University of Oregon
11-3, 0-2
Stanford
11-2, 2-0
No. 11 Ducks Topped by No. 6 Stanford
09/27/08 | 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.
STANFORD, Calif. ? The No. 11 University of Oregon volleyball team (11-3, 0-2) lost its second Pacific-10 Conference match of the weekend Saturday night at No. 6 Stanford (11-2, 2-0).
The Ducks tallied +20 points in all three sets, yet fell by narrow counts of 25-21, 25-22, 25-20 to the returning national runner-up.
Oregon's hitting attack improved noticeably Saturday and featured a .228 mark as a team, compared to its season low .021 Friday night at California.
Junior middle blocker Neticia Enesi paced the squad in hitting (.583, 8 kills) and was just off her season best (.632) vs. UNLV. Individually, a pair of Ducks had double digit kill totals ? senior Gorana Maricic (13 kills) and sophomore Heather Meyers (12 kills, .286).
Among other category leaders, junior setter Nevena Djordjevic racked up 35 assists, senior Katie Swoboda added 16 digs, and Enesi, Maricic and Kristen Forristall each had two blocks.
Among other noteworthy UO stats, Swoboda's 33 digs on the weekend left her one behind on the Pac-10 all-time career digs list behind former Cal libero Jillian Davis (#5, 1,810, 2003-06).
For Stanford, Alix Klineman and Cynthia Barboza led in kills with 15 and 13, respectively, while Barboza tallied a .545 team-leading hitting mark. Setter Cassidy Lichtman posted 28 assists, Gabi Ailes had 13 digs, and Foluke Akinradewo contributed three blocks.
In the first set, UO jumped out to a 4-0 lead on a service ace by Djordjevic, kills by Enesi and Maricic and a Stanford attack error. The Cardinal tied the match, 4-4, and matters stayed within two points until the Cardinal went up 23-19, en route to a 25-21 winning margin.
The second set saw six ties through an 11-11 score, before Stanford went on a mini-run to lead 16-12, but UO stormed right back to draw within 18-17 after a pair of kills by Meyers and another by Forristall. Stanford however came up with consecutive kills to go up 20-17, and held at least a two-point edge on its way to a 25-22 win.
In the third set, both teams were again separated at most by three points until the final two points of the set. UO overcame a 15-12 deficit to tie the match, 17-17 on a kill by Meyers, then was tied again, 18-18 on a Stanford service error. However, the Cardinal ended the match on a 7-2 run, including an initial 3-0 burst that featured a pair of Klineman kills.
Looking ahead, the Ducks return home to Eugene to host No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 USC on Friday-Saturday, October 3-4 at McArthur Court, and both matches start at 7 p.m.
- www.GoDucks.com ?
