University of Oregon
11-1
Portland
4-8
No. 12 Ducks Sink Pilots in Another Sweep
09/17/08 | Women's Volleyball
* A boxscore and play-by-play is available in the LINKS box to the right, and an updated season STATISTICS link is above.
EUGENE - In what is becoming trademark fashion, the No. 12 University of Oregon volleyball team claimed victory via sweep for the ninth time this season with Tuesday evening's decision over Portland at McArthur Court.
UO (11-1) also enjoyed its ninth straight win of the season courtesy of a 25-16, 25-17, 25-10 count over UP (4-8), and raised its all-time record to 25-5 in the series dating back to 1980.
Senior Gorana Maricic had nine kills and a .389 hitting mark to lead the balanced offensive attack that featured three other hitters with +5 kills - senior Kristen Forristall (6, 1.000), sophomore Heather Meyers (6, .133) and Sonja Newcombe (5, .556).
As a team, UO combined for a .269 hitting mark, while Portland hit .037 for the match. It was the seventh Duck foe this season to hit under .100, with four others hitting .200 or below (making it 11 of 12 opponents this season at the second mark, with the other - UNLV - tallying a still paltry .229 last weekend).
Among other Oregon stat leaders Tuesday, junior setter Nevena Djordjevic racked up 28 assists, senior libero Katie Swoboda added to her school record digs total with 11 Tuesday, and junior Neticia Enesi rang up six blocks on UP hitters.
Maricic led the Ducks in kills for the seventh time in 12 matches this season (including six of the last seven);Enesi's block total was a team best for the seventh time this year; and Swoboda's team dig best was her 10th of '08.
Portland's leading hitters were Ashley Grayson (7 kills, .050) and Marissa Plummer (6 kills, .364). Grayson and Plummer each had a team-best three blocks, and other category leaders were Kaylyn Jones (16 assists) and Allix Strahon (12 digs).
UO's win again showed its balance as 13 players saw action, and nine of its 10 hitters/blockers registered kills and/or blocks.
The Ducks also posted a season high 13 service aces, improving on their former season best of nine in a five-set loss at Illinois. Individually, Djordjevic tied her career high (4), and Newcombe (3), Meyers (2) and Swoboda (2) also had season highs in the category.
"Coming into this last week of the preseason, we knew we need to improve our defense as a team and let fewer balls hit the court," Newcombe said. "It was a busy and sometimes exhausting week, so it's satisfying to see the team get better and better and get more in rhythm. From past experience, to do well in the Pac-10, our serve receiving and defense will play an important part in how successful we are."
After a 4-4 tie in the first set, UO went up 12-5 after an 8-1 run that featured service aces by junior Amanda Westrick and Meyers, and kills by Forristall, Newcombe and Maricic. A point later at 12-6, UO added another 4-1 surge that included three UP attack errors on its way to a 21-9 lead and eventual 25-16 decision.
In the second set down 8-5, UO went on a 7-1 run to go ahead 12-9 after four UP hitting errors and kills by Forristall and Enesi. UO gradually added to its advantage to go up 14-11, 18-12 and 21-14 en route to a 25-17 final score.
In contrast in the third set, UO jumped out to a 5-0 lead thanks to two service aces by Djordjevic and a pair of kills by Newcombe. A solitary UP kill made it 5-1 before the Ducks answered with seven more straight points to lead 12-2 - a run that included two aces by Newcombe. Afterwards, UO's lead continued to widen to 15-3, 20-4 and 22-5 counts before UP scored five of the last eight points of the match. Senior Marija Milosevich quelled the momentary challenge with a match-ending kill - her fourth in two sets of action - and punctuated Oregon's 25-10 final score.
Tuesday's win wrapped up a busy seven-day stretch in which the Ducks went 6-0 with sweeps of UC Irvine, Seattle and Portland, sandwiched around a 3-0 record and Oregon Classic tourney championship last weekend that featured wins over returning NCAA qualifier UNLV (3-1), Eastern Washington (3-0) and Baylor (3-0).
Looking
ahead, the Ducks have an off-weekend before opening
Pacific-10 Conference
play in the Bay Area next Friday-Saturday, September 26-27 at No. 9
California and No. 6 Stanford, respectively.Last year, UO staked a 9-9
league mark and tied for fifth place - its best marks in both
categories since 1989 - en route to a year-end ninth-place national
ranking and a Sweet 16 NCAA tournament appearance.
"Cal and Stanford will be a tough road trip, and that's good," Oregon head coach Jim Moore said. "We still have to be more disciplined defensively and do some other things better. Our level of play is getting better and better, and the bye this weekend will be a great chance to focus on raising it even higher."
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