University of Oregon
Portland State
Volleyball Stunned at Portland State
09/08/05 | Women's Volleyball
PORTLAND, Ore. ? The University of Oregon women's volleyball team suffered its first defeat of the 2005 campaign on Thursday night, falling 3-1 to Portland State in the opener of the Crowne Plaza Showcase at PSU's Stott Center.
The host Vikings (4-2, 0-0 Big Sky) rallied from a 30-27 defeat in Game 1, taking the final three frames, 30-23, 30-26, 30-23.
The Ducks (5-1, 0-0 Pac-10), who had dropped just one game in five matches prior to their first road contest of the season, struggled without the services of senior left-side hitter Jaclyn Jones. Jones, who had started every game this season, has an injured leg and will miss the entire tournament.
Freshman hitter Mira Djuric had a career-high 21 kills, matching PSU's Jessica Brodie for the match high. Senior Kelly Russell had 14 kills and hit .387, but managed only 30 swings over four games.
As a team, UO was out-hit and out-blocked for the first time in 2005. Portland State hit .268 with 17.0 total blocks, while the Ducks hit .201 with 12.0 blocks.
Oregon faces 7-0 San Francisco at 1 p.m. in its lone match on Friday. The Ducks play Evansville (10 a.m.) and Cal State Fullerton (5 p.m.) on Saturday.
