Gorana Maricic put all her power and frustration into the ball. It glanced off the USC block and fell to the ground.
The Oregon volleyball team had won.
Maricic fell to her knees, pounded the floor twice and was surrounded by teammates. The No. 20 Ducks, back home within the confines of McArthur Court, put a three-match losing streak behind them and upset the No. 6 team
in the country.
“I went for it,” Maricic said. “I knew we were going to win.”
Maricic, the go-to player for the Ducks, carried another heavy load Thursday, posting 29 kills with a .436 hitting percentage. As Oregon improved its record to 17-9 overall and 6-8 in the Pacific-10 Conference, the Ducks enhanced their case for an NCAA Tournament bid and now go for a second-straight upset when No. 9 UCLA visits tonight.
The win in many ways mirrored the way Oregon started its home match against No. 4 Washington in late September. The Ducks dominated the first two games; Washington rallied, forced game 5 and won.
The difference, and it’s a big one for this program, is the Ducks won last night and gave coach Jim Moore a signature win in his third season in Eugene.
“It felt really good,” libero Katie Swoboda said. “They are a great team and we’ve been struggling a little bit.”
Thursday, Oregon hit .348 in the first two games and approached game 3 eyeing a sweep. USC escaped a back-and-forth game 3 with a 30-28 win and appeared en route to a win in game 4.
USC led 21-19 after a 4-0 run. The teams traded leads until Oregon, trailing 27-26, tied the game on a Heather Meyers service ace that skipped over the net and fell in. Maricic had a kill, Meyers made another service ace and Oregon served for the match, ahead 29-27.
Asia Kaczor briefly delayed Oregon’s win before Maricic’s kill clinched it.
“It’s about time,” Moore said. “They needed this. In a lot of ways, I’m happy the way it happened.”
Meyers, who has occasionally struggled with her serve, savored her two service aces in the final four Oregon points.
“I’m just glad that I picked myself up those last couple points and got those serves in,” Meyers said.
Meyers and Sonja Newcombe joined Maricic in double-figure kills with 15 and 13, respectively. Nevena Djordjevic had 41 assists and Rachel Morris had 23.
Swoboda, who made 28 digs, is now just 28 digs away from owning the all-time Oregon career record for digs.Teri Kramer currently holds the mark with 1,481.
“We needed this for ourselves most importantly, just mentally,” Swoboda said.
Oregon, appearing relaxed at the beginning, led 10-5 on a Newcombe kill. The Ducks extended the lead to 24-17 on a Neticia Enesi kill.
Maricic made two kills and Karen Waddington had a third for a 29-19 lead. After consecutive USC points, Maricic won game 1, 30-21, on a kill.
Game 2 was much closer, and was tied at 20. Oregon went ahead, 24-22 on a Maricic kill, and 26-24 on a kill by Kristen Forristall. Ahead 28-26, Forristall’s kill and a USC attack error gave the Ducks game 2, 30-26.
The two teams offered another close performance in game 3 and Oregon led 27-26 on a USC attack error. But the Trojans put together a 3-0 run and held game point, 29-27. Oregon gained a point on Enesi’s kill, but lost, 30-28, on Newcombe’s ball-handling error.
“I’m done celebrating,” Moore said. “I’m worried about (tonight) right now. I do believe that winning is like riding on a bike. Once you learn how to do it, you learn how to do it forever and we’ve been struggling to learn how to do that.”
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