University of Oregon
14-4, 4-4Pac-10
UCLA
15-6, 5-3Pac-10
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OREGON | 24 | 18 | 25 | 25 | 9 | 2 |
| UCLA | 26 | 25 | 22 | 22 | 15 | 3 |
No. 12 Ducks Force Five at No. 13 Bruins
10/24/09 | Women's Volleyball
* A boxscore and play-by-play is located in the LINKS box to the right, and updated season/career stats are posted in the link above.
LOS ANGELES - The No. 12 Oregon volleyball team (14-4, 4-4) came back from an 0-2 deficit before falling 2-3 Friday night at No. 13 UCLA (15-6, 5-3). The loss ended the Ducks' three-straight regular season match win streak over the Bruins that extended back to 2007.
UCLA won the first two sets Friday in Pauley Pavilion, 26-24, 25-18, before UO came back with 25-22 decisions in the third and fourth sets. However, UCLA proved too tough to win 15-9 in the finale.
Four Ducks ended with double-digit kill leading to three double-doubles by UO hitters - senior Sonja Newcombe (22 kills, 23 digs), junior Heather Meyers (15 kills, 19 digs) and freshman Katherine Fischer (15 kills, 13 digs).
A native of nearby Lake Arrowhead, Calif., Newcombe had a team-high 22 kills that led UO for the 10th time this season and moved her fourth all-time for UO (1,369) in the career category, ahead of Madeline Ernst (1,353, 1995-98). Friday also marked the third +20-kill match in the last four contests for the current AVCA National Player of the Week after she had a career-high 26 in four sets at then-No. 22 Arizona and vs. then-No. 5 Stanford. Her 23 digs Friday was only one off her career best (24) vs. the Cardinal last weekend.
Newcombe also had a team season-high three solo blocks, and her one block assist moved her into a tie for eighth all-time for UO career-wise in the latter category (264).
Fischer's 15 kills was three more than her previous career high, and her 13 digs were only three shy of her best vs. then-No. 5 Stanford last week (16). Meyer's 19 digs was also a career high by two, and her 15 kills was her third-highest tally of '09.
Senior Neticia Enesi added 11 kills, and her six blocks led UO for the team-best eighth time this year and was only one off the team season high.
Junior setter Nevena Djordjevic added her second double-double of the season in as many matches (54 assists, 12 digs), and her assists tally was her fifth-highest of '09.
A season-high five Ducks had double-digit dig figures, with the other going to freshman libero Kellie Kawasaki (13) who had +10 digs for the fifth time in the last six matches.
Only one Duck landed an ace on the evening - Newcombe - for a season low for the Ducks who entered the weekend ranked eighth nationally with 1.92 aces per set, granted against one of the nation's top serve receive teams historically.
UO held advantages in kills (65-59) and digs (81-78), but UCLA outhit Oregon (.216-184) and held edges in blocks (18.5-13.5), aces (3-1) and assists (65-64).
For UCLA, Amanda Gil (14), Dicey McGray (14) and Kaitling Sather (13) were only one kill apart for the team high, and other category leaders included Gil (.345 hitting, 10 blocks, 19 points), Lainey Gera (22 digs, 2 aces), and Lauren Cook (54 assists).
UO jumped out in the opening set to a 6-2 lead after three straight Duck blocks by Enesi, Djordjevic and Meyers, but UCLA came back to tie the match, 11-11. UO later went back up 22-17 on a run fueled by kills by four different Duck hitters, but UCLA ended the set on a 9-1 answer that included four of national leader Amanda Gil's seven blocks in the set.
In the second set, UCLA held a 9-5 early advantage before UO tied it 12-12 on a Meyers kill. After two more ties at 13-13 and 14-14, UCLA took leads of 17-14 and 20-16, then ended the set on a 5-1 run that featured three of McGraw's set-best five kills.
In the third set, neither team led by more than two points most of the way with eight ties before UO took the lead for good at 20-19, then took its biggest lead at 24-21 on one of Fischer's set-high five kills.
In the fourth set, four straight kills by Newcombe put UO up 6-5, then another put the Ducks back in front, 9-8. The two teams traded scoring before UO eventually fought its way to its biggest lead, 18-15, on another Newcombe kill, but UCLA retied it 19-19 and 20-20. However, the Ducks held on to win 25-22 and square the match, 2-2, with the final two points on Newcombe's eighth and ninth kills of the set.
In game 5, UCLA got out to 4-0 and 6-1 leads, but Oregon came back to cut it to 8-6 and 9-7 on kills by Meyers. However, a subsequent 5-1 Bruin spurt put the hosts up 14-8 on another block assist by Gil, while Newcombe and McGraw traded kills on the final two points of the match.
Last year, UO won both matches in Eugene (3-1) and in Los
Angeles (3-2), and also held the upper hand in November 2007 (3-0)
in Eugene in a series that had been previously been dominated by UCLA
by a 45-1 margin - with UO's only win in that span in 1987 (3-1).
The Fox Sports Net televised match will be shown locally on Fox Sports Northwest Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
UO returns to action Saturday afternoon at No. 18 USC with live stats available at the www.USCtrojans.com website.
- www.GoDucks.com -
