University of Oregon
California
Ducks Nearly Climb All The Way Back Against No. 14 Cal
09/29/05 | Women's Volleyball
EUGENE, Ore. ? If California's No. 14 ranking is legitimate ? and there is no evidence to suggest that it isn't ? then the University of Oregon may not be that far removed from the top 25 volleyball teams in the country.
The Ducks (10-4, 0-3 Pac-10) dropped the first two games of Thursday's match, 30-25 and 30-16, but rallied back to take Game 3, 30-28, and nearly forced a fifth set before falling 33-31 to the Bears (10-2, 3-0).
Oregon didn't take its first lead of any kind in the match until the third game, when the Ducks went up 5-4. From that point forward, UO had Cal on its heels. A break or two in Game 4 and the outcome may have resulted in a victory for the much-improved Ducks.
“We had an opportunity tonight,” said first-year head coach Jim Moore. “Now we must keep working and continue to get better.”
Freshman Mira Djuric and senior Kelly Russell proved why they are one of the best tandems in the Pac10, combining for 32 kills and 37.5 points. Djuric had a match-high 17 kills, while Russell put away 15 balls, hit .316 and had three service aces.
“That was a different team than the one I watched on videotape (playing against Arizona State last week),” said California assistant coach Matt McShane. “They were very impressive.”
Overall, the Ducks took 19 more swings than Cal, but recorded three fewer kills. The Bears out-hit Oregon, .232 to .121, and registered 18 blocks to just seven for the Ducks.
Angie Pressey led Cal with 15 kills, while Morgan Beck had 14. Ellen Orchard had a match-best nine total blocks.
Junior Heather Madison had 15 digs to pace the Ducks. California's Jillian Davis led all players with 21, many of which were of the spectacular variety.
Oregon's home-opening conference series doesn't get any easier. The Ducks play host to defending national champion No. 3 Stanford on Friday at 7 p.m. at McArthur Court.
