It was Dec. 10, 2022, when the Oregon volleyball team had match point in the fourth set of an Elite Eight matchup at Louisville, but was unable to close it out and lost in five. One day shy of one year since that heartbreak, the Ducks will have a chance at redemption.
This time, it’s another hostile road environment, as the UO women will play at regional top seed Wisconsin on Saturday (5 p.m. PT, ESPNU). A spot in the Final Four awaits the winner.
“Having a taste of what it’s like, it made us want it even more this year,” UO fifth-year libero Georgia Murphy said Friday, before the Ducks practiced at the UW Field House. “… We’re so excited to finally be back here. Postseason came kind of quick, and now it’s like, OK, finally — this is our shot.”
Murphy and her fellow veterans of the program have accomplished something none before them could — making consecutive Elite Eight appearances. Murphy, Karson Bacon, Morgan Lewis and Elise Ferreira all were members of Oregon’s nine-win team in 2019, then endured the COVID season played in the spring of 2021 before making history the past two years.
Bacon took advantage of a sixth year of eligibility owing to the pandemic; she’s making her third trip to the Elite Eight, having been a redshirt on the 2018 team that reached this stage. Where once she watched veterans like Lindsay Vander Weide, Ronika Stone and August Raskie lead the Ducks to the precipice of the Final Four, she’s has now done so herself — twice.
“We’ve had so many players come through and shed light on how to get it done,” Bacon said. “Something that’s really important and beneficial for us this year is, we added a lot of new pieces, but a lot of those pieces have experience in the tournament as well. So coming together and bringing all our experience and our knowledge together has been really good.”
In the wake of last season’s loss at Louisville, Bacon had a decision to make about her future. She had participated in Senior Day festivities. But the option of returning for one more go-round remained.
“I’m not sure if they knew they were going to come back for this last year, a year ago,” UO coach Matt Ulmer said of his seniors. “The fact that they all wanted to tells you that there was a purpose for that. And I think you’re seeing that with our playoffs right now. Their attention is focused.”
That was apparent in Thursday’s Sweet Sixteen match against Purdue….
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