Saturday, November 22
Eugene, OR
6:00 PM
University of Oregon
15-13,6-12Big Ten
1
vs
3
Michigan
21-8,11-7Big Ten
1
2
3
4
F
Michigan
27
18
25
27
3
Oregon
25
25
14
25
1
Photo by: Rob Moseley/GoDucks.com
Ducks Drop Home Finale to Michigan
11/22/25 | Women's Volleyball
Oregon started well through two sets Saturday but couldn't sustain it in a loss at Matthew Knight Arena.
EUGENE, Ore. — Two of Oregon volleyball's last three wins came on the road, and the Ducks will look to get two more next week to provide a final boost for their NCAA Tournament hopes.
The Ducks had one last chance to do so at home Saturday, but dropped a four-set match to Michigan. The UO women hit above .300 in splitting the first two sets but couldn't sustain that efficiency and fell, 27-25, 18-25, 25-14, 27-25.
"Credit Michigan — they're just a little bit better volleyball team than us right now," UO coach Trent Kersten said. "We have some pretty great highs that we all enjoy to watch and be a part of and all that stuff, but we were just not able to grind out as many long rallies as they were tonight."
Oregon (15-13, 6-12 Big Ten) entered this week in the discussion for an NCAA Tournament bid. The Ducks boast a strength of schedule ranking in the top 30 nationally and have wins over then-No. 18 Minnesota, then-No. 25 UCLA and then-No. 9 Purdue, and they have two more chances to burnish their résumé next week at Rutgers and Maryland.
"Let's go see how good we can be on the East Coast this next week, and see where the chips fall," Kersten said.
Saturday's loss gave Oregon a final record in Matthew Knight Arena this season of 6-6, including that four-set win over the Golden Gophers back on Oct. 17.
"I really want to thank our Duck community, number one for welcoming me and my family into Eugene, but our brand new team," Kersten said Saturday evening, after his team capped a day on campus that included ESPN's "College GameDay" pregame show and then Oregon football's win over USC prior to the volleyball match.
"It's been so fun to play in front of everyone here, and I know … what a long day this must have been, and for all of our students that showed up, just really appreciate what we're building. Thank you for being a part of our journey here, and hopefully we get to keep playing."
How It Happened: The first set was back-and-forth throughout, with neither team leading by more than a point until Michigan opened up a 15-13 lead. The Ducks responded with five in a row to go ahead 18-15, with two kills each from Alanah Clemente and Valentina Vaulet. The Wolverines rallied back in front 20-19, Oregon answered to go up 23-22, and a kill by Vaulet made it 24-23. But the Ducks couldn't finish off that set point, nor another after a Clemente kill put them up 25-24, and Michigan scored the final three points to win.
Clemente had nine kills in the set on her way to 23 in the match. Vaulet, facing her former team, had seven kills in the opening set and 17 for the match, plus three aces and a couple of blocks.
"Pretty much every phase of the game, this was one of Val's best matches," Kersten said. "I'm so proud of her for that."
Oregon got out to a lead early in the second, with Iva Sucurovic recording two kills as the Ducks opened up a 5-1 lead. Cora Taylor, who was on serve for Oregon's 5-0 run in the first, took over serve in the second with the Ducks up 10-6 and served four more points in a row, two of them aces. Two aces by Vaulet put the Ducks up 17-7, and after a kill by Clemente made it 24-16, Vaulet finished off the set three points later with another kill.
The Ducks got out to another early lead in the third, 7-2, but Michigan rallied to tie it and later ripped off six points in a row to go up 17-11. The lead was still six at 20-14 when Michigan scored the final five points to win the set.
"I think one of the lessons of playing in the Big Ten, about playing just high-level anything … is you can't love the game conditionally — just when you're playing well," Kersten said. "You've got to really love it when you're grinding it out and it's ugly and it doesn't look pretty, and it's not this bump-set-spike-kill-to-the-floor type of game. And I thought we struggled with that a little bit in some of our lulls, and I thought it showed in some of our body language. All stuff to learn from and continue to improve on."
The Ducks were more competitive in the fourth, scoring six of seven points to take a 14-10 lead, then scoring four of five to lead 23-22. Oregon fought off a couple of set points down 24-23 and 25-24, but the Ducks never could pull into the lead late and Michigan clinched the match.
Up Next: The Ducks play at Rutgers on Wednesday (1 p.m., B1G+).
