University of Oregon
18-4, 6-3
Utah
15-5, 7-2
No. 7 Ducks Top Utes, 3-1
10/28/08 | Women's Volleyball
* A boxscore and play-by-play is located in the LINKS box to the right, and updated stats are available via the link above.
EUGENE - The No. 7 University of Oregon volleyball team raised its home winning streak to 14 matches Monday with a 3-1 win over Utah at McArthur Court.
Winning by a 25-17, 24-26, 25-15, 25-22 score, Oregon (18-4, 6-3) outlasted a dogged effort by the Utes (15-5, 7-2) who ranked 17th nationally this week in the NCAA RPI index and had made NCAA trips nine of the past 10 years.
Junior middle blocker Neticia Enesi hit .714 - the team's second-highest mark of the season behind her .786 mark two weekends ago at Washington State - and The Dalles, Ore., native added three blocks.
Senior outside hitter Gorana Maricic spiked her way to a team-high 18 kills (.245), and sophomore Heather Meyers also had her third straight double-digit kill tally and eight overall this season (12, .524). Maricic's kill tally was her sixth of the season with 18 or more, and only one other Duck player has a similar match total this year (Sonja Newcombe, 19).
Junior setter Nevena Djordjevic finished with 49 assists, including 12 and 14 in the first and third sets. On defense, senior libero Katie Swoboda logged 16 digs, and senior middle blocker Kristen Forristall paced the team in blocks (6). Three Ducks - Maricic, Newcombe and Swoboda - each had two service aces.
In her first action since suffering a first-set knee injury at WSU, junior outside hitter Sonja Newcombe played the last three sets and had four kills, five digs, two service aces and four blocks.
Among other UO individual stats, freshman Dana Stephenson logged a
career-high three kills in her four attempts in limited play in two sets Monday.
UO hit .353 as a team for the
match, with its .613 and
.516 marks in the first and third sets balanced by .100 and .270 marks
in the second and fourth sets. Utah, which hit .252 overall, faced a similar output curve with .407 and .370 hitting marks in the first
and third sets and .195 and .125 percentages in the second and fourth
sets.
Individually for Utah, Lori Baird and Kathryn Haynie had 15 and 14 kills and .448 and .229 hitting marks, respectively, and Haynie had 15 digs. Among other visitor stats, Chelsey Sandberg posted three blocks, setter Stephanie Shardlow ended with 29 assists, and three Utes had two service aces.
In the first set, a 6-2 UO lead was erased by a 6-1 run that gave Utah its first lead of the match, 8-7, after four kills by Haynie. The Ducks bounced back to go up 14-9, but Haynie had a kill and two straight aces to draw Utah within, 14-12. However, the Oregon came back with a 5-1 run to go up 19-13 en route to the 25-17 decision. Enesi and Maricic registered six and five kills in the set, and Enesi hit .857.
In the second set, the two teams tied six times up to an 11-11 score, before Utah gradually pulled ahead 18-14. The Ducks answered with a 5-1 run that included kills by Maricic and Enesi to pull back even at 19-19. Utah then took brief one-point leads at 21-20, 22-21 and 23-22, and UO again promptly retied the match at 23-23, and then went ahead 24-23, but Utah ended the set with three straight points to win 26-24. Meyers had four kills, and the Ducks had their first three blocks of the match in the set.
After the 10-minute intermission, UO took quick control of the third set with a 4-0 start that led to a 9-5 lead. Utah closed within 10-7, but the Ducks regained momentum, and extended their lead to 15-9 and 17-10 en route to the 25-15 final score. Maricic had another five kills in the set, while Meyers and Forristall added three a piece.
In the fourth set, Oregon again found itself with early 10-4 and 14-9 advantages. Moments later, UO's 20-15 lead was met by a 7-4 Utah comeback that put UO's advantage at a meager 23-22 margin, but the Ducks ended the match on a Maricic kill and Haynie attack error. Maricic claimed another five kills in the set, Djordjevic distributed another 13 assists, and the team piled up 13 block assists courtesy of Forristall (4), Newcombe (4), Enesi (2), Djordjevic (2) and Meyers (1).
"We have to give them credit," Oregon head coach Jim Moore said, "they are a good team. They hit the ball high and hard and and forced us to play. We have to get better defensively and be smarter. We made some mistakes that we can't make and still be a good team. I don't know what we would have done if Sonja wouldn't have been able to come in and play. Dana played well, and showed that she has the talent to be a really good collegiate player."
Looking ahead, UO returns to conference action at the L.A. schools this weekend, and plays at No. 12 USC, Friday, and No. 9 UCLA, Saturday. Both matches start at 7 p.m.
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