University of Oregon
10-1
Washington
11-0
No. 3 Huskies Slow No. 7 Ducks with 3-0 Decision
09/26/09 | Women's Volleyball
* 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.
EUGENE - The No. 3 University of Washington volleyball team ended No. 3 Oregon's undefeated run Friday night with a 3-0 win at McArthur Court in the teams' conference opener.
In front of the third-largest Duck crowd ever (3,564), the Huskies (11-0, 1-0) beat Oregon (10-1, 0-1) by a 25-18, 26-24, 25-19 score to justify their status as the favorite in the conference coaches preseason poll last month.
“They played better than us tonight, both serving and passing,” Oregon head coach Jim Moore said. “They also don't beat themselves, while we did – especially in the third set when they took us out of our system. In the first two sets we didn't make too many mistakes, but I am really disappointed in the third set. They played well the whole time, and blocked and served well.”
For UO, senior outside hitter Sonja Newcombe led the team in kills (17) and ranked second in digs (11) for her second double-double of the season and team-high 36th of her career. The Lake Arrowhead, Calif., native's kill total tied her second-highest of the season behind her 21 in the four-set win at Utah last week, and she also hit .300– her seventh match at the mark or better in '09.
Newcombe moved up a pair of all-time UO career lists Friday in hitting attempts (fifth-tie, 3,449) and digs (eighth, 990), and is now only three away from the 10th-best total in block assists (254).
Senior middle blocker Neticia Enesi added 13 kills and a team-high .565 hitting mark and five blocks.
“They were a tough opponent,” Enesi said, “and we'll learn from this match. We have to cut down on the unforced errors and play to win. We'll come back Sunday ready to go, and focused on taking it one play at a time.”
The Dalles, Ore., native registered a double-digit kill total for the sixth straight match this season and also topped the .500 mark for the ninth time in the last 10 matches. Her block tally tied for her third-highest of the season, and one shy of her season best (6) that she achieved twice the opening weekend of the season in the Oregon Classic.
In the first set, UO tapped the crowd's enthusiasm and jumped out to a 7-3 lead on a run that included five Duck kills and two UW hitting errors. However, UW responded with a 7-1 run to go up 10-8, then 16-10 on a run that was fueled by several Duck attack errors. After a UO timeout, UW continued to extend its lead to 21-14 and forced another UO timeout, then ended the set with a 25-18 advantage as Kindra Carlson ended with five kills and a .571 mark in the set. For UO, Newcombe and Enesi had four and three kills, respectively, and the latter hit .500, while freshman Katherine Fischer had two aces, two kills and hit .333.
In the second set, UO got out to another 6-1 lead before UW roared back to a 7-7 tie and force an Oregon timeout. The two teams fought back and forth with neither having more than a two-point lead until UO went up 21-18 on a kill by Newcombe, then 23-20 on a Washington attack error. UW answered with two straight kills to tie it 23-23, but a UW service error then put the purple down, 24-23. However, a Duck attack error and service ace by Jenna Hagglund ended the second set in Washington's favor. UW's Carlson and Airial Salvo each had four kills in the set, while Newcombe racked up nine kills and hit .412 for the stanza.
In the third set, Washington capitalized on its first early lead of the match, 4-1, to jump out to a 7-3 advantage on a Jill Collymore kill that forced an early UO timeout. UW continued to push ahead to a 13-6 edge on a Duck attack error that forced Oregon's final timeout. After UW pulled ahead 16-7, a 5-2 Duck run that featured three kills by Enesi forced UW's lone timeout of the period. UW then ended the match on a 7-6 run that led to a 25-19 final score. Enesi ended the set with six kills, and Newcombe had four.
For the match, UW held advantages in hitting (.253-.143), blocks (11-5.5) and aces (11-3), while UO held a slim edge in kills (40-39), and the two teams tied in digs (43-43). UW's hitting and service aces mark were season highs by a Duck foe in '09, while its block total was the second-highest behind No. 9 Minnesota's total (16) last week.
Individually for No. 3 UW, Carlson led the visitors in kills (13) and other category leaders include Bianca Rowland (hitting .545, 6 blocks), setter Jenna Hagglund (35 assists), Jill Collymore (3 aces) and Tamari Miyashiro (3 aces, 18 digs).
Washington's victory ended UO's 10-game winning streak that included a five-set win over No. 9 Minnesota last weekend in the University of Denver's Pioneer Classic. UO had posted three-set wins in eight of those matches, and four-set decisions in the other two contests.
Friday's home crowd stood as the fourth +3,000 attendance in school history – three of which have come the past two seasons with the other two last November vs. Washington (#1, 3,817) and Washington State (#4, 3,169). Altogether, fifth-year Jim Moore and his teams have now played in front of nine of the 15 largest crowds in school history.
Looking ahead, No. 7 Oregon hosts Washington State, Sunday, September 27 at 1 p.m. at McArthur Court. The match is a TAKG/Kids Clinic Day as kids 12 & under receive $1 admission and are invited to a free post-match clinic with the Ducks.
The Cougars (12-1, 1-0) opened their conference slate at Oregon State Friday night with a 3-0 win over the Beavers, 25-19, 25-23, 25-16.
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