The ball was set for freshman opposite hitter Alanah Clemente, and she delivered, spiking it straight into the hardwood. The reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week sealed the game with this hit and gave the Oregon Ducks (4-0, 0-0 Big Ten) their first home win of the season in their home opener versus the Portland Pilots. (3-1, 0-0 WCC)
Both teams entered Wednesday’s match with 3-0, undefeated records. Oregon recently swept Montana State, while Portland did the same to the Idaho Vandals.
With nearly an entirely new roster this year, the Ducks are still building chemistry, but this win gave them the confidence they need to continue rolling. Freshman setter, Kamden Mitchell, gave credit for their success to working well as a unit, explaining that “It’s probably the biggest setter ‘yes’ when you can feed them the ball and they can just crush it.”
While Clemente and many others had a huge impact on the Ducks’ win, the real star of the night was junior opposite hitter Valentina Vaulet. Vaulet is a transfer from Michigan, but her presence has been felt right away. Contributing to 15 of the Ducks’ points, with 11 coming from kills and two from service aces, Vaulet looked nearly unstoppable all night.
Even though Oregon came out on top in the end, they didn’t get off to as strong a start as they had hoped for. They struggled early, as they trailed seven to 12 partway into Set 1, but the momentum began to shift when Vaulet and Clemente started to heat up. After some back and forth, the Ducks duo each earned two quick kills to knot the set up at 16, forcing the Pilots to take their first time out.
Even though Portland’s senior outside hitter, Maui Robins, had an impressive showing to finish out set one, it wasn’t enough to squash Oregon’s newfound momentum.
The Ducks were able to close out the first set 25 to 21 by way of an attack error from the Pilots.
A running theme of the match was Oregon’s ability to complete service aces, as it tallied nine throughout the game, and three in set number two.
Another way that the Ducks were able to stay productive in the second set was by achieving an impressive .464 kill percentage, and clearing the net with 10 blocks throughout the period.
These efforts helped Oregon to take the second set, as they were able to outlast the Pilots by a score of 25-20.
Moving on to the third set, Oregon was starting to feel it as the thought of completing a sweep in its season home opener became a possibility. The Ducks continued their play in Set 3, but Portland was on the ropes and wasn’t going to roll over. The Pilots went up seven to four early thanks to a combination of errors by Oregon and kills by junior middle blocker Taina Kaauwai and fifth-year middle blocker Naveah Bray.
With momentum slowly fading away, the Ducks were looking for answers, and were able to find them in freshman outside hitter Maria Tabacuks and freshman middle blocker Holly McFadden.
The freshmen duo were able to rally the troops and pave the way to evening the score at eight, which then stayed neck and neck for the rest of the set.
With both teams exchanging leads for around ten more points, the Ducks began to pull away and go up 21-17 thanks to continued stellar play from Tabacuks.
With the end in their sights, Oregon was able to finish out the set 25-23 and take the game.
McFadden and Tabacuks combined for nine kills in set number three, which was a huge boost to the Ducks and helped them close out this win.
Even though the Ducks were able to pull off the win, head coach Trent Kersten wants his team to clean up their play, highlighting that, “We can be so much better,” and continuing on to say that, “We have to improve on the defensive side of the ball.”
This game marked the 33rd time these squads have matched up, but the first time since 2010. In addition, this game gave the Ducks win number 28 over the pilots throughout all the matchups.
Next, Oregon will look to keep its perfect season record against Colorado State at home on Saturday, before it begins a long road trip.