EUGENE, Ore. – The 18th-ranked Penn State women's volleyball team dropped to 5-2 on the season with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-21, 27-25) loss to No. 11 Oregon on Friday night at Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks remained unbeaten at 6-0.
The match was a part of the Big Ten/Pac 12 Challenge. The Nittany Lions wrap up play at the event with a match against No. 14 Stanford on Saturday at 7 p.m. (ET).
Sophomore middle blocker Allie Holland put up solid numbers for Penn State, finishing with eight kills on .667 hitting and two blocks. Senior setter Gabby Blossom had success on the attack with six kills on .750 hitting in addition to 33 assists, five digs and one ace.
Penn State led 18-14 in the second set, but Oregon closed it with an 11-3 run to go 2-0 in the match. The Lions still led the set at 20-19 after a kill by Blossom before the Ducks responded with a 5-0 run. The Lions staved off one set point attempt with a kill by Jonni Parker. Taylor Borup followed with a kill for the Ducks.
The Lions made a run at keeping the match alive in the final set. Trailing 24-21, they scored three straight points on kills by Parker and Anastasiya Kudryashova and a block by Kudryashova and Kaitlyn Hord. They fended off one more set point at 25-24 on a block by Hord and Adanna Rollins, but the Ducks scored back-to-back points to end it.
Parker led the team with 10 kills, while Kudryashova chipped in with seven on .300 hitting. Jenna Hampton was tops on the team in digs with 13. Rollins joined her in double-digits with 11.
Hord, who entered the day as the NCAA leader in blocks/set at 2.00, finished with five. Penn State entered the day as the national leader in blocks/set as a team and tallied eight against the Ducks.
Oregon was led by Gloria Mutiri with eight kills on .471 hitting and five blocks. Brooke Nuneviller totaled 10 kills, seven digs and three aces.
Penn State was hindered by 23 attack errors compared to 13 for Oregon. The Lions also had nine service errors compared to just two by the Ducks.
Stanford enters Saturday's match against Penn State with a record of 3-2. The Cardinal lost to No. 13 Minnesota on Friday by a 3-1 score.
