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On Sunday afternoon the Oregon Ducks welcomed top ranked USC to Matthew Knight Arena. The Trojans had lost just ten sets all season and it was clear from the start that Oregon was going to fight. Coming off a heartbreaking loss on Friday night against UCLA, Oregon led in almost every offensive category, but were unable to put the ball on the floor in key moments in the final three sets of the match losing 3-1. This was the final game in the first half of the Pac-12 Season and the Oregon Ducks came out with a 3-0 start in the first set.
Kacey Nady and Martenne Bettendorf started the game with threee kills and two kills respectively. The Ducks would do some good things in the first set, but would fall in the first set 25-18. Set two would start with Oregon behind and fighting to get back. USC took at 15-10 lead before Oregon took their first timeout in the set. USC would score two consecutive points making it 17-10. Frankie Shebby would hit a ball out of bounds giving another point to the Trojans. USC scored another point and Oregon Head Coach Jim Moore has seen enough. He called the teams second timeout. Oregon would get within five points before USC came back to push it to seven. Kacy Nady would give Oregon a point back. The Ducks would pull within five before the Trojans would call a timeout. The number one team in the country would go into the locker room up two sets to one on 10-8 Oregon.
The USC Trojans came out looking to put Oregon away in the third set starting with a 7-1 run. Oregon again fought and pushed USC to 15-8 scoring four consecutive points, but the Trojans put up the next two points pushing their lead to 17-8. The Trojans came into Matthew Knight Arena and overpowered Oregon. The Ducks would fall in three straight sets, the final set 25-16.
The leads were too much to overcome, but when you are the number one team in the country, that is what you do. You dominate. It was a three game sweep for USC and their record to 22-0 and 10-0 in Pac-12 play. Oregon fell to 10-9 and 4-6 in Conference play. The Ducks have lost four of their last five, three of those games in straight sets.
Oregon returns to the road this week to take on Utah and Colorado. It will be the start of the second half of the season and the road is a place that Oregon knows well and has actually played better than at home, at least in the first half. The Utes are up first on Friday at 7pm,. The Ducks visit Colorado on Saturday, Halloween at 6pm Pacific Time.