The No. 19 Oregon volleyball team pushed host No. 5 Stanford in the first two games Thursday at Maples Pavilion, but in the final two the Cardinal showed their experience and won the match in four, 30-24, 27-30, 30-19 and 30-17.
Oregon slips to 16-8 overall and is now two games under .500 in the Pacific-10 Conference at 5-7.
The Ducks travel to Berkeley tonight for a 7 p.m. match with No. 8 California.
Gorana Maricic spearheaded Oregon’s attack with 19 kills. Sonja Newcombe made 13 kills and Heather Meyers had 12. Libero Katie Swoboda had 20 digs.
Oregon hit just .165 as a team compared to Stanford’s .303.
Stanford’s Cynthia Barboza had a quiet night with 12 kills and a .093 hitting percentage. Alix Klineman led the Cardinal with 16 kills. Foluke Akinradewo and Erin Waller had 13 and 10 kills, respectively.
Oregon built a 4-0 lead in game 1 on three Stanford attack errors and a Newcombe kill, but the Cardinal rallied for an 8-7 lead. They led the rest of the game and won, 30-24, on an Akinradewo kill.
In Oregon’s game 2 win, there were 10 ties and five lead changes in the early going. Stanford was ahead 27-26 when Oregon ran off three straight points and won the game, 30-27, on a Meyers kill.
Stanford restored order in game 3. The Cardinal started much like Oregon did in game 1 with a 4-0 run. The Ducks stayed close until, trailing 16-14, the Cardinal expanded the lead to 10, 24-14, with an 8-0 run. Stanford earned game 3, 30-19, on an Oregon service error.
Game 4 offered another close contest until midway through when Stanford, ahead 14-12, used runs of 7-0 and 6-0 for a 27-13 lead. The Cardinal ended the game and match, 30-17 on a kill by Klineman.