University of Oregon
Portland State
Ducks Reach Most Wins Since 1991, Beat Portland State
11/08/05 | Women's Volleyball
EUGENE, Ore. ? Heading into Tuesday's match, the Oregon volleyball team's only non-conference loss of the season was back in September against Portland State. The Ducks made sure that would be their only non-league setback in 2005, sweeping the Vikings at McArthur Court to earn win number 12 on the year, the most for UO since 1991, when the program won 14.
Oregon (12-13, 1-12 Pac-10) won the match 30-19, 31-29, 30-26, sending Portland State (20-7, 10-3 Big Sky) to just its second loss in 12 matches.
“I thought we came out well, we did some things well and then we put it on cruise control, and you can't do that,” said first-year head coach Jim Moore. “They're a team that's used to being successful and we won the first game the last time we played them.”
The Ducks willed themselves to victory in Game 2 after trailing for most of the set, before putting the visitors away despite eight service errors in the deciding game.
Freshman Mira Djuric finished with match-highs 18 kills and 22 points, and senior Jaclyn Jones had a season-high 15 kills, while hitting a match-best .406.
Freshman libero Katie Swoboda led all players with 19 digs, and senior hitter Kelly Russell finished with eight kills, seven block assists and 14 digs.
Oregon's 11-point win in the opening game wasn't that close. Portland State struggled with 12 attack errors and hit -.073. The Ducks had seven total blocks in the game, led by a pair of solos from Djuric and four block assists by Russell.
Jones paced UO in Game 1 with seven kills and a .545 hitting percentage.
The Vikings stormed back in the second stanza, thanks to Oregon's own inadequacies on the attack. PSU led 24-18 before the Ducks turned things around with a 13-5 run.
Freshman setter Erika Bartruff dialed up her fellow frosh for several key points down the stretch as Djuric posted seven kills in the game to lead all players.
UO hit .378 in the final frame behind eight more kills and a .429 percentage from Djuric.
The Ducks return to conference play on Thursday, when they host Oregon State at 7 p.m. in UO's home half of this season's Civil War.
