Friday, October 3
Eugene, OR
6:00 PM
University of Oregon
3
vs
2
Iowa
Photo by: Eric Evans/GoDucks.com
Raucous Crowd Spurs Five-Set Win For Ducks
10/03/25 | Women's Volleyball
With the UO students back on campus and urging them on, the UO volleyball team outlasted Iowa on Friday night.
EUGENE, Ore. — When Oregon clinched Friday's five-set thriller against Iowa on the Ducks' third match point of the night, the Ducks huddled together on the court, then ran to the student section and celebrated with the fans who'd urged them on to victory.
Playing at home for the first time in a month, and for the very first time since fall quarter began at the university, the UO volleyball team rode the support of the Pit Crew to a 25-19, 19-25, 25-15, 16-25, 19-17 win over the Hawkeyes. The Ducks fought off four match points for Iowa, then scored the final three points of the night to win in Big Ten play for the first time this season.
That gave UO coach Trent Kersten his first career win in the conference, thanks in no small part to the crowd of 2,770 that was fueled by the rally towel-waving student section.
"Gosh, that was so awesome," Kersten said. "We needed every single one of them that were here — and thank you for staying for the fifth set. It was just such a great volleyball environment."
Valentina Vaulet had 19 kills to lead the Ducks, including two during the three-point UO run that closed the match. Alanah Clemente added 14 kills, Maria Tabacuks had 10 and Holley McFadden added seven kills with six blocks, including a pair to help Oregon dig out of an 8-5 hole in the final set.
"Our first game with all the students back, it was pretty noticeable how much they cheered for us, how much they yelled, how much they liked the game," Vaulet said. "Whether we were up or down it felt like they were really engaged with the game, so that was cool."
How It Happened: The match began with a big kill from Vaulet that sparked a big cheer from the Pit Crew, and those would remain two themes of the match throughout the night. The Ducks never trailed in the opening set, scoring four straight to lead 6-2, getting an ace from Cora Taylor to cap a 3-0 run to lead 15-8 and scoring another three straight to open up a 20-12 lead. Vaulet's sixth kill of the set was an off-speed effort that clinched it.
"Even warming up, doing hitting lines, (the students) were pretty loud, hyping us up," Vaulet said. "All the hitters were feeling that, so it was pretty cool."
After hitting .464 in the opening set, the Ducks hit just .057 in the second. They were within 18-16 when Iowa scored five of the next seven points, taking command. But Oregon reclaimed momentum in the third, again leading wire-to-wire and hitting .481 while limiting the Hawkeyes to minus-.043 hitting in the set.
A kill by Vaulet and a block by Vaulet with Iva Sucurovic tied the fourth set, 7-7. From there Iowa went on an 8-0 run, thanks to a couple of services aces, some UO errors and some big swings by Iowa hitter Chard'e Vanzandt, whose 18 kills on the night tied for the team lead with Carmel Vares. Vanzandt's final kill of the set clinched it for Iowa and sent the match to a fifth.
The final set was tied 5-5 when Iowa rattled off three straight. Out of a timeout, Vaulet put a kill down to end that run, and then McFadden got in on back-to-back blocks that tied the set. Vanzandt scored to put Iowa back in front, and a swing by Clemente was ruled long to put the Hawkeyes up two — but a challenge by Kersten proved successful, Clemente's ball was ruled in for a kill and the set was tied, 9-9.
With Oregon up 11-10, Iowa scored four of the next five to earn a match point. Kersten called timeout, and Clemente scored out of the break to keep the Ducks alive. She then went back to the service line, where she had 12 of Oregon's 31 service errors in losses the previous week at Illinois and Northwestern. Clemente's next two serves led to UO points, a moment of redemption.
"Super proud of her," Kersten said. "That moment was huge for her career, not just this year. Having the confidence to back there, down by one, after the performance she had (the week before) … we let her keep going to try and grow through it, and tonight she was more ready for that moment."
Clemente's serves helped the Ducks lead 15-14, but Iowa scored two straight to set up a third match point. Vaulet scored out of the back row to tie it, Iowa scored again and Vaulet once again scored to fight off a fourth match point for the Hawkeyes. An Iowa error set up the Ducks' second match point, and Vaulet made it count by clinching the match for Oregon.
"We talked as a team about, we want those moments," Kersten said. "We want to be in some of those moments, and you've earned the right to go for it in some of those moments. … We're going to have ups and downs through the season, but we're going to come back to the gym and keep believing, and believing that we can be ready for the next opportunity that we get."
