Through its first four games this season, No. 11 Oregon had lost just one set. As the teams headed to the locker rooms in the Colonials’ home-opener Tuesday night, GW was up two sets to zero.
The Colonials (1-3) looked sharp and aggressive in those first two frames, poised to take down the first ranked opponent to visit the Smith Center since 2012. But a dip in GW offense and costly errors allowed the Ducks (5-0) back in it, and ultimately led to a hard-to-swallow, five-set GW defeat (25-20, 25-22, 16-25, 15-25, 11-15).
“I think we just got comfortable,” junior middle blocker Chidima Osuchukwu said. “We thought we had it in the bag and we have to realize that teams aren’t just going to hand it to us. We have to work for every single point and I think we just thought we already had it.”
Osuchukwu, named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week on Monday, guided her team with 18 kills and a season-high 10 blocks. But GW’s .196 team attack percentage on the night was not enough to overcome Oregon’s onslaught in the final three sets, in which the Ducks had an attack percentage of .316 or greater in each.
The two teams went toe-to-toe in the first set, where neither team ever led by more than four points. Osuchukwu led the set with seven kills but got help from senior middle blocker Maggie Skjelbred, who had four kills in the frame and 10 on the night.
Senior setter Jordan Timmer who had 13 assists in the first set, also played big for the Colonials all night, singlehandedly out assisting the entire Oregon roster 53-52.
But veteran leadership in the first two sets was also greatly supplemented by the play of GW newcomers. Freshman outside hitter Kelsey Clark led the Colonials with six kills in the second set, and closely trailed Osuchukwu with 15 on the night.
“Kelsey is a great outside [hitter] and she really knows how to work the ball,” Osuchukwu said. “As we continue to grow as a team the new people will continue to play integral parts.”
But despite a stellar first two sets from the Colonials, the Ducks came back with all they had. Oregon converted 20 kills in set three, the most by either team in a single set on the night, to GW’s 11. The Ducks would also tally 21 digs to GW’s 16 in the frame.
And while Oregon offense propelled a third set victory, GW recorded a whopping 13 errors in the fourth, allowing the Ducks win the set by 10 points on just 8 kills.
“You need to understand as the team that’s up 2-0 that that team is going to throw everything they’ve got at you and try to see if something’s going to work,” head coach Amanda Ault said. “We knew that, but we just don’t take care of that very much. Right now we don’t do a very good job at adapting to what’s happening.”
The Colonials looked more prepared in the fifth-set tie breaker, committing only three errors and posting eight kills to Oregon’s nine. GW would come back to tie the set after going down 3-0 early, but the Ducks ran away with it late to put away the home team 15-11.
GW is dealt its second consecutive five-set loss, both of which the Colonials led two sets to none, but Ault said she still considered Tuesday night’s match an improvement.
“We took a step forward tonight because I felt like there was fight in the fifth [set], whereas it wasn’t there on Saturday,” she said. “And so although it’s a tough loss and really hard to understand right now, we’ve just got to keep making progress like that.”
