It won the first set, but Oregon volleyball (15-12, 6-11 Big Ten) didn’t win another after that, and fell, 3-1 to No. 16 USC (21-6, 12-5 Big Ten) Wednesday night. After a five-set win last weekend over the then-No. 9 Purdue Boilermakers, the magic of Saturday’s road upset could not be replicated at Matthew Knight Arena, where the Ducks ran out of gas in the fourth set. Oregon won the first set behind star freshman Alanah Clemente, but the Trojans won the next three to secure victory over the Ducks for the second time this season. “We’re not trying to chase a bunch of wins right now,” head coach Trent Kersten said. “We’re training to chase a peace of mind and knowing that we went for it.” The peace of mind Kersten described was most visible in the opening set, the highlight of the night. Oregon and USC fought back-and-forth, forcing 14 ties, with neither team able to pull ahead. The Ducks stayed composed and held their own, winning the set 33-31. Even with star freshman Alanah Clemente, the match leader in kills came just one shy of her career-high 25 from Saturday’s match, the Ducks could not keep up with the Trojans’ power. For the second time this season, Clemente was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week on Monday. Despite the positives, Clemente also led the match in total errors with 19. “She’s really good and she’s not even close to where she’s gonna be next year, and I’m so excited for it,” Kersten said of Clemente. “Her development and for her to have experience and for her to go through this, what a cool opportunity for her to make this splash in the Big Ten.” The second set was nothing short of thrilling as the Ducks would go on to challenge not one but two calls losing both times and allowing USC time to draw out its next advancements. A series of 13 errors for the Ducks gave the Trojans the one-up after they pulled away 28-26. “They switched up a little bit of their matchup,” Kersten said. “They flipped a row five in set three. so I stuck with our best server, one of our best servers starting the match, which is kind of our default, starting with Val (Vaulet) serving.” The third set was a mirror of the second, with Oregon finding momentum early on to start an early lead. The Ducks found their largest scoring margin of the night a mere four points. But it wasn’t enough to hold off the Trojans who went ahead to win their second-consecutive set, this time 28-26. The fourth set was the true test for Oregon, and the Ducks could not recover the momentum they had earlier in the match. USC took control, forcing a comfortable lead. Late errors by Clemetne and Vaulet gave the Trojans their last push, pulling away to win 25-19. “I felt really good about how we started in the second and third (sets) and just came up a bit short at the end there,” Kersten said. The Ducks will host Michigan for their final home match of the season on Saturday, November 22, at 6 p. m. PST.
https://dailyemerald.com/174689/sports/oregon-volleyball-drops-4-set-thriller-to-no-16-usc/