BEN SCHORZMAN | SPORTS REPORTER
The tears on the faces of senior Katie Swoboda and junior Sonja Newcombe said it all. Washington had won again.
As the final kill landed on the McArthur Court hardwood in front of a record crowd of 3,817 fans, Swoboda looked on at what could have been. All the rallies, all the digs, and in the end, all the hard work couldn’t stop Oregon from losing to their biggest opponent: themselves.

“We lost the match more than they won it,” senior All-American Gorana Maricic said after the game. Maricic, who had 19 kills and 16 digs to lead four Ducks in double digits, said that the hitting and mental errors piled up and did Oregon in.
“There wasn’t that much difference at all between the teams, we just gave them too many points,” Maricic said.
Oregon had 16 errors in the last two sets, contributing to why the Ducks (21-6 overall, 9-5 Pacific-10 Conference) lost for the 16th time in a row to the Huskies (21-4, 12-3) since the start of the 2001 season. Oregon lost by scores of 22-25, 25-22, 29-31, and 25-20, ending their 15-match home winning streak.
“We’re really disappointed, especially because we were right there,” said a red-eyed Newcombe.
In the first set, Oregon took a 4-2 lead and then used a 5-1 run to go up 14-10. But the Huskies stormed back and took the lead 22-18 off an 8-0 run that featured three blocks, and after a time-out, the Ducks mounted their own rally, getting back to within one at 23-22. However, Washington got a kill from Jill Collymore, followed by a kill from Jessica Swarbrick to win the set 25-23.
Oregon took an early 6-2 lead in the second set, behind three kills from Newcombe and a block from sophomore Heather Meyers. Meyers had two kills to push the Oregon lead to 17-13 and the Ducks were one point from winning at 24-20 before the Huskies made another run. A block off a hit by Newcombe, followed by an ace from setter Tamari Miyashiro, closed the gap to two points.
But it was the captain and heart of the team, Newcombe, who finished the Huskies. Her tip down the left sideline fell just out of the reach of Miyashiro and sent the Ducks into the break tied at one set apiece.
Washington reclaimed the lead with an extra-point win in the third set. The Huskies used a 6-2 run to close the Oregon lead to one late in the set, and took the lead with a block at 22-21. They staved off two Oregon set points and eventually won 31-29 after Newcombe let a serve from Becky Perry fall to the floor in-bounds.
There were eight ties in the first 15 points of the fourth set, as Oregon battled for each and every point. Oregon twice came back from a deficit.
The Ducks withstood another run by Washington and fought through five hitting errors to tie the score at 18 behind kills from Forristall, Newcombe and Maricic. But that was the last time Oregon would be close to victory. Three straight hitting errors by Oregon players allowed the Huskies to open up a 23-20 lead and two kills by Washington ended Oregon’s hopes of winning.
Meyers had 13 kills and 11 digs, Newcombe had 15 kills and 12 digs, and junior Neticia Enesi had 11 kills and six blocks for the Ducks, who were out-hit .272 to .251 by the Huskies, due to 25 hitting errors.
Head coach Jim Moore said that the runs are what did the Ducks in.
“We just have to get mentally tougher. Plain and simple,” he said. “We let them have runs of points all match long. You just can’t let them get to that point.”
“You’re not going to win in the Pac-10 when you do that,” Swoboda said.
Despite the loss, Oregon did come out of the weekend 1-1. The Ducks swept the Washington State Cougars on Friday night 25-15, 25-23, 25-18, and Moore felt that the tough play of the Cougars was a good test for his team.
“The Cougars played great all night,” he said. “It was great for us as a test.”
Next up for the Ducks is a weekend trip to take on Arizona on Nov. 21, then Arizona State on Nov. 23.
BEN SCHORZMAN
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