

"Pitt is one of the best — if not the best — serving team in the country," Ulmer said. "So that's going to be a really great test for us tomorrow, is, can we handle their service pressure? If we do that, that allows Cris to run the offense how she wants to run it — and she's surrounded by weapons."

The Ducks are back in the Midwest for the fifth time this season, having played regular-season matches at the likes of Penn State, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.

In years past, Tuesday's trip might have felt exceptionally long for the UO women. But Oregon's first season in the Big Ten made Tuesday's journey seem routine.

"I think our travel this past season has definitely prepared us for that," Colyer said. "It's a quick turnaround, and it's just about making sure that we're taking care of ourselves and our bodies to prepare us for big matches like tomorrow."

The Ducks and Panthers will meet after another Sweet Sixteen match hosted by Pitt, between Kentucky and Missouri. The exact time of the first serve for Oregon is unknown, but that too isn't fazing the Ducks.

"I don't think it necessarily matters for us," Colyer said. "I think we're always ready to just go."