University of Oregon
23-8, 11-7
California
23-6, 13-5
No. 8 Oregon Powers By No. 7 Cal, 3-1
11/29/08 | Women's Volleyball
* A boxscore and play-by-play is available via the LINKS box to the right, and a link to updated season/career STATISTICS is above.
EUGENE - The No. 8 University of Oregon volleyball team capped the regular season in fitting style with a 3-1 win over No. 7 California on Senior Night Friday at McArthur Court.
The No. 8 Ducks (23-8, 11-7) won by a 25-20, 25-27, 25-17, 26-24 score over the No. 7 Golden Bears (23-6, 13-5) to post its best overall record since 1983 (24-8), while it tied its best league mark since 1987 (11-7).
Friday's victory was the second vs. California in the last five matches in the series, while the earlier one in 2006's second meeting ended a 16-match Cal win streak that dated back to 1998.
The Ducks also savored their fourth win over a top-10 team this season after home wins over then-No. 5 UCLA (3-1) and then-No. 4 USC (3-0) in early October, and another win over the then-No. 9 Bruins in Westwood (3-2) in early November.
"I'm very proud of this team," Oregon head coach Jim Moore said. "We needed to prove to ourselves that we could win, especially after they tied it up 1-1. Just like the Stanford match, who won the rallies would largely decide the match, and we were much better tonight. The balls were played longer by both teams, especially off the blocks so the hitting numbers weren't as robust but it was still great, competitive volleyball to watch. It was also a special way to watch the seniors go out - they have changed this program 100 percent and they get all the credit. It can be a loaded situation with all that emotion involved, so we tried to stay as calm as possible and be focused on trying our best to win each point."
In the final team comparison, Oregon held edges in hitting (.217-.179), blocks (12-10), service aces (6-4) and digs (69-65) and the two teams tied in kills (57-57). In the set-by-set hitting comparison, UO hit .289, .135, .364 and .132 in the four-set contest, while Cal finished with .205, .191, .188 and .136 marks, respectively.
Senior Gorana Maricic ended Friday evening with a match-high 20 kills - the 21st match that she's paced the team this season and her fifth of '08 with +20 kills. She also led the team in hitting (.304) for the sixth time this year, while her five blocks tied for her second-highest tally of the season behind her seven in the three-set win vs Baylor in mid-September.
"We played them the first Pac-10 weekend of the year and we played pathetic that time," Maricic said, "so we wanted to come back and play at a much higher level. We've worked really hard since then, through blood, sweat and even concussions, and we knew we would have to fight hard tonight to win. We played well Wednesday against Stanford - and even though we didn't win we knew this was an important weekend to set us up heading into the tournament. Even the points we lost tonight we're important because we needed to shake them off and be ready for the next one - that's what you have to do against great teams. It's amazing how quickly my career has gone by. I redshirted two years ago, and it now seems just like yesterday. It was so hard to watch from the bench, but that experience strengthened me, and I have to give so much credit to the coaches for believing in us - they're awesome. Personally, it was special to have my mom here to watch - she's my biggest fan. The last time she watched me play was five years ago.”
Fellow senior Katie Swoboda also notched a team high in digs (22) for the 27th time this year, and her per-set average (5.50) topped her season average (5.06) that ranked first in the Pac-10 and 22nd nationally this week. She also landed her 19th service ace of the season to end the third set, 25-17.
"This was an important match in many ways," Swoboda said, "so before the match, Jim (Moore, head coach) warned me about the senior introductions and not to get too emotional, and he and I did the best we could. We knew we needed to be as composed as possible because they're a great team. ... The service ace was kind of unexpected - I was focused on the placement but didn't expect it to fall. ... We learned a lot tonight about being mentally tough. That composure is important leading into the NCAA tournament."
UO's senior class also counted key stats from starting middle blocker Kristen Forristall who had six kills and three blocks, and reserve outside hitter Marija Milosevic who landed a key service ace to put UO up 25-24 in the second before UO ultimately lost the period, 25-27.
Among other key statistical performances, junior Sonja Newcombe posted her ninth double-double of the season and 33rd of her career with Friday's 14 kills and 13 digs, junior middle blocker Neticia Enesi landed eight kills and had a team-high seven blocks, and sophomore Heather Meyers logged her fifth double-digit dig total (12) in the last eight matches.
Offensively for Cal, Hana Cutura - the Pac-10 leader in kills with her 4.45 average - ended with 19 kills but hit only .185, while Mindi Wiley added 13 kills and a team-best .571 mark. Wiley also led the visitors in blocks (8), and other Golden Bear stat leaders included setter Carli Lloyd (48 assists), libero Kristen Kathan (31 digs) and hitter Morgan Beck (2 service aces).
Oregon's victory capped yet another milestone season in the short stint of fourth-year Duck mentor Jim Moore. Before his arrival, UO had weathered a 13-year stretch where it had went 18-182 in conference matches. Moore's first UO team went 1-17 in 2004, and has since gone 27-27 and claimed three straight top-six consecutive league finishes for the first time ever since the origin of the Pac-10 in 1986 (fourth-'08, fifth-'07, sixth-'06).
Even with a majority of the student crowd missing because of the Thanksgiving holiday, Friday's match still drew a crowd of 1,721 - UO's sixth of the conference home slate that was above 1,500 and raised its 15-match season average to 1,412 - 349 better than last year's overall average of 1,063.
Looking ahead, UO will await its postseason fate on Sunday evening when ESPN-U will broadcast a half-hour selection show for the 64-team NCAA tournament that begins the following weekend at 16, four-team sites across the nation. More information on the tourney will be available at the www.NCAAsports.com website.
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