Oregon volleyball sweeps Purdue, advances to Elite Eight to face Wisconsin
Published 3:01 am Friday, December 8, 2023
- Cristin Cline reacts after the Ducks get a point during the third set against Southeastern Louisiana in the first round of the NCAA volleyball tournament Nov. 30 in Eugene.
Oregon volleyball is headed back to the Elite Eight.
Mimi Colyer and Morgan Lewis each had 14 kills and Gabby Gonzales added 10 for the No. 2 seed Ducks in a 3-0 (25-14, 25-19, 29-27) win over No. 3 seed Purdue in a regional semifinal in Madison, Wisconsin, Thursday night.
Hannah Pukis had 42 assists and 10 digs for Oregon (29-5), which advances to face top-seeded Wisconsin (29-3) in a regional final on Saturday (5 p.m., ESPNU).
“So proud of our group,” Oregon coach Matt Ulmer said. “(Gonzales) got banged up last week and didn’t know if she would go or what it would look like and she was just a rockstar. The fight from the whole group rallying behind her, does a coach’s heart proud. Really excited for our group and we get a chance to go back to the Elite Eight again and face a really great Wisconsin team.”
Oregon jumped out to an 11-3 lead in the first and expanded it to 20-8. Kara McGhee had one of her six kills to close the frame.
The teams went back and forth in the second, with Purdue (23-9) eventually opening a 13-9 lead. The Ducks scored five in a row to take a 20-18 lead, then closed the set with another five consecutive points while Gonzales served.
“My teammates around me, they make it so much easier,” Gonzales said. “I know I can always lean on them if I’m struggling, I got so many on the court, off the court, staff, that I can look to and they give me help in any sort of way.”
The third set also opened with trades in scores until Oregon took a 14-11 lead. Eva Hudson had 12 kills and Chloe Chicoine added 10 for Purdue, which responded with seven of the next nine to go ahead 18-16. The Boilermakers led 21-20 when UO scored three in a row, then got to the first of five match points at 24-23. A block by Colyer and Karson Bacon finally closed the frame and sent the Ducks back to the regional final.
“I thought we never really let anything fluster us,” Ulmer said. “We made a handful of more errors I thought in the third set, credit to them. I thought they upped their serving game and put more pressure on us. I thought Daley (McClellan), Gabby and Georgia (Murphy) were back there battling. They threw some short serves in there and we had to respond to that a little bit. I thought they did a lot of really good things.”