University of Oregon
20-9
Clemson
23-10
Ducks Tame Tigers, 3-0, in NCAA Opener
12/04/09 | Women's Volleyball
* A boxscore and play-by-play is located in the LINKS below to the right, and updated season/career stats are available via the link above.
LEXINGTON, Kent. – The No. 14 seed University of Oregon volleyball team (20-9, 9-9) rolled past Clemson (20-9, 5-11), 3-0, to open the NCAA Tournament Friday afternoon with a win for the third straight season.
The Ducks beat the Tigers for the second time in school history, this time by a 25-17, 25-21, 25-20 score to also stake its third straight 20-win season for the first time since 1977-80. UO's other win in the series came to open the 1995 season at Colorado State in 3-0 fashion.
“We really weren't in a rhythm like I had hoped,” Oregon head coach Jim Moore said, “but that can happen in the first round matches, so I was happy that our players kept their focus. We hit well, but we need to improve our defense and dig balls better. Clemson hit well from the middle and ran their slide effectively and went over us. We need to block better and serve tougher.”
Senior outside hitter Sonja Newcombe posted her 24th +10-kill match this season and paced UO in the category (13) for the 16th time in '09. The Lake Arrowhead, Calif., native hit .407, added six digs and two blocks. “We weren't really 'on',” Newcombe said, “but we didn't panic and tried to take it one point at a time, just like all season.”
Junior outside hitter Heather Meyers sparked the offense with her ninth double-double of the season (11 kills, 14 digs) and fifth in the last six matches. The Temecula, Calif., native also led the team in points (15.5) for the 13th time this year, hit .269 and paced UO in the digs column (14) for the fourth time in '09.
Meyers – the conference leader in aces in a match this year with her total (5) that she has posted four times – got back into the groove with her team-high three aces Friday – the ninth time that she's paced the team in the category this year but first time with three or more since the opening week of October.
“We were a little anxious early,” Meyers said. “When you're this far from home and away from most of your fans you have to generate extra enthusiasm yourself. I just tried to serve it hard, and once I got some rhythm I started to try to actually place it.”
Sophomore outside hitter Dana Stephenson topped UO in the hitting column (.600, 9 kills) for the fourth time in '09, thanks to her second +.600 total the last three weeks with the other in a 3-2 win over vs. then-No. 7 UCLA (.625) when she had 11 kills on 16 attempts. The Canyon, Texas native also paced UO in blocks (3) for the 10th time this season Friday.
Freshman outside hitter Katherine Fischer nearly added her fifth double-double with her 11 kills and nine digs, and her .474 hitting mark was her second +.400 mark this season.
All-American and senior middle blocker Neticia Enesi was the fourth Duck to top .300 with her .389 mark – also her 21st of the season - and added eight kills and one block.
Senior setter Nevena Djordjevic racked up 46 assists – two off her three-set season high at Denver in mid-September – for her 13th +40 assist total of the season and 36th of her career.
Freshman libero Kellie Kawasaki added 11 digs – her 14th double-digit tally this season.
Various Ducks also continued their climbs up school all-time lists, as Newcombe's two blocks gave her 320 total for her career (#9 all-time), her 14 points gave her 518 for the season (#4 all-time), and her 13 kills gave her 460 (#9 all-time); while Djordjevic now stands fifth all-time in assists in a season (1,320).
In the team comparison Friday, UO hit .405 for its fifth, +400 mark of the season, compared with .255 for Clemson. UO also held advantages in kills (54-43), assists (49-41), aces (5-3) and digs (48-38), and Clemson outpaced Oregon in the blocks column (6-4).
For Clemson, which finished off its fourth straight +20- win season for the first time in head coach Jolene Jordan Hiller's career, Sandra Adeleye led the fourth-place ACC Conference finishers in kills (13), hitting (.476) blocks (3) and points (14.5). Other category leaders included Kelsey Murphy (35 assists, 3 blocks) and Didem Ege (12 digs).
In the first set, Oregon got out to a 9-6 lead to start the match before Clemson fought back to pull within 12-11. UO responded with five straight points to go up 16-11 thanks to one of Heather Meyers' three service aces in the set, two kills by Enesi and another by Fischer. Another four-point Duck run made it 20-13 on two more of Newcombe's set-high five kills, en route to a 25-17 final score.
In the second set, the two teams were tied 12-12 at the halfway point and had four more ties through 17-17 when Oregon went on a 5-1 run started by one of Newcombe's six kills in the set to go up 22-18, and later won 25-21.
In the third set, with the two teams tied 14-14, UO went on a 5-4 run to go up 19-15 on one of Meyers' six kills and others by Fischer and Stephenson, to go along with three errors by Clemson. Oregon continued to hold at least a three-point lead the rest of the way en route to a 25-20 outcome.
In other NCAA first round action around the Pac-10 Friday evening, Washington won Thursday night over Northern Colorado, 3-1; and on Friday, No. 9 seed California won 3-0 over Lipscomb; USC was up 2-0 over Oklahoma, No. 8 seed UCLA had yet to play Long Beach State; No. 4 seed Stanford was up 1-0 over Long Island; Northern Iowa beat Washington State, 3-0; Texas A&M beat Arizona, 3-1.
Looking ahead to Saturday evening at 4 p.m Pacific Time (7 p.m. ET), UO returns to Memorial Coliseum on the University of Kentucky campus to take on the host Wildcats (28-4, 17-3), who won Friday's other opening round match, 3-0, over Michigan State (17-16, 5-15).
Looking ahead, UO returns to Memorial Coliseum on the University of Kentucky campus to take on the host Wildcats (28-4, 17-3), who won Friday's other opening round match, 3-0, over Michigan State (17-16, 5-15).
A link to a live online video broadcast and live stats from Saturday afternoon's match and an updated NCAA tournament bracket is available at Kentucky's athletics website at the http://www.ukathletics.com/ncaavolleyball URL address.
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