EUGENE, Ore. – Senior night fell on the Oregon Ducks Volleyball team (14-10, 5-9 Big Ten) on Sunday as the Michigan State Spartans (18-6, 8-6 Big Ten) made the trek out west to take on the Ducks at Matthew Knight Arena.
In the decisive fifth set, Oregon was down 15-14 and needed a rally to stay alive. After the serve and return, freshman opposite Alanah Clemente belted a spike, but was rejected, and the ball was sent back to the Ducks. Oregon tried to set up again, but a miscommunication made the ball almost fall to the floor, and Clemente had to quickly poke it up, but it went into the face of sophomore middle blocker Iva Sucurovic and to the ground. The Spartans took the match, and the Ducks were left disappointed with the game, losing folly.
“There are simply too many hitting errors from us,” Oregon head coach Trent Kerston said. “As far as volleyball execution goes, we didn’t hit the ball on the court enough. It’s not about one hitting error or any specific one during the match. We gotta go look and really evaluate why those things were happening and why those decisions were being made. Despite that, we’re right there.”
Leading the way for Oregon was Clemente, who had a team-high 21 kills.
Oregon came in off a wonderful 3-1 win against the UCLA Bruins at home on Thursday.
Michigan State stepped in looking to make it three in a row as they defeated the Washington Huskies 3-1 on Friday in Seattle.
These two teams are close in the standings, and that showed in the first set with the two squads trading runs the entire set. The Ducks tried to draw blood early with a 4-0 run that put them up 9-7, but the Spartans punched right back. An ace from Michigan State junior setter Cam Berger put the Spartans up 17-16, but another Oregon 4-0 swung the momentum right back.
That momentum quickly shifted right back with a Spartan 4-0 run of their own. With the set coming down to it, the score was tied at 23 until graduate outside hitter Sophia Meyers leapt and slammed a kill that put Oregon on the doorstep. Michigan State then helped out the Ducks with an attack error, and Oregon took set one.
The Spartans came out in set two clearly fired up after dropping the back-and-forth set one. A block from junior middle blocker Zuzanna Kulig notched Michigan State at the 10-5 mark, and the Spartans never looked back from that lead. Oregon tried to crawl back by getting the score up to 15-12, but Michigan State ripped off eight of the next 10 points to essentially bury the Ducks in the second set. After locking the set up 25-16, the score was knotted at 1-1.
Another fiery start from the Spartans in set three pressured the Ducks early again, but this time Oregon was able to respond and found themselves only down 16-14. A 5-1 Michigan State run got the score up to 21-15, but the Ducks responded with a 3-0 capped off by a perfectly spotted ace from Sucurovic.
The Ducks battled the rest of the way, but couldn’t get out of the hole they dug and dropped set three 25-21 after a kill from senior opposite Evie Doezema.
“It’s 25 one-point battles,” Kersten said. “That’s it. I’m thinking how we can be sharper in 25 one-point matches.”
Impressively, this Oregon team came out calm, cool and collected despite being down 2-1 in set four. The Ducks jolted out to a 7-2 headlined by the pesky defense at the net, especially from Clemente.
Consistency has continued to be an issue for the Oregon team all season, and that was apparent in the middle of set four. The Spartans scored seven of the next eight points to give them a one-point lead. Both teams then went back and forth until the Ducks finally swung hard and dialed six straight to take a 16-12 lead. This was the trend the rest of the way as a 5-0 run from Michigan State was answered by a 6-0 run from Oregon, which was enough for Sucurovic to ice the set with a speedy jump and kill to force a fifth set.
The final set gave the fans their money's worth as the heavy blows ceased and both teams started trading points again. The score got up to 9-9, and after both crews dished small runs, the tie was found again at 13-13. A Spartan error put the Ducks at match point, and the MKA crowd stood up and roared in anticipation of another gritty win, but the worst-case scenario ensued for Oregon. Michigan State locked in three straight points to win the match. The biggest gut punch, two of those points were Ducks’ errors.
“That’s a good team,” Kersten said. “They grind out wins. They’ve done it all season, and credit to Kristen Kelsay for all the work that she’s done this year. It’s her first year as head coach, and she’s putting together an incredible season. For us, we had a couple things just not quite at our average, and we got the result because of the hitting errors primarily. That being said, this team is battling.”
Contributing alongside Clemente to the Oregon efforts was junior opposite Valentina Vaulet, who had 15 kills.
Up next for the Ducks is a road date with the Indiana Hoosiers on Friday, Nov. 14.
The Spartans now turn their attention towards the No. 11 Wisconsin Badgers back at home on Friday, Nov. 14.