Oregon was back at home this last weekend, defending their unbeaten MKA record with wins over Rutgers and #18 Indiana. Here’s how the action went down:
Indiana
Friday night’s match against #18 Indiana was a thrilling battle pitting a pair of top-20 Big Ten heavyweights. The match went to five sets and the Oregon Ducks came out on top when all was said and done, 23-25, 26-24, 35-22, 21-25, 15-9.
The match was closely fought from the first set. Oregon jumped out to a five point lead in the middle of the set,
but Indiana found their kill zone and put together a couple of runs to knot it up at 17-17. At that point the sides began trading ties.
The Ducks took the lead, 22-21, but Indiana claimed four of the next five points to take the first set.
The Ducks started the second set with a 5-2 lead, but after a Hoosier 6-0 run, Oregon was down by four and looking for answers. They found an answer in Alaina Pollard. Oregon called a time out, subbed in the freshman MB, and she had an immediate impact.
The Ducks tied the score 17-17, but it looked like Indiana might take the second set as well with a 24-22 lead.
Scratch that. Oregon held off two set points en route to a 4-0 run and the set 2 win.
The Hoosiers jumped ahead early again in the third set.
But the Ducks relentlessly stuck with it, rallying to a solid lead late in the set with a 6-1 run to go up 22-18, and eventually take set 3.
In the fourth set, the Ducks had trouble with Indiana’s attack after slugging it out through seven ties. Oregon found themselves down six points, 23-17, and could not close the gap. The Ducks fought hard, but the Hoosiers came out on top and forced a rubber match.
Oregon played loose and confident, jumping to a 3-0 lead that would extent through the rest of the fifth set.
The Ducks laid down a great serve game and it also appeared that Indiana ran low on steam, making for a seemingly easy set 5 win. Oh – and the crowd was vocal and totally into it:
The Ducks kept the Hoosiers to an under .200 percent stat as Indiana hit .195 on the night, led by Jaidyn Jager’s 19 kills. Indiana had 16 blocks to 14 for Oregon.
Oregon’s Big Three got their hits in on Friday. Alanah Clemente had a double-double of 19 kills and 10 digs. Sjakkie Donkers had 16 kills and Valentina Vaulet ended with 10 kills. Marina Crownover was just shy of a double-double with 50 assists and 9 digs. Dalia Vîrlan led the Ducks with 8 blocks, and Reese Sheppard was the digs leader with 13 and the aces leader with 3.
Like so many Big Ten teams, Indiana is very good and capable of beating most teams in the top 25. This was an important Oregon win and really shows how well the Ducks are coming along in head coach Trent Kersten’s second season leading the team.
I have to admit that I was today years old when I found out the Ty Burrell is an Oregon Alum:
Rutgers
The Scarlet Knights are near the bottom of the Big Ten standings, and while that doesn’t make them a bad team at all, it did apparently allow the Ducks to bring some other players in the rotation.
Alaina Pollard got the start, with Valentina Vaulet only playing part of the match (I’m assuming that Vaulet is still nursing a minor injury). The Ducks gave Vaulet a rest for the last two sets and played Marlee Arrington in the OH position.
In any case, Oregon won yesterday’s match in four sets, 25-13, 30-32, 25-18, 25-12/ The Ducks caught Rutgers flat-footed out of the gate, taking the first set. Rutgers was behind from the start and was never able to catch up.
The Knights played a much more inspired second set; one that seemed like it would never end – but credit both sides for holding off set points before Rutgers took the last three to claim the set.
Rutgers kept their momentum into the third set, taking an early lead. But then the Ducks woke up and got serious, and decided to get the set over with.
The Knights tied a couple of times early in the fourth set, but never had to lead and the outcome was never in doubt.
Here’s what head coach Trent Kersten had to say after the match:
Rutgers struggled and only hit .068 on the afternoon, led by Malia Romes with 12 kills. The Knights were only able to put a single block on the Ducks.
My only criticism of Oregon’s game is the 11 service errors against 3 service aces. Their serves have to be better than that.
In the context of this game, however, that was quite minor. Oregon hit .390, and only hit under .300 in the second set. Sjakkie Donkers picked up a double-double with 20 kills and 11 digs. Alanah Clemente had 17 kills, and Dalia Vîrlan had a great game with 10 kills on a .562 H% to go along with a team-leading 6 blocks. Marina Crownover had a double-double with 47 assists and 11 digs. Reese Sheppard and Valentina Vaulet each had 10 digs.
Oregon is now 16-2 (7-1, Big-10) and have won seven matches in a row; all of them Big Ten victories. The Ducks are playing tough at home and are unbeaten in all eight contests played at Matthew Knight Arena. Oregon is still tied for second place in the Big Ten standings with Wisconsin, and have risen to the Top 10 in the regular season for the first time since 2023.
The Ducks head on the road again for a couple of very B1G matches. First, they play Penn State on Friday followed by Ohio State on Saturday. Both matches are on Big Ten Plus.
