The atmosphere grabbed your attention first. The crowd for the Oregon-Washington volleyball match had the feel of a matchup of two Pacific-10 Conference powers.
Play on the court matched the excitement with a five-game win by Washington, which recovered from a 0-2 hole and kept its undefeated record intact at 12-0, upping it to 13-0 the next night with a win against Oregon State.
Labeling Washington as a conference heavyweight is easy, proven by years of winning under coach Jim McLaughlin, but for Oregon, it has been a rapid progression under coach Jim Moore during his three years in Eugene.
Although Oregon may not be a power yet, the steady increase in wins, quality recruits and NCAA Tournament appearances has the Ducks heading that direction.
From when Moore first started, his teams have been strong in non-conference play, but it has taken time to translate that success to the tougher, more demanding Pac-10 play.
That first year, Moore had two seniors, Kelly Russell and Jaclyn Jones. After a promising 10-1 start to non-league play, Jones suffered an injury and had to sit out the team’s road trip to Arizona. Oregon lost both matches and any momentum the Ducks had built seemed to disappear.
In Moore’s second season, Oregon raced to a 10-0 start in non-league play and carried it into conference play with 7-4 league record at one point.
Then reality struck, and with a roster pairing veterans from the last coaching regime and a talent infusion provided by Sonja Newcombe, Neticia Enesi and Nevena Djordjevic, Oregon lost a five-game match to Washington in McArthur Court that began a seven-game conference losing streak and had their season end with a loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Hawaii.
The present Ducks team again had a 10-game winning streak to start the season, then suffered a loss to Purdue, but responded the next match with an upset of then-No. 20 Ohio State.
Tangible progress can sometimes be hard to find when coaches build programs, yet here with Moore, it can be seen in so many ways, namely the belief that this team can and should win matches against the Washingtons, Stanfords and USCs.
Losing had been so ingrained in players who carried over into Moore’s program that he really had to work to change that mentality, even from last season the outlook has evolved and it showed in how Oregon approached last weekend’s matches.
“It’s been reversed,” Moore said. “A year ago when we went up there everything was about Washington State and nothing really about Washington and ‘we’re probably going to lose that match so don’t worry about it’ and it was the opposite this weekend so everything was about Washington so we had to regroup and be good enough and they were to come out and still win in three.”
Oregon centered its focus on Washington and rightfully so, shown by the way they won the first two games, and should have won the match outside of a three-game collapse that cost the Ducks.
The Ducks’ mood, quiet when they gathered the next day, said Heather Meyers, retained the same resolve. Oregon won in three against Washington State. They lacked the fire of the Washington match. They made up for it with talent and belief.
“To be honest, we expected to win (Saturday),” Gorana Maricic said. “We were just working on staying focused the entire time. We knew wasn’t going to be as much energy as (Friday) night so it was all we were working on – staying focused and being disciplined and doing what we’re supposed to do.”
Newcombe, in her second season with the team, joined mid-rebuilding. This change of belief is why Newcombe so quickly squashed any thoughts that a repeat of the post-Washington slide last season might be repeated in 2007.
“This is way different than last year,” she said. “This loss will not devastate us in any way. It’ll motivate us beyond belief. It’s a completely different situation and we’re a completely different team.”
Mira Djuric had been the powerful hitter alongside Newcombe. With Djuric now playing for Florida State, Maricic provides power and a go-to player when needed.
“We’re a better team,” Moore said of the Washington match. “I think both teams played in the first two games – I think they played good and we played good – and our good’s better than their good. We just have to do it when you’re not thinking about ‘Oh my gosh, we can win this match.’”