The Ducks had one last chance to do so at home Saturday, but dropped a four-set match to Michigan. The UO women hit above .300 in splitting the first two sets but couldn't sustain that efficiency and fell, 27-25, 18-25, 25-14, 27-25.
"Credit Michigan — they're just a little bit better volleyball team than us right now," UO coach Trent Kersten said. "We have some pretty great highs that we all enjoy to watch and be a part of and all that stuff, but we were just not able to grind out as many long rallies as they were tonight."
Oregon (15-13, 6-12 Big Ten) entered this week in the discussion for an NCAA Tournament bid. The Ducks boast a strength of schedule ranking in the top 30 nationally and have wins over then-No. 18 Minnesota, then-No. 25 UCLA and then-No. 9 Purdue, and they have two more chances to burnish their résumé next week at Rutgers and Maryland.
"Let's go see how good we can be on the East Coast this next week, and see where the chips fall," Kersten said.
Saturday's loss gave Oregon a final record in Matthew Knight Arena this season of 6-6, including that four-set win over the Golden Gophers back on Oct. 17.
"I really want to thank our Duck community, number one for welcoming me and my family into Eugene, but our brand new team," Kersten said Saturday evening, after his team capped a day on campus that included ESPN's "College GameDay" pregame show and then Oregon football's win over USC prior to the volleyball match.
"It's been so fun to play in front of everyone here, and I know … what a long day this must have been, and for all of our students that showed up, just really appreciate what we're building. Thank you for being a part of our journey here, and hopefully we get to keep playing."
How It Happened: The first set was back-and-forth throughout, with neither team leading by more than a point until Michigan opened up a 15-13 lead. The Ducks responded with five in a row to go ahead 18-15, with two kills each from Alanah Clemente and Valentina Vaulet. The Wolverines rallied back in front 20-19, Oregon answered to go up 23-22, and a kill by Vaulet made it 24-23. But the Ducks couldn't finish off that set point, nor another after a Clemente kill put them up 25-24, and Michigan scored the final three points to win.
Clemente had nine kills in the set on her way to 23 in the match. Vaulet, facing her former team, had seven kills in the opening set and 17 for the match, plus three aces and a couple of blocks.
"Pretty much every phase of the game, this was one of Val's best matches," Kersten said. "I'm so proud of her for that."
Oregon got out to a lead early in the second, with Iva Sucurovic recording two kills as the Ducks opened up a 5-1 lead. Cora Taylor, who was on serve for Oregon's 5-0 run in the first, took over serve in the second with the Ducks up 10-6 and served four more points in a row, two of them aces. Two aces by Vaulet put the Ducks up 17-7, and after a kill by Clemente made it 24-16, Vaulet finished off the set three points later with another kill.
The Ducks got out to another early lead in the third, 7-2, but Michigan rallied to tie it and later ripped off six points in a row to go up 17-11. The lead was still six at 20-14 when Michigan scored the final five points to win the set.
"I think one of the lessons of playing in the Big Ten, about playing just high-level anything … is you can't love the game conditionally — just when you're playing well," Kersten said. "You've got to really love it when you're grinding it out and it's ugly and it doesn't look pretty, and it's not this bump-set-spike-kill-to-the-floor type of game. And I thought we struggled with that a little bit in some of our lulls, and I thought it showed in some of our body language. All stuff to learn from and continue to improve on."
The Ducks were more competitive in the fourth, scoring six of seven points to take a 14-10 lead, then scoring four of five to lead 23-22. Oregon fought off a couple of set points down 24-23 and 25-24, but the Ducks never could pull into the lead late and Michigan clinched the match.
Up Next: The Ducks play at Rutgers on Wednesday (1 p.m., B1G+).
Team Stats
Mich
Oregon
Kills
49
60
Errors
14
28
Attempts
127
151
Hitting %
.276
.212
Points
68.0
74.0
Assists
46
53
Aces
8
9
Blocks
11
5
Game Leaders
Kills
23
Aces
1
Blocks
2
Kills
17
Aces
3
Blocks
2
Kills
12
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
6
Aces
2
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
OPP
/ Women's Volleyball
S
/ Women's VolleyballOPP/OH
/ Women's VolleyballTrent Kersten | Postgame vs. Michigan
Sunday, November 23
Trent Kersten | Postgame vs. USC
Thursday, November 20
Trent Kersten | Postgame vs. Michigan State
Monday, November 10
Trent Kersten & Alanah Clemente | Postgame vs. UCLA
Friday, November 07
