The No. 11 Ducks (11-2, 3-1 BIG) steamrolled into Friday’s blockbuster against the No. 3 Penn State Nittany Lions (14-1, 4-0 BIG) — winning 11-straight and their first three conference matches.
Penn State, boasting the home court advantage, handled the proficient Oregon offense with ease, as the Lions swept (25-19, 25-19, 25-17) to secure their sixth-straight win and fourth in conference play.
The Nittany Lions’ ability to control the net and prevent Oregon’s explosive tandem of setter Cristin Cline and outside hitter Mimi Colyer proved key on Friday. Cline hit -.167 and Colyer fared the same with her -.130 night.
If the method by which the offense flows cannot get going, so too is true about the Ducks.
The team offense suffered a similar fate, as Oregon hit .075 for the night, which was far from coach Ulmer’s usual standard. That percentage came as a consequence of the 25 attacking errors the Ducks were responsible for.
The Nittany Lions pounced on that lack of offense and didn’t give Oregon any chance of solidifying any momentum offensively. Penn State used an electric middle of the first set to put itself ahead for the rest of the match.
In fact, after the score was tied at nine in the first set, Oregon failed to get within five points of PSU for the rest of the way.
Defensively, the Ducks allowed the Nittany Lions to hit .284 for the game, with outside hitter Jess Mruzik leading the way with her 16 kills and three blocks on .353 hitting. Her counterpart, Colyer, only managed two kills along with her negative hitting percentage.
The Penn State effort was dominant and efficient, and the Nittany Lions made their first statement to the national crowd as the country’s No. 3 ranked squad. Oregon clearly still has some kinks to get out of the system as it regards playing in a much tougher conference.
However, this is only the Ducks’ second loss of the season — with the first coming at the hands of the national No. 1 the University of Pittsburgh Panthers. This was always going to be one of the toughest conference opponents for the Ducks, and having this game away early in the season will help to speed up the process of a new team growing into its best self.
Tests like this one don’t come often, and even though the Ducks failed, coach Ulmer and his squad have an opportunity to figure out its strengths and weaknesses against one of the nation’s best rosters.