EUGENE, ORE. — The energy in a sold-out Matthew Knight Arena was palpable as the No.12-ranked Oregon Ducks volleyball team played the No.1 Nebraska Cornhuskers. The task was too tall for Oregon as they were swept by an impressive Nebraska team.
In the first set, Nebraska’s height was a glaring advantage at the net. They hit at a .571 percent clip while holding Oregon to a .148 hitting percentage.
Nebraska has eight players over six-foot-three, while Oregon only has three. The advantage was felt at the net with Alanah Clemente being the only Duck to consistently get attacks over in the first set. Clemente has emerged as a young leader on the team but shared the love with her teammates.
“Stay together no matter what–the biggest thing is we play for each other,” said Clemente.
Nebraska seniors Harper Murray and Andi Jackson both had three blocks through the second set. Harper had 10 kills, and Jackson had seven, Oregon had no answer for their powerful attacks. Six-five sophomore Virginia Adriano was unstoppable at the net as well, using her tall frame to record seven kills through two sets.
Oregon put up more of a fight in the second set. With their offense still running through Clemente, she finished the second set with 11 kills, eight more than the second-leading scorer on Oregon, Valentina Vaulet, who had three.
The height of Nebraska seemed to force more attack errors from Oregon, as they had 11 through two sets. It was not always the fact that Nebraska got the blocks, but they forced Oregon to have to be perfect on their attacks, and Oregon was not able to find that consistency.
Oregon Head Coach Trent Kersten had high praise for Nebraska’s team, “They played a very efficient match, and they showed why they are such a great volleyball team.”
Oregon’s offense seemed to hit its stride in the third set with Marina Crownover and Alaina Pollard providing clutch points. Crownover also recorded her 3,000th assist in the game, an impressive feat for the 5th-year senior. Dalia Verlan added a great cross-court kill to tie the third set at eight apiece, avoiding the skyscraper double-team of Nebraska.
Clemente caught fire and put the Ducks up 11 to 10 with back-to-back rockets, breaking through the tall defense of Nebraska.Every time the Ducks scored, Nebraska would come back with a devastating slam, usually through the double team of the Ducks.
The rallies grew longer in the third set with athletic digs from both teams, but Nebraska slowed Oregon's attacks down with more consistency.
With the Ducks down 20 to 15, Nebraska came out of the Oregon timeout with Adriano, Murray and Jackson as their front court, and they used their size to get up 22 to 17.
Clemente, Vaulet and Sjakkie Donkers started a run of their own, trying to match size with size, making the game 24-20. The rally fell short, and Nebraska secured the win and the sweep.
“I think just talking about their height and size and physicality doesn’t give them enough credit for how great of a player they are,” Kerston said on the size match-up.
Nebraska has the size, but they also have the skill. There is a reason their last regular season loss was Nov. 9, 2024. Oregon might have got a rematch with Nebraska depending on how the Big Ten Tournament plays out. If so, it will probably have a similar atmosphere.
The crowd stayed in the game the entire match, 12,364 showed up with an almost even split of Oregon and Nebraska fans, the highest-attended game at Matthew Knight Arena since Sabrina Ionescu’s senior season and the first sell-out crowd ever for volleyball.
“I’m looking up, and I’m like, wow, there are people up there, and so I’m just so thankful that they came out,” Clemente said about the sellout crowd.
The Ducks will look to bounce back against Northwestern on Sunday, November 8th, at 6 p.m. right back at Matthew Knight Arena. KWVA will be airing the game with Jacob Razo and Dylan De Cesare on the call.