University of Oregon
Washington
Ducks Experience Agony of Defeat in Five-Set Loss vs. No. 4 Washington
11/04/06 | Women's Volleyball
EUGENE, Ore. ? The second largest crowd in Oregon volleyball history witnessed one of the most emotionally charged matches in ever played in McArthur Court as the defending national champion and No. 4 Washington Huskies needed extra points in a deciding fifth game to finally put away the 24th-ranked Ducks.
UW (21-3, 11-2 Pac-10) took the battle 30-15, 28-30, 30-25, 29-31 and 16-14, sending Oregon players to the floor on junior All-American Christal Morrison's match-point kill in front of a season-high crowd of 2,672.
“The kids showed their character,” said head coach Jim Moore. “I was proud of the way they battled. Taking them to 16-14 in the fifth game, it could have gone either way.”
The victory was Washington's ninth straight in Pac-10 play and first in three matches to go the distance this season.
“We had a lot of respect for them coming in, but it's disappointing” said sophomore libero Katie Swoboda. “We left it all on the court.”
The Ducks (17-5, 7-5 Pac-10) were led by freshman middle blocker Sonja Newcombe, who posted 22 kills and 16 digs ? her second performance of 20 or more kills in the past three matches.
Swoboda was one dig shy of her career high, leading Oregon with 32.
UW junior hitter Stevie Mussie had match-highs of 27 kills and 28.5 points. Senior All-American Courtney Thompson was 75 assists in guiding the Husky attack and freshman libero Tamari Miyahiro led all players with 36 digs.
Junior blocker Alesha Deesing hit .000 (7-7-23) for the Huskies, but made up for it with a match-best 11 blocks, including two solos.
Freshman Neticia Enesi and sophomore Mira Djuric had 12 kills apiece for the Ducks, who also received 10 kills from senior Kristen Bitter. Junior blocker Karen Waddington had a team-high eight blocks.
Washington hit .224 (81-35-205) compared to .154 (68-36-208) for the Ducks, helped by a .472 (20-3-36) clip in Game 1. The Huskies also held a slight edge on the block, 18 to 16.
Oregon visits the Arizona schools next week, beginning in Tucson against the Arizona Wildcats on Thursday at 7 p.m.
QUACK TRACKS: SO L Katie Swoboda 30-plus digs for the second time this season ... the Mac Court crowd was Oregon's largest since 2,474 vs. Stanford on Oct. 10, 1987.
