By Knight Jarecki

Eugene, Oregon — The #17 Oregon Ducks (19-6, 10-5) defeated the USC Women of Troy (10-14,6-9) 3-2 (25-22, 25-20, 26-28, 21-25, and 15-11) Friday afternoon. With the win, the Ducks have now won five out of their last six matches including winning the past four.

Oregon has won five straight matches against the Women of Troy with all 5 of the last 5 matches going to a fifth set.

The first set was a back and forth set the whole way. There were 8 total ties through the first 40 serves as both teams found themselves knotted at 20. USC got ahead by 2 before Oregon went on a 5-0 run to end the first set and win 25-22. Oregon only hit .132 in the first set but received lots of help from USC as the Women of Troy had 6 service errors in the opening frame.

The second set was a much more efficient set for the Ducks as they controlled the lead throughout. Oregon seemed to be more aggressive serving the ball which resulted in a lower USC hitting percentage and the Ducks having more service errors (6) and aces (2). The Ducks hit .429 with 18 kills and only 3 errors. USC was held to only a .156 hitting percentage. USC had 5 attack errors to only 10 kills.

Oregon got off to a slow start in set 3 as they found themselves down 7-4 early which prompted a Matt Ulmer timeout. USC was able to hang onto the lead midway through the third set and led 13-9 before Oregon went on a 4-0 run to knot the score at 13. USC got back ahead leading 20-16. Oregon answered back on a 4-1 run to make it 21-20 before a USC time out was called. Oregon was able to tie it at 21 after the timeout but the Women of Troy responded with back to back kills making it 23-21. USC made it set point at 24-22 but the Ducks answered back with a 3-0 run. USC fended off match point a couple of times before prevailing 28-26 in set 3.

The fourth set was just like the first set in the sense that it was back and forth. Both teams were knotted at 10 after the first 20 serves and were again tied at 15 after 30 serves. USC then went on a 3-0 run promoting a time out by Oregon as the score was 18-15. USC then finished the set on a 7-6 run to stay alive winning 25-21 to force the decicive fifth set.

Oregon got off to a hot start in set 5 leading 7-3 early on. This resulted in a time out for USC. Oregon then continued the momentum as they went on a 4-2 run to lead 11-5 prompting another USC timeout. After the timeout, the Women of Troy went on a 3-0 run to make the score 11-8 and make Oregon call a timeout. Oregon responded on a 3-1 run to make it match point at 14-9. USC shaved off two more points before Oregon finished the match on a Gloria Mutiri kill winning the fifth set 15-11.

The Ducks will look to keep momentum this weekend as Oregon has a top 20 match-up scheduled against #12 UCLA (19-3) on Sunday. The Bruins got the better of the Ducks the last time the two teams met on October 22nd with UCLA sweeping Oregon 3-0.

Statistics:

Team:

USC

Hitting percentage: .261

Kills: 69

Errors: 22

Blocks: 9

Digs: 18

Oregon

Hitting percentage: .376

Kills: 71

Errors:23

Blocks: 8

Digs: 80

Individual Leaders:

USC

Kills: Emilia Weske (18)

Blocks: Brooke Botkin (5)

Digs: Shannon Scully (18)

Oregon

Kills: Brooke Nuneviller (25)

Blocks: Gloria Mutiri and Kiari Robey (3)

Digs: Georgia Murphy (20)