Six Up, Six Down: Another UO Sweep

FINAL STATS - Oregon 3, Arizona 0 | VB Season Stats - Feb. 14 | Boxscore

EUGENE, Ore. — The Oregon volleyball team had to learn on the fly with a young roster last season, but the Ducks are starting to look all grown up in 2021.

One season after winning five times in 20 Pac-12 matches, the Ducks have exceeded that total already in 2021. Oregon swept Arizona for the second time in three days Sunday at Matthew Knight Arena, 25-23, 25-13, 25-15, to improve to 6-2 this season, all in conference play.

"It's just really fun," said UO senior Taylor Borup, who missed the 2019 season due to injury. "The contributions are coming from everyone, so it's just a whole collective team win every time. That makes it even more special."

How It Happened: For the second match in a row, Oregon set its season high in hitting percentage, with the Ducks hitting .370 on Sunday thanks to just nine total attack errors. The opening game Sunday was the Ducks' least efficient of the afternoon, as they hit .308. That was also the only game of the day in which Arizona was able to keep pace, as the Wildcats hit .325 to make it a back-and-forth game. Neither team led by more than two points at any time in the game, and it was tied as late as 23-23 before kills by Morgan Lewis and Karson Bacon gave Oregon the win.

To that point UO outside hitter Gloria Mutiri was having a quiet weekend, but that ended in game two. Mutiri had kills on the opening two points to get Oregon out in front, and she had three more kills during a run of eight straight points for the Ducks that made it 17-6. Back-to-back kills by Brooke Nuneviller set up game point, and setter Elise Ferreira found the floor with a dump to end it.

UO coach Matt Ulmer said the attention Arizona's block paid to Mutiri throughout the weekend made her tentative, but that she broke out of that mentality in game two Sunday. "The message today was, I don't care who's blocking you, I don't care how many people they send at you, it doesn't matter," Ulmer said. "They sent her the same attention, but it just didn't matter this time."

The story in game three was Oregon's block. The opening moments of the game were back-and-forth, but the Ducks broke it open after a Nuneviller kill made it 10-8, and that was thanks to the block. Abby Hansen and Lewis combined for a block to make it 11-8, Nuneviller and Hansen teamed up for a block that put Oregon up 14-8, and Hansen and Lewis had a block on the very next point. A block by Hansen and Mutiri gave the Ducks a 19-11 lead, and Hansen had a solo block on the next point for a 20-11 advantage.

"Arizona does so many different things offensively that are not traditional," Ulmer said. "It takes a little time to adjust to them. As the match went on our eyes adjusted better and we started making better reads and plays."

Nuneviller finished off the match with her team-leading 11th kill of the match, to go along with 12 digs, while Lewis and Mutiri finished with nine kills each. Hansen had eight total blocks, and Borup had 10 digs plus five kills.

Notable: Oregon's five-match winning streak is its longest since the end of the 2018 season into the NCAA Tournament … Oregon posted three-game sweeps in back-to-back conference matches for the first time since beating California and Utah in straight sets in November 2018 … Oregon swept the season series with Arizona for the first time since 2012 … The Ducks hit over .300 in back-to-back matches for the first time since beating UC Irvine and Boston College at the start of the 2019 season … Nuneviller posted her seventh double-double in eight matches this year and has reached double figures in digs in all eight … She averaged 4.17 kills and 4.67 digs per set while hitting .380 in the two matches against Arizona … Oregon's two right-side hitters, Lewis and Mutiri, combined for 18 kills on 40 swings, hitting .350.

Up Next: The Ducks play at Utah on Thursday (2 p.m. PT, Pac-12 Network).