University of Oregon
12-3, 1-2
UCLA
10-3, 0-2
Duck VB Repeats Home Success vs. No. 5 UCLA
10/04/08 | Women's Volleyball
* A boxscore and play-by-play is located in the LINKS box to the right, and updated stats are available in the link at the top of the page.
EUGENE - The No. 11 University of Oregon volleyball team borrowed a page from last season and again upset a top-10 Bruin squad Friday night at McArthur Court.
In UO's first conference action at home in 2008, a season-high home crowd of 1,626 cheered the Ducks to a 25-22, 23-25, 25-17, 25-21 victory over the Bruins who were also swept in Eugene last November.“I'm very pleased with the outcome, and how we got to that outcome," Oregon head coach Jim Moore said. "I didn't want it to be easy. I wanted it to be hard, and it was. We needed some tough wins. We played like we had pressure on us tonight, and that's great. This win is huge, because I thought UCLA played really well. They dug everything under the sun. I'd be the first to admit that last year when we beat them they didn't play up to their potential, but tonight UCLA played great.”
Junior Sonja Newcombe jump-started the Duck offense early en route to season highs in kills (19) and digs (18) for her 28th career double-double and fourth of the season - marks that also were not far off her career highs (24 / 22).The Lake Arrowhead, Calif., native also enjoyed season highs in points (23), blocks (6) and assists (3).
"We came in here wanting badly to prove something," Newcombe said, "that we could play hard and consistently well. Last week was supposed to be huge for us, but we didn't play with the intenstiy we needed. I put all my emotions out there and wanted to do my best for the team."
Senior Katie Swoboda was equally active on defense, racing, diving and pinwheeling her way to a career high 37 digs - four better than her previous best from her freshman season vs. Arizona State and sixth-most in a match all-time for UO.
"UCLA is year-in year-out one of the nation's best teams," Swoboda said. "They're known for their defense, so we wanted to match them on that front and work equally hard on offense. This was a great win for us, but we also have to remember to take each match one at a time and be equally ready for the next one."
Senior Gorana Maricic added a team season-high 22 kills (.260) and tied for the team lead in points (23), while junior Neticia Enesi notched a double-dig kill total (10) for the second time this season and hit at a season-high .667 clip.
Junior setter Nevena Djordjevic had a season-high 51 assists - two better than her five set tally vs. Illinois - and her nine digs left her one shy of her first double-double of the season and 14th of her career.
Junior defensive specialist Amanda Westrick made the most of her first start of the season and logged a season-high two service aces.
For UCLA, Ali Daley led in kills (16) and hitting (.333), setter Nellie Spicer racked up 40 assists, and Katie Camp and Amanda Gil each had four blocks. As a team, the Bruins hit .205 as a team - their third-lowest mark of the season. In contrast, UO's hitting mark(.278) was the highest by a UCLA opponent in '08, and .02 points better than the previous best by returning national champion Penn State (.276).
Looking ahead, UO welcomes No. 4 USC for a 7 p.m. match Saturday night at Mac Court. The Duck-Trojan showdown is also a national Spike for the Cure night, and all donations collected locally will benefit the Willamette Valley Cancer Center for Cancer Awareness. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to the game to show their support of the cause, and prizes and promotions will be available for fans.
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