PORTLAND – The Oregon volleyball team won its eighth straight game Tuesday over a feisty University of Portland team at the Chiles Center.
The Ducks (8-0) won by scores of 30-18, 32-30, 19-30 and 30-22.
Oregon went up 8-1 early, and cruised to an easy victory in game one, combining to hit .500 for the game.
Then the Ducks lost focus. They hit .220 for game two, and were outplayed by the Pilots (5-5) early, falling behind by as many as five points before fighting back to win the game 32-30. Freshman middle blocker Sonja Newcombe led the Ducks with seven kills and six digs. Sophomore libero Katie Swoboda chipped in on defense with five digs.
“That’s been our ‘M.O.’ this year,” second-year coach Jim Moore said. “We work hard in the beginning, and get off to a good start, and then we expect it to be easy. If we’re still doing that next week, we’re in trouble.”
The mental lapses continued in game three, with the Ducks hitting for an abysmal .000, while the Pilots seemed to gain confidence with every point, hitting a stellar .464 for the game and winning handily, 30-19.
“We would hit a ball, then quit. Or we would block a ball, they’d cover it, and we’d already be celebrating. I’ve never seen us do that as much as we did tonight. I think that happened probably five times,” Moore said. “They had much more energy than we did. They really outworked us.”
Portland’s attack in the game was led by junior outside hitter Nicole Thometz, who recorded seven kills. Senior libero Murphy McClenahan led the Pilot defense with eight digs.
Portland’s domination of game three woke up the Ducks, who took the lead early in the fourth game and didn’t ease up, building steadily on their lead throughout. Freshman middle blocker Neticia Enesi led the Ducks with four kills in the game.
“Losing that third game snapped us back into focus,” said Moore. “We can’t do that, we can’t wait for something like that.”
If Oregon’s mental focus in the match was disappointing, it was contrasted by the inspiring performance of Newcombe. She led the Ducks with 15.5 points on 14 kills and 22 digs.
“I think as an all-around player, she’s as good as any freshman in the country right now,” Moore said. “And she’s been hurting. Once we’ve got her fully healthy, I expect those kind of performances from her all the time.”
Enesi tallied 12 kills. Swoboda and senior outside hitter Erin Little had 13 digs each for the match. Portland’s Thometz led all scorers with 20 points on 18 kills, while McClenehan led the Pilots in digs with 22.
The Ducks’ final two games before Pac-10 play are in Boise. Friday Oregon takes on Gonzaga, and Saturday they’ll play Boise State.
“Those two games are all about us,” Moore said. “We have to go out and get ourselves prepared to play in the Pac-10. Our goals are just to get better and play hard all the way through.”