Fans of Oregon Ducks volleyball (13-7, 4-6 Big Ten) sought shelter from the rain inside Matthew Knight Arena as the No. 12-ranked Wisconsin Badgers (15-3, 8-2 Big Ten) were in town to take on the Ducks on Sunday.
In the final moments of the match, the Ducks were down 2-1 and desperate to score three straight points to stay alive down 26-25 in the fourth set. As both teams rallied, the Badgers lobbed a set up, and from the trenches of the court, former Duck and senior outside hitter Mimi Colyer geared up and hammered a spike that found hardwood on the Oregon side and sealed the 3-1 win for Wisconsin.
One half of the two-headed monster for Oregon was freshman outside Alanah Clemente, who had 17 kills.
Oregon was coming off a needed sweep of the No. 25-ranked UCLA Bruins in Los Angeles on Wednesday. This was the Ducks’ second-ranked win of the season, the first being a 3-1 victory over the No. 18 Minnesota Golden Gophers on Oct. 17.
The Badgers were coming off a win against another Pacific Northwest foe as they took down the Washington Huskies 3-1 in Seattle on Friday.
The Wisconsin juggernaut was in full force to begin set 1 as the Badgers pushed out to an early 7-4 lead, then ripped off six straight points to put them up 13-4. This fighting Ducks crew wasn’t going to go down easy, as a kill from Clemente at the 14-6 mark sparked seven straight points, capped off by another Clemente slam that got Oregon right back in it.
With both teams settled in, the big blows halted, and instead, the two squads went back and forth until the score got up to 23-23. A nasty belted spike from sophomore middle blocker Iva Sucurovic gave the Ducks a set point opportunity at 25-24, but Wisconsin matched that and eventually tied it at 26. With the crowd rocking, the resilient Ducks weren’t going to let this set slip away as they notched two straight points and took set one after a combined block from freshman middle blocker Holley McFadden and senior setter Cora Taylor.
Set 2 displayed more back and forth than was seen in the second half of the first set. Things swung the Oregon way midway through when the Ducks dialed four straight points thanks to a wonderful service run from Clemente to put them up 14-11. This three-point lead held all the way up to the 18-15 point, but this is when the fiery Badgers took back over. With every point the Ducks scored, Wisconsin scored two or three. Oregon was still in it with their backs against the wall, down 24-23, but a serve from senior outside hitter Sophia Meyers had too much juice and sailed out of bounds.
Through two sets, it was tied at 1-1.
Set three featured the Badgers jumping out to an early 6-3 lead, but the Ducks came back again and took an 11-9 lead thanks to a Wisconsin error from an old friend in Colyer. The Badgers would take five of the next seven points to take that lead back, but these teams were so knotted, and with Oregon up 16-15, the next 12 points would be traded as nobody wanted to go on a run. Nearing the end of a major third set, the Ducks lead 21-20.
To the dismay of the Oregon faithful, Wisconsin was done with the to and fro and scored five of the last six points to take the set. Senior middle blocker Carter Booth slammed the set-winning kill, and the Ducks were in trouble down 2-1 in sets.
“I think we missed a few serves in the third,” Oregon head coach Trent Kersten said. “That will help with some of the back and forth, just giving ourselves a chance. That being said, we have to serve at an aggressive level to compete. We have to. It’s not just a choice, it’s a requirement of trying to be in this caliber of teams. The last couple of sets ultimately boiled down to having discipline and really small things leading to really big moments for us.”
Like a broken record, the fourth set was tight early with Oregon up 8-7. The Ducks scored six of eight to put them up 14-9. Oregon held a three-to-five-point lead up until the 20-point mark, then the Badgers got to work and tied it at 21 with a boom from Colyer. Determined to stay alive, the Ducks scored three straight to put them at the door of a fifth set, but the door was locked in their face when the experienced Wisconsin bunch snagged four straight points to give them match point. After a Duck kill from Taylor, Colyer reminded Oregon why she was the star of last year's team, and now the star of the Wisconsin team, with the match-winning kill.
“I really, really think we’re outplaying that team for a lot of that match,” Kersten said. “We just had a couple plays here and there, when it got to the end of the set, that we could clean up. I’m not walking away from that match thinking we just competed at a great level, which for the most we did, I’m thinking, gosh, how do we clean up those one or two little plays so that we can take that one in five.”
The other stat sheet stuffer on the Oregon side was Meyers, who also had 17 kills.
The Ducks will look to keep it rolling on Halloween against the bitter rival Washington Huskies in Seattle, the hometown of Meyers, on Friday.
“I’m really excited,” Meyers said. “To be able to play them again is a huge opportunity for us, just because I think we’ve changed a lot since we’ve played them. Being able to play for my family, I’m really excited. I have a lot of people going, so it’ll be fun.”
Wisconsin will look to bounce back with a major test against the undefeated, No. 1 in the land, Nebraska Cornhuskers, also on Halloween.