The Oregon Ducks battled but fell in four sets to the Stanford Cardinal on Friday night.
Oregon Volleyball was coming off an upset win over Utah last Sunday and would look to do it again against 3rd ranked Stanford on Friday night at Matthew Knight Arena.
Stanford entered the match averaging over one ace per set and a hitting percentage of .267 on the season. Oregon is hitting at .255 entering the match with Stanford.
The Ducks started out strong with a 3-1 lead. Oregon continued to build with a Willow Johnson kill to take it to 6-3. The first set continued to go back and forth. Stanford took the lead ten minutes into the first set at 9-8. Oregon would take the lead four points later at 11-10 and add another point off the block to lead by two.
Oregon was able to maintain the lead as Ronika Stone and Brooke Nuneviller lead the team in the first set. The Ducks won the first set 25-21.
Stanford opened the second set on a 4-0 run. The Ducks struggled allowing six straight points by the Cardinal forcing a timeout and an 11-3 lead from road team in the second set. Oregon allowed two more Cardinal points before stopping the bleeding at 13-4. Oregon would have a lot of work to do to get back into the set. The Cardinal won the set 25-11 and were outhitting the Ducks .274 to .133 for the match entering set three.
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The Cardinal again built an early lead in set three forcing Oregon to play from behind. The Ducks closed the gap to 15-10. Stanford extended their lead to 17-10 and were looking to take control of the match. Oregon found some fight forcing a Cardinal timeout down 18-13.The Ducks again battled, but fell in set three 25-19.
Oregon opened set four with the first point and led early 8-7 off a Willow Johnson kill, but again Stanford rallied forcing an Oregon timeout with a 12-8 lead in the deciding set. Oregon reeled off four straight points to tie the set with Ronika Stone getting the 12th point for the Ducks.
Stanford was too much for the Ducks, in the end, winning the final set 25-19 winning the match.
For the game, Oregon was led by Brooke Nuneviller with 15 kills hitting .238. Ronika Stone and Willow Johnson each had 12 kills vs the Cardinal. Oregon is back at in on Sunday hosting California at Matthew Knight Arena. The first serve is set for 1 pm Pacific Time.