No. 7 Duck Volleyball Drops Nail-Biter to Beavers, 3-2

Friday, October 2

Corvallis, Ore.

7:00 PM

University of Oregon

11-2, 1-2Pac-10

Oregon State

10-5, 1-2Pac-10

OREGON

OREGON STATE

Photo by: Eric Evans/GoDucks.com

No. 7 Duck Volleyball Drops Nail-Biter to Beavers, 3-2

10/03/09 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: GoDucks.com

* A boxscore and play-by-play is located in the LINKS box to the right, and updated season/career statistics are available via the link above.

CORVALLIS, Ore. - The No. 7 Oregon volleyball team (11-2, 1-2) dropped the year's first Civil War meeting in a five-set heartbreaker at Oregon State Friday night at Gill Coliseum.

OSU (10-5, 1-2) won its first match vs. UO since 2005 by a 25-21, 21-25, 10-25, 25-22, 16-14 score in the 92nd meeting between the two schools.

The Ducks had won the last six matches between the two schools, including four via sweeps, but a Gill Coliseum record crowd (3,576) cheered the Beavers to their first conference win and second win in three weeks over a top-10 opponent after they swept then-No. 6 Michigan in Ann Arbor.

“We knew they (OSU) would fight for their lives tonight and would come out hungry,” Oregon head coach Jim Moore. “I'm disappointed with how we played, and we've been out of rhythm in practice, and it continued tonight. We need to dig balls better, especially when they dug everything in the fifth set. We passed well, but our blocking was porous. Heather (Meyers) and Dana (Stephenson) played great tonight, and we showed we don't have to just rely on Sonja (Newcombe) or Neticia (Enesi).”

For UO, junior outside hitter Heather Meyers had a career-high 20 kills and a season-high 14 digs for her second double-double of the season and sixth of her career. The national leader in service aces coming into Friday added three more aces, hit .400, and also had four blocks.

Sophomore outside hitter Dana Stephenson ended with a career-high 13 kills and hit .423, while her six blocks was one off the team season high (7) that she had last weekend vs. Washington State.

“It was nice to get those kills early (she had the first two points of the match) and get some confidence,” Stephenson said. “Nev(ena Djordjevic, setter) and I have been working on our timing, and I'm getting more comfortable seeing the block, too. My blocking was better tonight, but it's still not where I want it to be. You have to block with your feet - that's where it starts – and I'm getting better at that.”

A third Duck – freshman outside hitter Katherine Fischer – also had career-high kill (10) and dig (12) tallies to claim the first double-double of her career.

Senior defensive specialist Amanda Westrick tied her career high in service aces (4) and matched the mark she posted twice last season as a junior.

With her four block assists Friday, senior middle blocker Neticia Enesi tied the school career record held by Lauri Krejcha (332, 1984-87), while senior outside hitter Sonja Newcombe's 11 points left her 9.5 away from the school record held by Kelly Russell (1523, 2002-05).

Enesi and Newcombe both ended with nine kills, and the latter player came up with season-high six blocks and almost had her team-leading fourth double-double of the campaign with her 11 digs.

Freshman libero Kellie Kawasaki also rewrote the team's season high for digs in a match with her career best (19) that more than doubled her previous personal best in a three-set win at Portland (9) in early October.

Senior setter Nevena Djordjevic had 55 assists, and also came up with seven digs, three blocks and one ace. The Lazarevac, Serbia native was only two off her season-high 57 assists last weekend vs. Washington State, and it was the fourth +50 tally of the season and 12th of her career.

For the match, UO hit .226, while OSU ended with a .214 mark, and UO held slight advantages in kills (63-61), assists (63-59) and aces (9-2), OSU led in blocks (15-11), and the two teams tied in digs (68-68).

OSU senior and recent Pac-10 Player of the Week Rachel Rourke had a Pac-10 season high 34 points, and her team-leading 29 kills was also only two off the league season high. Rourke also paced the Beavers in hitting (.359) and aces (1), and other category leaders included Betsy Devich (20 digs, 1 ace), Camilla Ah-Hoy (50 assists), Lexie Rathgeber (7 blocks). Jill Sawatzky also was a key contributor with her 18 kills, six digs, two blocks. and .229 hitting mark.

Looking ahead, UO next plays at Arizona State and No. 18 Arizona next Friday and Saturday, October 9-10, then returns home to host No. 9 California and No. 11 Stanford, Friday and Saturday, October 16-17 at McArthur Court in Eugene.

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