Season Comes To An End In Sweet Sixteen

Thursday, December 12

Pittsburgh, PA

12:30 PM

University of Oregon

24-8,14-6Big Ten

Pittsburgh

32-1,19-1ACC

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Oregon	19	26	16	25	12	2
Pittsburgh	25	24	25	21	15	3

Photo by: Molly McPherson

12/12/24 | Women's Volleyball

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Oregon became just the fourth team this year to win two sets from No. 1 Pitt on Thursday, but the Panthers won the fifth to advance.

By: Rob Moseley

PITTSBURGH — Oregon became the fourth team to take multiple sets of a match off No. 1 Pittsburgh. The Ducks couldn't quite become just the second team this season to beat the Panthers.

The UO volleyball team rallied to win the fourth set and force a decisive fifth Thursday in the regional semifinals of the NCAA Tournament. But the Ducks' bid for a third straight Elite Eight appearance came up just short, as Pitt rallied late in the final set to avoid the upset.

No. 14 Oregon finished the year at 24-8 overall, the Ducks' rebuilt roster growing more cohesive throughout the season to set the stage for Thursday's drama. Though Oregon never led in the fifth, there were ties at 8-8 and 9-9 before the Panthers pulled away to win 25-19, 24-26, 25-16, 21-25, 15-12.

"So proud of our group," UO coach Matt Ulmer said. "I thought we really battled. I thought that was the toughest we've been all season."

The match was back-and-forth throughout, with Pitt winning the first set and Oregon evening it up — just the 11th set the Panthers had lost all season to that point — before the Panthers took the third and the Ducks tied it again. The UO women trailed in the fifth, 7-3, before scoring five of the next six and tying it 8-8 on an ace by Maya De Los Reyes.

Michelle Ohwobete's penultimate kill of a 14-kill night tied it again, 9-9. But then Pitt's Olivia Babcock capped a 31-kill performance with three straight, as the Panthers put together a 5-0 run to lead 14-9. The Ducks fought off match point three times before finally falling to the top-ranked team in the country.

"Obviously I'm disappointed in the loss, but I'm not disappointed in the fight that we had," UO senior middle Onye Ofoegbu said. "I don't have anything to cry about, because I'm really proud of us. We ruined a lot of people's brackets just getting here. So I'm really proud of how far we've made it."

Mimi Colyer caught fire during Oregon's fourth-set win, and ended up with a team-high 15 kills. Ohwobete had 12 digs to go along with her 14 kills, Ofoegbu had 13 kills and Noemie Glover had 10. Freshman setter Cristin Cline had 46 assists plus 12 digs.

Colyer also had four of the Ducks 11 aces, while Mackenzie Morris and Daley McClellan combined for four aces with 25 digs. The 11 aces Thursday followed a UO postseason record 12 in last week's second-round win over TCU.

"If you don't serve them aggressive, it's gonna be over fast," Ulmer said. "And I thought the difference of sets one and three — particularly three for us — is that we just got too unaggressive from the service line. They were in system too much, and they've got too many weapons for that. We've been a pretty good service team, definitely the last half of the season. Last weekend was great, and then this stopped it."

The first set saw Oregon fall behind 13-6 early, and later 18-10. The Ducks then scored six of seven, including a pair of aces by Colyer that got them within 19-16. But Torrey Stafford had the next three kills as part of a 14-kill night to get Pitt back on track to win the set.

The UO women won the first four points of the second set, a critical surge to keep momentum from slipping away completely. Another ace by Colyer came during a 3-0 run that made it 18-13, but when it was 23-20, Pitt scored four straight to get within a point of going up two sets to none. Ofoegbu got a point to tie it, however, McClellan then served an ace and the Ducks won the next point to take the set.

"I honestly went back there and I was like, I'm honestly gonna hit this as hard as I can," McClellan said of serving out the set. "So I'm glad they touched it, because I think that second one was going out. But no, I just had to go back there and kind of like, clear my mind. And I was just like, my team needs this, and we all need this."

The third set saw Oregon get out to a 7-4 lead. But when it was 9-7, Pitt scored nine of the next 10 points to take control. That made it 16-10, and Babcock had four kills as the Panthers closed out the set.

Set four might have gone a similar way, with Oregon going up 7-3 and the two teams trading the next four points. But this time it was the Ducks going on a heater, with Colyer scoring three times during an 8-1 run that made it 17-6. When it was 20-12, Pitt scored seven of nine to get within 22-19, but a kill by Ohwobete out of the back row ultimately ended the set and evened the match again.

"I think we both got on service runs and really pressured each other on both sides," Ulmer said. "And again, I thought it was by set, and that was kind of how the set went. We got to them in the second and fourth, caused pressure and then caused them to make some hitting errors. I thought they did the same thing to us in one and three."

That set the stage for the fifth-set drama, which saw the Ducks threaten to knock off the No. 1 team in the country during the Sweet Sixteen. It was not to be, despite a gritty effort from Oregon in its season finale.