University of Oregon
12-2 (2-2Pac-10)
Arizona State
11-6 (1-4Pac-10)
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OREGON | 25 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
| ARIZONA STATE | 15 | 14 | 23 | 0 |
Newcombe Breaks Points Record as No. 11 UO Extinguishes ASU
10/10/09 | Women's Volleyball
* A boxscore and play-by-play is located in the LINKS box to the right, and updated season/career stats are available via the link above.
TEMPE - The No. 11 University of Oregon volleyball team (12-2, 2-2) opened its second Pac-10 road trip with a convincing 3-0 win at Arizona State (11-6, 1-4) Friday night.
The Ducks won by a 25-15, 25-14, 25-23 count for its third straight sweep of ASU and fifth win the past four years under head coach Jim Moore (compared to six prior wins in the series dating back to 1986).
Junior outside hitter Heather Meyers paced the team in kills (14), points (18.5) and aces (2), hit .296, and just missed her third double-double of the season with her eight digs, to go along with five blocks.
Two other Ducks racked up double-digit kill tallies - senior outside hitter Sonja Newcombe (11, team best .333) and Katherine Fischer (11, .231) - and the duo added eight and six digs, respectively.
Newcombe's 12.5 points on the evening raised her career tally to 1,526 and broke the previous school career record (1,523) owned by former Duck Kelly Russell who played from 2002-05.
The Lake Arrowhead, Calif., native Newcombe also stands top-10 all-time for UO career-wise in attacks (fourth, 3,558), digs (sixth, 1,021), kills (seventh, 1,282) and block assists (10th, 260).
On Friday, senior setter Nevena Djordjevic finished with 37 assists - one shy of her three-set season high - along with six digs and three blocks.
On defense, senior middle blocker Neticia Enesi tied the team season high in blocks (7), and freshman libero Kellie Kawasaki racked up 16 digs - the team season high for a three-set match - and the second-highest for any match behind her 19 in a five-set match at Oregon State last weekend.
Speaking of school records, Enesi had entered the match tied for the school career mark in block assists and Friday took full ownership of the record from Lauri Krejcha, and the Dalles, Ore., native and now has 339.
As a team, the Ducks hit .260 for the match, compared to only .069 for ASU. UO also held notable advantages in kills (44-26), assists (44-24), aces (4-2), digs (48-26) and blocks (11-9).
In the first set, UO jumped out to an 9-4 lead early thanks to all five of Fischer's team-high kills in the set. ASU then cut the deficit to 14-10 before UO ended the set on a 11-5 run that featured three kills by Newcombe.
In the second set, the Sun Devils stayed closer in the early going and were down 9-6 and 14-12. At a key juncture with UO up only 16-14, Oregon again ignited for a 11-2 run to close the stanza with Newcombe adding three straight kills (raising the score from 17-14 to 19-14) to go along with a pair of blocks at 21-14 and 22-14 on a tandem effort by Djordjevic and Enesi and solo stop by Newcombe on ASU's top hitter Sarah Reaves. For the set, Newcombe had a match-high seven kills to help UO hit .324 for the set after it hit a near identical .321 in the first set.
In the third set, ASU held an early 3-0 lead before UO came back to tie it 6-6 on a Newcombe kill. Afterwards, neither team led by more than two points the rest of the way with 12 more ties leading up to a 23-23 count. UO, however, ended the match with Meyers' team-best seventh kill of the set, and a block assist by Djordjevic and Enesi.
"We sided out well the first two sets, passed well, made few errors, and kept them from getting any runs," Oregon head coach Jim Moore said. "In the third set we knew they would come out harder after the break, and they blocked some balls early and executed really well. We clawed our way back into the set, didn't get flustered or panicked, and ultimately got the win in three sets - that's a good thing, especially on the road in the Pac-10."
"We had a lot of people contribute in key ways at various times," Moore continued. "Katherine had a great start since they didn't key on her, Sonja was big in game two, and Heather is serving better. Kellie played very well, and I was very impressed with our defense overall. We dug 79 percent of the balls they hit at us, and that's a number I like. We're still not completely back in rhythm as a team, but tonight was a step in the right direction."
ASU's category leaders included Sarah Reaves (11 kills, 5 blocks, 17.5 points, 1 ace), Paige Mittelstaedt (.364), Cat Highmark (23 assists) and Sarah Johnson (11 digs).
The Sun Devils - who had gone on an 11-1 run in August and September, then swept No. 16 UCLA - have now lost four in a row, two of them by sweeps to No. 3 Washington and No. 11 Oregon.
In other action around the league Friday night, No. 3 Washington won, 3-0, at No. 15 California; No. 7 Stanford beat No. 25 Washington State, 3-1, at home; No. 16 UCLA swept No. 13 USC, 3-0, in Westwood, and No. 22 Arizona beat Oregon State, 3-2 in Tucson.
Looking ahead, UO plays at No. 22 Arizona, Saturday at 7 p.m., and live stats will be available via the www.ArizonaAthletics.com volleyball schedule page.
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