After getting through the first two sets without a hitch, No. 18 Oregon found itself in a third set battle with Michigan before the Ducks straightened their mistakes out to earn a 3-0 victory over a quality Big Ten opponent.

Like usual, Oregon (8-0) got out to a hot start. Martenne Bettendorf and Frankie Shebby exerted their dominance over the Wolverine front line early en route to easy wins in the first two sets. Michigan (3-4) didn’t have a point advantage until the third set, where the Ducks followed their trend of letting opponents back into games.

“It’s frustrating when all we talked about was wanting to get after it in game three,” head coach Jim Moore said.  “We just can’t seem to find the right focus.”

Oregon gave up ten points via errors in the third set alone, giving Michigan enough confidence to trade advantages with the Ducks until the very end. Michigan’s Ally Davis and Abby Cole took charge in the third set and finished with 12 and 11 kills respectively.

Their performances in the final set gave Michigan a chance to start a comeback, as the Wolverines had two set point opportunities, but Liz Brenner denied the Wolverines with a definitive block to end the game at 27-25.

Shebby led the team with 15 kills on the night, while Bettendorf’s 10 kills gave Oregon a two pronged attack up front. Brenner contributed nine kills, 0 digs.

Moore wasn’t afraid to nitpick what could be called a dominant victory for an undefeated team at home.

“We have to be focused and play the whole match,” Moore said. “If we’re going to beat very good teams, we’re going to have to do a lot better in that situation because we’re not dominant. If we pass great we can side out with teams, but if we don’t we’re going to be in trouble. We have to get after teams by serving them and then we can block and play defense.”

Overall, Oregon has to be happy with their out-of-conference performance this season, which featured multiple big time against matchups before the Ducks truly got their feet wet.

“This (schedule) was tough,” Moore said. “This was brutal and we survived it. That was pretty special. They’ll be great wins at the end of the year, but now we just have to learn to play one point advantage at a time.”

Oregon will head on the road to face Portland State on Monday night at 7 p.m.

Follow Josh Schlichter on Twitter @joshschlichter