The Oregon volleyball team had just finished practice on the team’s scheduled media day, and fourth year head coach Jim Moore stood surrounded by eight people who were holding microphones and cameras. One of the reporters jokingly asked if it was the most people he had ever talked to, and Moore politely smiled and said no, then said that it was a lot better than the turnout four years ago.
And that’s all that the reporter meant by the question. He knew that Moore, a former national championship coach with Northern Michigan, had been in the spotlight before.
His program had not.
The volleyball team hasn’t had a lot of success in past years, but after last year’s surprising run to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16, Moore and his team drew the attention of the Pacific-10 Conference and nation. They finished the 2007-2008 season with 22 wins, the most since 1986, and placed their highest in school history in the Pac-10 at fifth with a 9-9 record
To any casual fan, 9-9 wouldn’t sound like a record-breaking conference record, but keep in mind the caliber of the Pac-10 in volleyball. It’s like the SEC of football – but better.
The Ducks were given a pre-season ranking of 11th going into their first contest against New Mexico State on Aug. 29. They were still picked to finish sixth in the conference, behind No. 2 Stanford, No. 4 USC, No. 5 Cal, No. 6 UCLA, and No. 9 Washington.
“If you would’ve asked us at the end of last year if we were satisfied, we would have said no,” Moore said. “Last year we underachieved, now we need to overachieve.”
What he’s talking about is the team’s loss to UCLA in the Sweet 16 last year. They were all frustrated by the loss because not only did UCLA have the exact same Pac-10 record as the Ducks, but the Bruins had already lost once to them during conference play as well.
It’s a daunting task to make it through a season in the Pac-10 and survive to make it to the NCAA tournament, but that’s exactly what the team is setting off to do for the second straight season. Led by senior Second-Team AVCA All-American Gorana Maricic, the Ducks return all of their starters, including their top 12 players from last year’s NCAA team.
Following Maricic are senior Katie Swoboda, junior Sonja Newcombe, and sophomore Heather Meyers on the All-Pac-10 Honorable Mention teams. Meyers was also and All-Pac-10 Freshman Team choice. The remaining returning starters are junior setter Nevena Djordjevic, and blockers Kristen Forristall and Neticia Enesi.
“It’s the first time that I’ve had all of my starters from last year return for the next,” Moore said. “It’s going to be fun.”
“I’ve had coaches come up to me and say, ‘I’m bet you’re excited about this year,’” he said. “We are, however, we aren’t focused on that.”
The excitement remains mostly in the media and fans. The 2007 National Coach of the Year won’t let the players get too far from what has got them to this spot – hard work.
“We are trying to focus on one day at a time,” says Newcombe, who is second all-time on Oregon’s career points list with 927. “We are trying to do what we need to succeed today, and not worry about December.”
Moore even bypassed his usual goal setting day to drive a point home: his team needs to continually improve.
“The typical coach plans a whole day of goal setting. I’m doing any of that this year,” he said. “We need to be better. We need to do what we can to be better in every single match, every single play we are in this year.”
It’s a refreshing point of view from the master of rebuilding programs. In the programs he’s inherited, they went from a combined 143-228 to 268-118.
That difference is why Oregon volleyball is making a name for itself, and that difference is also why the volleyball team spent the first few days of practice doing a drill that took 14 hours and 30 minutes to complete.
The team started at 8:00 a.m. on a Saturday, and didn’t complete it until their practice on Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
“It’s a hard drill,” Moore says. “Some of my teams have called it the two-minute drill because you have to keep the ball in the air for two minutes while going through a variety of hits and passes. We had to do it for 15 minutes.”
The drill was to teach team work, performance under pressure situations, and handling of emotions. There were a lot of times emotions were tested, especially during close calls. They made it to 14 minutes and 30 seconds on one try before the ball hit the court, nearly sending players into tears.
But when they completed it, everyone had a new found respect for each other, and they realized how much they could do when working as a team.
“We were already close, but after completing something like that, you have a sense of pride,” Maricic said.
The Ducks carried that pride into the start of the pre-season, going 5-1 through their first six games.
At the Illini Classic at Illinois on Aug. 29-30, the Ducks beat No. 23 New Mexico State 3-1, North Carolina 3-0, and lost to the host Illinois 2-3. The following week they traveled to Kansas where they won the Kansas Invitational, by beating the University of Central Florida, Kansas and Utah Valley all 3-0.
Oregon started off on the road due to the football team having two straight home games, but Moore liked the idea of having two tough non-conference road trips to start the year. The value of that being that it gives the team the ability to prep for the grueling road schedule in the Pac-10, where they play the nine other teams away from the confines of McArthur Court.
“It’s going to be tough. We also have to play UC Irvine,” Moore said. “And they’re a team that took USC to five sets last year and they return every single one of their players as well.”
And that’s the challenge. No one every said that collegiate athletics were easy, and last year is last year. No matter what your team has accomplished, the new season brings a chance for repeated success- or a trip back to the basement of the conference.
Needless to say, Moore and his experienced volleyball team are gunning for the top. After two straight NCAA tournament births, he thinks it’s time to bridge the gap and join the Pac-10 elite.
“It’s time,” he said. “But you’re not going to surprise any of the coaches in the Pac-10. They’re way too good. We aren’t going to show up to play anyone and have them be, ‘oh gosh you’re good.’”
There’s the double-edged sword. With success comes recognition. The Ducks won’t be sneaking up on anyone this season. With their national ranking every team will be out to prove they can play with the Ducks. However, it’s funny to note that Oregon will still be an underdog in over half of their Pac-10 games. Just don’t tell them that.
“I’m satisfied that we aren’t satisfied,” Moore said.
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