No. 13 Wildcats End No. 17 Ducks' Run in NCAA Second Round

Saturday, December 5

Lexington, Kent.

4:00 PM

University of Oregon

20-10

Kentucky

29-4

Kentucky

OREGON

Photo by: Eric Evans/GoDucks.com

No. 13 Wildcats End No. 17 Ducks' Run in NCAA Second Round

12/06/09 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: GoDucks.com

* A boxscore and play-by-play is located in the LINKS box to the right.

LEXINGTON, Kent. – One of the greatest classes of seniors in the history of the No. 17-ranked University of Oregon volleyball team (20-10, 9-9) capped their collegiate careers with a 3-0 loss Saturday night in the NCAA Second Round at No. 13 Kentucky (29-5, 17-3).

The Wildcats won their second-ever meeting with UO, 25-20, 25-22, 25-17, to advance to the NCAA Regional for the sixth time in school history, largely thanks to their defense that came up with 17 blocks against the Ducks – second-most by an Oregon opponent in '09 behind the 18.5 in a five-set loss at then-No. 13 UCLA in late October.

“We gave them 21 points, on top of their 17 blocks, and bad things happen when you do that,” Oregon head coach Jim Moore said. “We knew what we needed to do coming in but just didn't do a good job hitting around the block. We knew we would have opportunities to hit down the line, but we just didn't capitalize.”

Junior outside hitter Heather Meyers led UO in kills (16) and hitting (.211) for the 10th and seventh times this year, as well as the points (18.5) and service ace (2) columns for the 14th and 10th times, respectively.

“We didn't finish plays like we should have,” Meyers said. “We've been able to come from behind several times this year, and thought it would happen it again, but unfortunately we could never get the momentum back.”

Senior outside hitter Sonja Newcombe had 14 kills and 10 digs for her 48th career double-double and 14th of '09, and also and led UO in blocks (2) for the second time in '09.

Among other noteworthy individual efforts, freshman libero Kellie Kawasaki topped the team in digs (14) for the ninth time this season; and senior setter Nevena Djordjevic's 42 assists was a team best for the 30th time this year and her 37th +40-assist total in her career (and 14th in '09).

The Lazarevac, Serbia native Djordjevic also added 11 digs for her sixth double-double of the season and 24th career-wise, while Meyers' eight digs was just shy of her 10th in '09 and 13th in her career. Freshman Katherine Fischer (eight kills, 11 digs) also almost posted her fifth double-double of the season.

Kentucky hit .280 compared to Oregon's .143 total, and UO held advantages in kills (45-42), assists (43-9), aces (2-1) and digs (63-57).

For Kentucky, Sarah Mendoza led in kills (14) and points (15), and other category leaders included Lauren Rapp (10 blocks), Sarah Rumely (.364, 1 ace) and BriAnne Sauer (20 digs).

Saturday's match capped the careers of five Duck seniors and several of its greatest players, including three career record holders.

Newcombe, the school career points leader (1,852), also ranked top 10 in a host of other career categories – attacks (third, 4,318), digs (third, 1,233), kills (fourth, 1,580), digs per set (sixth, 2.83), block assists (sixth, 284), total blocks (ninth, 322) and attack percentage (ninth, .241).

Senior middle blocker Neticia Enesi upped her block assists mark to 389, and also ranked top 10 career-wise in points (third, 1,315.5), total blocks (fifth, 436), attack percentage (sixth, .267) and kills (10th, 1,016); as did senior setter Nevena Djordjevic in career assists (4,400) and assists per set (third, 10.07); and junior outside hitter Heather Meyers in hitting (third, .286), points (fifth, 1,210.5), service aces (seventh, 113) and service aces per set (seventh, 0.34).

On the individual front, Enesi's .374 hitting mark this year finished second all-time just behind her season record from last season (.389) that demolished former All-American Sue Harbour's previous mark (.364) from 1984.

Other Duck performers that appeared on all-time top-10 lists season-wise in 2009 thanks to career-best paces included:
- Sonja Newcombe – points per set - #3, 4.89; points – #4, 533.5; kills per set - #7, 4.35; kills, #8, 474
- Nevena Djordjevic – assists per set - #3, 12.38; assists - #5, 1,362
- Heather Meyers – aces per set - #9, 0.43
- Dana Stephenson – hitting - #10, .297

“This loss is the toughest because it's this first recruiting class's last match,” Moore said. “They changed it all, and outside my family, they're my family. They've done an amazing job of turning this program around. I'm proud to have coached them, and I wanted to win this match for them.”

This season, the Ducks staked their third straight 20-win season for the first time since 1977-80, and their sixth-place Pac-10 finish marked their fourth straight top-six Pac-10 finish (sixth-'09; fourth-'08; fifth-'07; sixth-'06) for the first time since the league's origin in 1986. The fourth postseason trip under the fifth-year mentor Moore was also the eighth in school history and raised his record to Oregon NCAA ledger to 5-4 (compared with a 1-4 NCAA tourney mark prior to his arrival).

Around the Pac-10 Saturday in second-round action, No. 9 seed California beat Ohio State, 3-1; No. 4 seed Stanford beat St. Mary's, 3-2; Colorado State edged No. 6 seed Washington, 3-1; Baylor topped No. 8 seed UCLA, 3-1; and No. 12 seed Hawai'i beat USC, 3-1. The day before in opening round contests, Arizona lost 3-1 to Texas A&M and Washington State lost to Northern Iowa, 3-0.

In other action Saturday, one other top 16 seed lost - No. 15 LSU, 3-2, to Texas A&M, and a complete bracket is available at the http://www.ncaa.com/brackets/2009/ncaa_bracket_DI_volleyball_women.html URL address.

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