It’s been 17 years since the Oregon women’s volleyball team won a weekend series against conference opponents. But after beating Arizona State Thursday night and Arizona on Friday, the Ducks have changed their image in the Pacific-10 from the perceived conference doormat.
Oregon (14-3 overall, 4-3 Pac-10) swept Arizona (10-9, 1-6), a 2005 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight team, in three sets 30-24, 30-24 and 30-26, ending a 15-match losing streak to the Wildcats.
“Those kids have gone through a lot and every good thing that happens to them, they deserve,” Oregon coach Jim Moore said about his players.
For the second consecutive night, freshman middle blocker Sonja Newcombe posted career-highs in kills, digs and points while only committing one error in the match for a .444 hitting percentage. Newcombe led the match with 17 kills and 19 points.
“It was a lot of emotion,” Newcombe said. “It’s the most that I’ve had up here. I like playing like that.”
Newcombe was happy she could be part of a milestone for the program that has seen more than its fair share of defeats.
“It was huge to win in two matches in a weekend since we’ve never done it before – never done anything like that,” Newcombe said.
The Ducks also reduced their number of errors, limiting themselves to 16 compared to 30 the previous night.
“We knew we needed to win by committing less errors than them,” setter Heather Madison said.
Though the weekend was a turning point for the program, Newcombe believes there is still time to keep improving.
“I think we got our foot in the door a little bit,” Newcombe said. “It’s just one win. We have to keep working hard.”
Moore said the team won’t self-destruct after being successful this early into the Pac-10 schedule. Should that happen, however, Oregon’s season would still be the best in recent memory.
“The worst we can have happen is be at .500,” Moore said. “We haven’t been at .500 since ’89.”
As he’s done many times this season, Moore credits his seniors for the team’s new image.
“It’s great for the seniors to change this – they changed it,” Moore said. “It’s not me, it’s not the staff, the seniors have been the ones to change this culture.”
Madison expects that Oregon has seen the last of it’s cellar-dwelling days in the Pac-10.
“I’ve been here through the tough times, and they’re ending,” Madison said.
Even with newfound expectations, Moore said the team will continue to play by its motto before the season started.
“No expectations, no limitations – that doesn’t change,” Moore said.
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Oregon sweeps Arizona, moves to 4-3 in Pac-10
Daily Emerald
October 15, 2006
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