University of Oregon
10-0
Denver
4-8
Ducks Stay Perfect in Non-Conference Slate, Roll Past Denver, 3-0
09/19/09 | 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.
EUGENE – The No. 12 University of Oregon team (10-0) continued its winning ways Saturday afternoon and capped its non-conference slate with a 3-0 win at Denver to win the Pioneer Classic.
UO won by a 25-15, 25-20 and 25-16 count, and hit .429 for the contest – its second-highest mark of the season behind its .471 tally at Portland two weeks ago. The Ducks also featured a team-season high five hitters (and also its setter) that hit .350 or better.
“Denver played well and dug a ton of balls,” Oregon head coach Jim Moore said, “and forced us to play well. I was really happy with how we hit, and the offense looked really good today – now we need to work on the defense and blocking. We had a lot of players do their part, and Katherine (Fischer) especially played well today and did a lot of good things.”
Senior middle blocker Neticia Enesi had her fifth straight double-digit kill match and of the season to lead UO (11), and her match team-high .688 hitting mark was her fourth +.600 total of 2009.
Senior outside hitter Sonja Newcombe added 10 kills – her sixth straight match with +10 and eighth this season - and hit .381. The Lake Arrowhead, Calif., native also paced the team in points (13) for the fourth time this season, and added five digs, three blocks and one ace.
Less than four days after she suffered an ankle strain, junior hitter Heather Meyers showed little effects statistically with her seven kills, .417 hitting mark, six digs and one block. After the tournament ended later that night, she was tabbed the tournament MVP, while senior setter Nevena Djordjevic was also named to the all-tourney team.
UO's youth continued to play a major part in the win as freshman outside hitter Katherine Fischer tallied eight kills, hit .471, and posted one ace and eight digs – her fourth straight effort with eight or more this week. Sophomore outside hitter Dana Stephenson led the team in blocks (3) for the fourth time in five matches, and also had seven kills and hit .312.
“Jim said that it was going to be important for us to come out and set a strong tone early,” Fischer said, “and avoid a letdown after last night's win (over No. 9 Minnesota). I was a little nervous last night but I felt much more calm today and just tried to put the ball on the floor. Nev (ena Djordjevic) did a great of setting, just like she always does, and made it easy for the hitters.”
Djordjevic ended with 38 assists – two off her career high for three sets – and also came up with a career-high six dumps.
UO held healthy advantages in the team comparisons for kills (50-36), hitting (.429-.204), assists (48-36), aces (3-1), and blocks (6-2) and tied in digs (36-36).
For the returning Sun Belt Conference West Division champions, Denver individual stat leaders included Emmy Davidsmeyer (14 kills, .345, 1 block), Kresson Vreeman (33 assists, 1 ace), Kacie Wikierak (10 digs), Alexis Ninos (1 block) and Jordan Raines (1 block).
UO's win Saturday raised Moore's Duck non-conference regular season record to 54-3 – the best mark of any Oregon mentor in the program's 42 years of existence. UO also was perfect in 2006 (10-0), 11-1 in '08 and '07, and 10-1 in '05.
The night before, UO had topped No. 9 Minnesota, 3-2, at Denver's Hamilton Gymnasium in the tourney opener. Meyers posted her fifth career double-double and first of the season with her 19 kills and 10 digs and led the team in hitting (.233), while Newcombe and Enesi added 13 and 11 kills, respectively.
On the same road trip earlier in the week, UO won 3-1 at returning NCAA regional advancer Utah and 3-0 at Utah Valley.
Overall in the four-match road swing, Enesi led the team in hitting (.473), and ranked second in kills (52, 3.47 per set average) and blocks (11, 0.73, avg.). Newcombe topped the kill column (61, 4.07 avg.), while Stephenson paced the blocking category (12, 0.80 avg.) and ranked second in hitting (.288). Senior Amanda Westrick's seven aces (and 0.50 per set average), were more than twice as much as the next Duck (Haley Jacob, 3, 0.23 avg.), and bettered her prior serving mark (0.36) coming into the trip. Jacob had a team-best 40 digs (and 308 average) and was followed by Fischer (34, 2.27 avg.). Djordjevic finished with a 11.93 assist per set average over the span – more than an assist better than her pre-trip season average (10.89).
“This was a great trip for us,” Enesi said. “The Minnesota match taught us something about ourselves, and that we have each others' backs. I didn't play as well as I wanted to last night so I came back with a clean slate today and ready to do my part again today. Our younger players are playing more and more confidently, which is great to see. The Pac-10 is going to be really competitive this year, and each match will come down to who wants it more.”
Glancing at the Duck record books, Enesi moved to second all-time for UO in block assists (320) and is only 12 behind the school record of Lauri Krejcha from 1984-87 (332). Meyers moved up a position to sixth in career points (894.5), while Newcombe is now seventh in career kills (1226) and moved up a spot.
Looking ahead, the No. 12 Ducks look ahead to their Pac-10 season opener vs. No. 3 Washington, Friday, Sept. 25 at 7 p.m., and then have another showdown vs. Washington State, Sunday at 1 p.m.
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