No. 18 Oregon Volleyball was unable to respond to their upset over no. 1 Minnesota with back-to-back top-five victories, falling 25-23, 25-23, and 25-19 on Saturday, Sept. 8 against the 5th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions. The Ducks started well in the first two sets, using powerful serves and timely offense to break through against the Nittany Lions. However, Oregon couldn't pull out points at the end of those first two frames and lost their composure during the beginning of the third. After giving up an 18-8 lead in set 3, UO clawed their way back, but could only move the margin to five before dropping the match. As a team, the Ducks hit just .136. Though junior right side Willow Johnson buouyed her squad with 11 kills and a .400 hitting percentage, Oregon's defense couldn't support their offense nearly the way it did against the Golden Gophers, who UO hit .298 against. Senior setter August Raskie did put up a double-double with 28 assists and 10 digs, but fell well short of the career-high 66 assists she dished on Friday night. The loss pushes Oregon to 5-3, but they exit Palo Alto and the Big-10/Pac-12 Challenge with a marquee win on the year, and have only lost to teams currently in the AVCA top-10. the Ducks are back in action next weekend, when they take Hawaii in Honolulu for two matches on Thursday, Sept. 13 and Friday, Sept. 14. GAME STORY (by Matt Tyra) POSTMATCH AUDIO