Written Story (by Khalil Hines)
On Friday afternoon, the Oregon Women’s Volleyball took on the Colorado Buffalos at Matthew Knight Arena for their first of two matches this weekend. The Buffalos battled hard throughout each set, but it was Ducks who were able to find and maintain consistent intensity and hold off the Buffs for a three-game sweep.
“Overall each individual came in very prepared, feeling very confident, our practices are good, film sessions are very focused – just a group that wants to be good, and their doing all the things that you need to do in order to find success” Coach Ulmer stated after the match.
It also helped that the ladies got great performances from players Brooke Nuneviller, Abby Hansen, Kylie Robinson, and Karson Bacon. Bacon started the match with seven kills in the first set and finished with 11 on a .611 Hit percentage. She later spoke about the team’s performance after the game: “It’s really fun to have your day, and it was awesome that we [Bacon and Abby Hansen] got to have our day together – to just know that we are doing such a great job and producing for our team – it was really nice that we got our time tonight and could share it together.”
As stated earlier, the Buffalos did not go down without a fight, capitalizing early on the Ducks mistakes, but fell just short in their best chance in set two, losing a close one 27-25. They finished with just 34 kills and four blocks.
Ducks coach Matt Ulmer said postgame about the efficiency, “I thought we made some key blocks towards the end, and we were just continuously steady and putting pressure on them. We had 23 kills in set two, that is just insane – when you are able to score at that type of rate, it is going to be tough to keep up with that.”
Defense helped start off the Ducks offensive attack finishing with 66 digs and eight blocks. Both Coach Ulmer and Bacon stated how the setters growth showed on Friday Afternoon.
“Our setters are doing a good job, there’s so much growth from both setters Lisa and Kylie, our defense has been – 24 kills from your middles in a three-game match, that’s big-time,” Coach Ulmer exclaimed.
“The back row trusts the front row to do their best and you know that we trust that we do our best so that the back row can do their best, so it just plays with each other, but I have no doubt if the ball gets past me that my defense has it, so it takes the pressure off u,” Bacon stated.
The Ducks look to build on their impressive sweep on Sunday at Matthew Knight at 10:30 am. You can catch that matchup live on 88.1 KWVA.
Postgame Audio
Head Coach Matt Ulmer
Sophomore MB Karson Bacon