Errors Haunt Ducks In Top-10 Matchup

EUGENE, Ore. — A hard-fought and mostly even matchup between the No. 6 Oregon volleyball team and No. 7 Washington State at Matthew Knight Arena was decided by two critical runs Sunday.

The Cougars (14-1) scored the first 10 points of the opening set and the final six of the fourth set, handing the Ducks (13-2) just their second loss of the season. Washington State won 25-14, 20-25, 29-27, 25-23 on a day when each team hit at least 150 points under its season average.

“Every time we play them it’s like that,” UO coach Matt Ulmer said. “It’s two good defenses, it’s two really physical blocks, two good serving teams. It’s not a match if you like offense, generally. … We just gave so many points away.”

The Ducks hit .110 on the afternoon, after coming into the match at .298 for the season. WSU hit .164, well off its .314 mark entering the match. The Cougars were just a bit more clutch in building the early lead to take control of the opening set, and coming from behind to win the fourth.

“I always want to go against people at their best, and if you win then you know you’re legit,” Ulmer said. “And so for us, what this taught us is hopefully a lot. There’s a lot of things that we’re gonna have to get better at if we want to achieve our goals that we want to achieve.”

How It Happened: Oregon’s issues attacking the WSU defense were apparent from the start Sunday, as the Cougars’ 10-0 run to open the match included three UO errors and three Washington State blocks. It was 20-11 before either Mimi Colyer or Morgan Lewis had a kill for the Ducks; that duo ultimately combined for 23 kills with 23 errors in the match.

“You still have to challenge their block, still have to challenge their defense,” Ulmer said. “You have to make them make plays. And we just were really tentative and cautious with that, or then tried to be just too pristine with the shot, and there’s no room for error that way.”

The Ducks answered with vigor in the second set. Karson Bacon had two kills and a block as Oregon raced out to a 7-3 lead. When it was 14-11, the UO women scored four straight points, including an ace from Daley McClellan and two kills by Colyer. Bacon then had three more kills to help close out the set, including an emphatic spike out of the middle to clinch the set and even the match.

“We talked about it in the huddle a few times — like, if things aren’t going your way, you better (at least) be aggressive doing it,” said Bacon, who finished with 11 kills and six blocks. “So…