Dukes Fall Short of Upset, Drop Five-Set Thriller to No.7 Oregon

Friday, September 15

Pittsburgh, Pa. / Fitzgerald Field House

5 p.m.

James Madison University

7-3,0-0Sun Belt

Oregon

9-1,0-0Pac-12

Oregon

James Madison

Dukes Fall Short of Upset, Drop Five-Set Thriller to No.7 Oregon

9/15/2023 7:44:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

PITTSBURGH – James Madison volleyball, seeking its second win over a ranked opponent, fell in a five-set thriller to No.7 Oregon Friday evening.

The Dukes (7-3) fell by set scores of 20-25, 25-22, 25-18, 8-25, and 10-15. Oregon (9-1) prevailed in its second five-set match in as many days.

Sophie Davis led the Dukes with a season-high 15 kills and hit .429. Miëtte Veldman added nine kills and 16 digs and is now one kill from 1,000 in her career. Annie Smith and Brenya Reid each added seven kills of their own.

The Ducks outhit the Dukes .313-.120 and tallied 13 blocks. Coming into the match, Oregon was averaging 2.73 blocks per set, good for 21^st nationally. Mimi Colyer tallied a season-high 20 kills, and Morgan Lewis added 15 kills and six total blocks to lead the Ducks to the victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1: Oregon 25-20
The match started with an Oregon service error that put the Dukes ahead 1-0. and both teams settled into a back-and-forth battle. After JMU pulled ahead 4-3 on a Davis service ace, Oregon quickly regained control of the set and surged ahead 10-8 on a Reid attacking error. The Dukes tied the set at 10 after a Ducks service error and service ace from Madilyn O'Toole. The set would go back and forth all the way to a 17-17 tie before Oregon used a an 8-3 surge to take the set.

Set 2: JMU 25-22
The Dukes' fifth service ace of the match from Rebecca Watkins gave the Dukes a 4-3 lead early in the set. Smith came off the bench and immediately tallied two kills for JMU, but back-to-back kills from Mimi Colyer put Oregon ahead 10-7. The Dukes answered back with seven straight points and led 14-10 on a kill from Watkins. The Ducks battled back to within one point (18-17), but the Dukes capitalized off two Oregon errors and a Veldman service ace and pulled ahead 21-17, a lead JMU would not relinquish. Two more Ducks errors forced JMU set point, and a Watkins kill won the second set for the Dukes.

Set 3: JMU 25-18
Veldman started the third set with her fourth kill of the match, and the Dukes opened the third set up 4-2. Five consecutive points for the Dukes, capped off by Davis' ninth kill of the match, gave JMU a commanding 10-5 lead. After Oregon tried to cut into the lead, back-to-back kills from Smith and Veldman gave the Dukes a 15-11 lead. JMU continued to build their lead, as Davis put the Dukes ahead 19-14 on her match-leading 11^th kill. Julia McNeley gave the Dukes set point on two straight service aces, and Davis continued her dominance, as she notched her 12^th kill to give the Dukes the 2-1 set lead on No.7 Oregon. As a team, JMU hit .444 en route to the set victory.

Set 4: Oregon 25-8
Oregon shook off the third set and immediately forced a JMU timeout with a quick 6-1 spurt to open the fourth. Oregon cruised to the set victory on the heels of a .500 hitting percentage and forced a decisive fifth set.

Set 5: Oregon 15-10
Oregon didn't slow down in the fifth, as the Ducks jumped ahead 6-2 on a kill from Colyer. However, the Dukes weren't done yet, as back-to-back service aces from Watkins brought JMU to within one (8-7), and an attacking error from Oregon's Gabby Gonzales tied the fifth set at eight. Oregon jumped back ahead with a Colyer kill and a Daley McClellan service ace to make it 10-8 and closed the fifth on a 7-2 run to rally and defeat the Dukes.

UP NEXT
The Dukes will square off with No.8 Pittsburgh at 7 p.m. tomorrow, with the game streaming on ESPN+. No.8 Oregon travels to Wisconsin to take on Marquette on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.