The energy in Matthew Knight Arena was electric Friday night as the Ducks stepped onto their home floor for the first time in 26 days. In a five-set nail-biter, the student section roared as junior outside hitter Valentina Vaulet fired the ball onto the floor and sealed the win for Oregon. The hard-fought final set ended by a score of 19-17.
“I really want to talk about our crowd and our student section,” head coach Trent Kersten said. “That was so awesome, and we needed every single one of them that were here...It was such a great volleyball environment, and I was so grateful that everyone gave their time to watch our team play.”
While the home crowd definitely takes partial credit for the Ducks' win, the team's ability to stick together through adversity and come out on top is telling of just how far they can go.
Even though it wasn’t the prettiest win, Oregon was still able to get the job done by sticking to what they knew.
“I feel like it’s just trusting all the work you have put in,” Valet said. “...If it goes wrong, you (still) trust all the work your teammates have done.”
Vaulet had an outstanding performance on the night as she ended with 19 kills, a .452 kill percentage, and 11 digs to round it out on the defensive side.
Even with Vaulet’s impressive performance, along with many others on the offense, Oregon’s biggest problem is consistency. With a ceiling so high, the Ducks' biggest enemy right now is themselves. Once this young team builds more chemistry and starts working consistently as a unit, they will be unstoppable.
“The reality is, like, we're going to continue to do this. and we're okay with that.” Kersten said. “We're gonna build this, we're gonna lay a foundation that's strong, and we're going to be really good by the end of the year and going into next year.”
Players like senior setter Cora Taylor and freshman middle blocker Holly McFadden are a few key people helping to lay the foundation. On Friday, both were also key in helping the Ducks win as Taylor had 44 assists, and McFadden had six blocks.
This Ducks squad is almost entirely new and features an astounding nine freshmen players, which gives them tons of room and time to develop. Kersten once again talked about the team's trajectory.
“We’re going to have ups and downs like you saw tonight, we’re going to have ups and downs throughout the season,” he said. “But we’re going to come back to the gym and keep believing that we can be ready for the next opportunity that we get.”
Looking ahead, the Ducks will take on another Big Ten opponent, the Ohio State Buckeyes, Saturday night.