Up Next: The Ducks host Ohio State on Saturday (6 p.m., B1G+).
Playing at home for the first time in a month, and for the very first time since fall quarter began at the university, the UO volleyball team rode the support of the Pit Crew to a 25-19, 19-25, 25-15, 16-25, 19-17 win over the Hawkeyes. The Ducks fought off four match points for Iowa, then scored the final three points of the night to win in Big Ten play for the first time this season.
That gave UO coach Trent Kersten his first career win in the conference, thanks in no small part to the crowd of 2,770 that was fueled by the rally towel-waving student section.
"Gosh, that was so awesome," Kersten said. "We needed every single one of them that were here — and thank you for staying for the fifth set. It was just such a great volleyball environment."
Valentina Vaulet had 19 kills to lead the Ducks, including two during the three-point UO run that closed the match. Alanah Clemente added 14 kills, Maria Tabacuks had 10 and Holley McFadden added seven kills with six blocks, including a pair to help Oregon dig out of an 8-5 hole in the final set.
"Our first game with all the students back, it was pretty noticeable how much they cheered for us, how much they yelled, how much they liked the game," Vaulet said. "Whether we were up or down it felt like they were really engaged with the game, so that was cool."
How It Happened: The match began with a big kill from Vaulet that sparked a big cheer from the Pit Crew, and those would remain two themes of the match throughout the night. The Ducks never trailed in the opening set, scoring four straight to lead 6-2, getting an ace from Cora Taylor to cap a 3-0 run to lead 15-8 and scoring another three straight to open up a 20-12 lead. Vaulet's sixth kill of the set was an off-speed effort that clinched it.
"Even warming up, doing hitting lines, (the students) were pretty loud, hyping us up," Vaulet said. "All the hitters were feeling that, so it was pretty cool."
After hitting .464 in the opening set, the Ducks hit just .057 in the second. They were within 18-16 when Iowa scored five of the next seven points, taking command. But Oregon reclaimed momentum in the third, again leading wire-to-wire and hitting .481 while limiting the Hawkeyes to minus-.043 hitting in the set.
A kill by Vaulet and a block by Vaulet with Iva Sucurovic tied the fourth set, 7-7. From there Iowa went on an 8-0 run, thanks to a couple of services aces, some UO errors and some big swings by Iowa hitter Chard'e Vanzandt, whose 18 kills on the night tied for the team lead with Carmel Vares. Vanzandt's final kill of the set clinched it for Iowa and sent the match to a fifth.
The final set was tied 5-5 when Iowa rattled off three straight. Out of a timeout, Vaulet put a kill down to end that run, and then McFadden got in on back-to-back blocks that tied the set. Vanzandt scored to put Iowa back in front, and a swing by Clemente was ruled long to put the Hawkeyes up two — but a challenge by Kersten proved successful, Clemente's ball was ruled in for a kill and the set was tied, 9-9.
With Oregon up 11-10, Iowa scored four of the next five to earn a match point. Kersten called timeout, and Clemente scored out of the break to keep the Ducks alive. She then went back to the service line, where she had 12 of Oregon's 31 service errors in losses the previous week at Illinois and Northwestern. Clemente's next two serves led to UO points, a moment of redemption.
"Super proud of her," Kersten said. "That moment was huge for her career, not just this year. Having the confidence to back there, down by one, after the performance she had (the week before) … we let her keep going to try and grow through it, and tonight she was more ready for that moment."
Clemente's serves helped the Ducks lead 15-14, but Iowa scored two straight to set up a third match point. Vaulet scored out of the back row to tie it, Iowa scored again and Vaulet once again scored to fight off a fourth match point for the Hawkeyes. An Iowa error set up the Ducks' second match point, and Vaulet made it count by clinching the match for Oregon.
"We talked as a team about, we want those moments," Kersten said. "We want to be in some of those moments, and you've earned the right to go for it in some of those moments. … We're going to have ups and downs through the season, but we're going to come back to the gym and keep believing, and believing that we can be ready for the next opportunity that we get."
Up Next: The Ducks host Ohio State on Saturday (6 p.m., B1G+).
Players Mentioned
OPP
/ Women's Volleyball
MB
/ Women's Volleyball
OH
/ Women's Volleyball
S
/ Women's Volleyball
OPP/OH
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