Today Oregon faced the Oregon State Beavers in a highly anticipated matchup for the team and fans alike. This matchup was no threat to senior outside hitter Valentina Vaulet, who was on a high before the game even started.
Just moments before the first serve, Oregon Volleyball recognized Vaulet with the game ball for reaching 1,000 career kills in the Duck’s game earlier this month against Mizzou.
Vaulet reacted by saying, “I’m surprised it came down to 1,000. I know I made quite a bit of kills, but 1,000 seemed like a lot, it shows a lot and how much I’ve played at the college level.”
Going into today’s game Vaulet was ready for whatever the Beavers had to bring. The outside hitter tied alongside her teammate, Iva Sucurovic, with 10 kills in this match and also adding eight digs, three blocks, and two assists to help the Ducks secure a three-set sweep.
While Valentina Vaulet has always been a key player in her time at Oregon, she feels a little more fire going into her senior year and experiencing things like rivalry games one last time.
“This is my senior year, my last year in college, so it makes every match extra special because it is the last time I’ll play at these facilities and with this team, so I think that's my ‘why,” says Vaulet.
With the wins, exciting moments, and success from Vaulet over the years, fans have really embraced the senior from Argentina. The Oregon Marching Band created a chant that debuted in this game chanting “Vaulet! Vaulet! Vaulet! Vaulet!” to the tune of the “Ole Chant” sung by fans all throughout Matthew Knight Arena in this match.
The team now moves into conference play after today’s nonconference finale, and Vaulet has one team in particular on her mind.
Vaulet emphasizes how she, “Love[s] conference play, I love the teams that we play. I’m really excited to play Wisconsin. They’re a good blocking team [and] they’re really organized. I expect to win many more matches than we have in the past. I’m really expecting to win more matches going into conference play.”
At the end of the game, head coach Trent Kersten recognized Vaulet as well as her 1,000 kill milestone saying that, “Great players belong at Oregon.”