EUGENE, Ore. – The No. 18 Oregon volleyball play at home for the first time this season Thursday when it host UC Davis on day one of the Oregon Invitational. First serve of the Ducks’ home opener is set for 6 p.m. (PT) at Matthew Knight Arena. Oregon carries a 2-0 record in the three-day round robin.
2022 Oregon Invitational | Eugene, Ore.
Thurs, Sept 1: Oregon vs UC Davis, 6 p.m. – Watch | Live Stats
Fri, Sept. 2: UC Davis vs Rice, 4 p.m. – Live Stats
Sat, Sept. 3: Oregon vs Rice, 6 p.m. – Watch | Live Stats
The Ducks opened their 2022 campaign last weekend with a pair of wins at the Rose City Showdown in Portland, saving four match points in a five setter against Long Beach State and sweeping host Portland State in the finale. The UO offense generated a .302 hitting percentage during the two matches.
For their respective efforts, Brooke Nuneviller and Mimi Colyer were honored as the Pac-12 Offensive Player and Freshman of the Week. Nuneviller averaged a conference-leading 5.00 kills per set, aided by a 28-kill performance against Long Beach State. Colyer put down 3.63 in her debut weekend, a tally that ranks ninth in the league.
Thursday’s match against UC Davis will be the fourth meeting in the series, and the first since a straight-set home win for the Ducks in 2016. The first two meetings in 1980 and 1981 ended in ties.
Oregon holds a 3-0 advantage in its series with Rice including last season’s four-set victory in Houston. In that match, Nuneviller recorded 31 kills and 21 digs to lead the offense while libero Georgia Murphy had 22 digs to go along with eight blocks by Karson Bacon.
Senior opposite Gloria Mutiri needs just four kills to reach the 1,000 career milestone between her time at Kansas State (2018-19) and Oregon (2020-pres.). She had five kills and three blocks in Oregon’s sweep of Portland State.
UC Davis (3-0) is paced offensively by Demari Webb (3.82 k/s) and Josephine Ough (3.14 k/s) with setter Casi Newman running the show at 10.64 assists per set. Ough also leads the Aggies with 1.14 blocks per set while libero Shira Lahav picked up 3.73 digs per set last weekend. UC Davis opened the season with wins over UT Arlington, North Dakota and Montana.
Rice (3-0) comes to a Eugene with .247 hitting percentage—same as UC Davis—and are led by Sahara Maruska with 3.09 kills per set. Anota Adekunle is off to a hot start for the Owls at 2.64 kills per set, a .390 hitting percentage and a…
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