Just like every year before it, the University of Oregon women’s volleyball team ended 2006 with a loss.
What made this one different, however, was its location: The NCAA tournament, a place where the Ducks hadn’t played in almost two decades. While last season may have come as a surprise to many, second year head coach Jim Moore realized success was possible from the beginning. This year’s goal: Prove it wasn’t a fluke.
“The thing that I originally said in my interview was that the most difficult sport to win in college athletics is football,” said Moore after a recent practice. “And if football can do it, then the resources are there for other programs to do it. I knew it could be done.”
By every account, Oregon’s 17-12 record overall (7-11 Pacific-10 Conference) in 2006 was a breakthrough season for the formerly languishing program, which finished in a tie for sixth in the conference. While their conference record might seem unremarkable, consider that the Ducks had won only three times in their previous 90 conference matches en route to five straight last-place finishes.
Last year started with a 10-0 surge out of the gates in preseason non-conference games. The homestretch of conference play, however, found the Ducks losing their last seven matches. Nonetheless, Oregon snuck into the NCAA Tournament’s first round, where it lost to Hawaii.
“(The Hawaii match) didn’t go well at all,” said junior libero Katie Swoboda, who shattered Oregon’s single-season digs record (565), as well as bettering her own digs per game record (5.28) last season.
“We’ve learned from that and we don’t ever want to feel that way again.”
For his effort in the turnaround, third-year head coach Jim Moore was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year, the first Oregon coach to earn that honor. Now, with the 2007 season still in its infancy, Moore and Co. are anticipating another step in the right direction, even if the rest of the conference still has low expectations for the squad, as noted by the predicted finish of seventh place in the Pac-10 preseason poll.
“Well, I think everybody is not expecting us to be really good,” said Moore. “I don’t know that I can put a better team on the floor.”
The Ducks’ 2007 play has been extremely efficient in early season matches, winning each of their first nine matches without dropping a game. The Ducks will begin the first round of conference play on Sept. 21 at home against Washington.
Besides Swoboda, the Ducks return four other starters in senior Karen Waddington and sophomores Neticia Enesi, Nevena Djordjevic and Sonja Newcombe.
Newcombe figures to be another rock along the net at middle blocker, having been named to the conference honorable mention and all-freshman teams a year ago. Enesi and setter Nevena Djordjevic were the Ducks’ other all-freshmen selections. To Moore, Newcombe is the lynch pin for another successful season.
“Sonja is a great player and she’s a phenomenal leader and so where this program is right now can be attributed to her,” praised Moore. “She’s what’s turned this program around, there’s no doubt about that.”
With five incoming freshmen as well as three players who will see the floor for the first time, the Ducks will rely on their depth and balance to make a run at the top half of the conference.
“We can attack all over the net and that helps a lot. We don’t want one or two people who can put the ball on the floor, we have five or six,” said Moore. “We’re just physically better than we were last year.”
First-year players Kristen Forristall, a junior, and true freshman Heather Meyers have been solid additions to the lineup at the outside hitter position, with Forristall leading the team in blocks and Meyers hitting the ball with confidence.
“Heather looks great right now, but she’s got to make sure she’s got more than one shot because come Pac-10 play, there are some really big people in front of you,” said Moore after a preseason win over Rutgers in which Meyers totaled 12.5 points with 10 kills.
Rutgers head coach Orlando Gonzalez, who knew Moore while coaching club volleyball in Michigan and Texas, came away impressed with the team’s turnaround.
“I think Coach Moore has done a tremendous job recruiting. He’s an outstanding coach,” said Gonzalez, whose team was beaten easily twice in two nights by the Ducks on Sept. 7 and 8.
“I remember a couple years back when Oregon was really in the basement and for him to get this program up and running this quickly is really a testament to the job he and his staff have done,” he said.
Despite the Ducks’ feel-good revival, the conference won’t be getting any easier this season. While Oregon received an encouraging three votes in the 2007 national preseason poll, five other conference teams were ranked in the top twelve spots. And of the seven Pac-10 participants in the 2006 Division I volleyball championships, Washington, UCLA and Stanford advanced to last season’s Final Four with the Cardinal eventually losing in the finals.
When asked about the conference strength, Moore was honest about the difficulty.
“Yes it’s difficult, yes the Pac-10 is as good as it comes but that’s life. We don’t get to change conferences because everybody’s good. We just have to play and see what happens.”
And if the Ducks play as well as Moore believes they can, another trip to the NCAAs should be in the cards.
“If we do everything that we can and we’re not in the NCAA tournament then there are a whole lot of teams that are awfully good. If we’re not in the NCAA tournament then we didn’t do everything we can do to be successful.”
Up-and-coming Ducks start ’07 with something to prove
Daily Emerald
September 18, 2007
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