Oregon volleyball’s season ends in Elite Eight loss to Wisconsin

Published 5:56 pm Monday, December 11, 2023

For the second year in a row Oregon volleyball’s season ended in the Elite Eight.

Mimi Colyer had 20 kills and 12 digs and Morgan Lewis had 11 kills for the No. 2 seed Ducks in a 3-1 loss (25-22, 25-22, 25-27, 25-18) to top-seeded Wisconsin Saturday night at Wisconsin Field House.

Hannah Pukis had 49 assists and 13 digs and hit .412 for Oregon (29-6), which hit just .207 for the match.

“I’m really proud of our group,” Oregon coach Matt Ulmer said. “I thought we battled really, really hard and we left everything we had out there. I think you got to win those close sets in the beginning. We didn’t and that’s the difference. We gave everything we had and Wisconsin was better. Congratulations to them.”

Sarah Franklin had 20 kills and 11 digs for Wisconsin (30-3), which advances to the Final Four. The Badgers hit .313, second-highest by a Ducks opponent this season, and had 16 blocks.

“This is a really awesome environment to play in,” Colyer said. “They’re loud, they’re on top of you and they’re so passionate about what they’re watching. I think definitely within the first couple of points of that first set, maybe even the whole first set, definitely getting some nerves out, getting used to the environment, getting used to what they look like after watching film.

“I think after we got into the third set we really started playing more Oregon volleyball. Even in the first and second sets, they were definitely close, just pulling out those last couple of points.”

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