In last weekend’s matches against USC and UCLA, junior Neticia Enesi gave it her all. After losing in five sets to USC last Friday and being faced with another five-setter against UCLA the next night, Enesi told the team they had been there, done that.
“I told them we’ve done it plenty of times before, we just needed to step up and spike balls,” she said.
Enesi’s confidence and determination sparked the No. 8 Ducks (19-5 overall, 7-4 Pacific-10 Conference) to a 15-13 set win and a victory over the then-No. 9 Bruins, and junior Sonja Newcombe said after the match that it was Enesi and junior setter Nevena Djordjevic who led the charge.
“Nev and Teesh (Neticia) pulled the team together,” Newcombe said. “They were fighting the whole time, kept their heads up, never second-guessed any of their teammates, and kept the energy high.”
The stats prove how well Enesi played all weekend. She posted career numbers, leading the team in kills (40), blocks (13), points (46.5), and hitting percentage (.524).
“I just played my hardest, like I always do,” Enesi said. “It was just working I guess. I actually can’t remember that many blocks. I was shocked.”
For her efforts, Enesi was named the Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Week for Oct. 31 through Nov. 2. It is the 13th time since 1986 that a Duck has been given the honor, and the second this year. Newcombe was given the award (and the National Player of the Week award) for her efforts against UCLA and USC on Oct. 3 and 4.
“It’s a huge accomplish for myself,” Enesi said. “It’s probably the biggest volleyball award I’ve ever gotten. I just want to sustain that through the rest of the season.”
However, Enesi is more comfortable talking about this weekend’s opponent, Oregon State (14-10, 3-8), than her own awards. She’s quick to point out that the No. 8 Ducks must travel to Corvallis for the game, and although OSU is only 45 minutes away, it’s still a road game and the team struggles on the road.
“We need to play as well as we do at home,” Enesi said. “We are undefeated at home and we just want to integrate that into away games. We want to have that same attitude of attacking the other team – no mercy.”
Newcombe agrees with Enesi’s assessment of what the Ducks need to do this weekend against the Beavers.
“I love playing at home, but the ones on the road will test us the most,” she said. “We have to win those matches.”
The Ducks beat the Beavers in Eugene on Oct. 12 when OSU was ranked No. 24. It was the first time the Civil War had been played with both teams ranked, but the hype lasted until Oregon finished them off with a three-set victory, including a 25-14 pounding in the decisive third set.
Since that loss, Oregon State has gone 2-4, only beating Washington State and Arizona. They’ve slowly slid out of the national spotlight, and are currently ninth in the Pac-10 at 3-8. Meanwhile, the Ducks have gone 5-2 since the last Civil War match and the team sits in fourth place, just a game behind No. 5 Washington.
Junior Rachel Rourke has been the only bright spot for the floundering Beavers. She leads the team with an average of 4.42 kills per set. That average is also good enough for tops in the conference, ahead of Cal’s Hana Cutura and the Ducks’ own Gorana Maricic. Rourke is also second in the conference in overall points at 4.86 per set.
But the struggles of the orange and black team to the north aren’t lulling the Ducks into a false sense of security. It’s a rivalry game, and the Beavers took USC to five sets the night after the Ducks did. Although OSU lost just like Oregon did, it proves the Beavers are capable of pulling off the upset.
“We are not taking them lightly at all,” Newcombe said. “We’re going up to their place and we have to play well on the road. Even though it’s a short road trip, it’ll still be tough.”
If the Ducks can get through this weekend unscathed, they will be rewarded with four of their last six matches at home – something that will prove beneficial for building their confidence leading into the tournament. But the players are still not allowing the future to cloud their preparation for the next week’s game.
“We still have a long, hard road in front of us,” said Newcombe. “We are nowhere near being done.”
Next weekend the Ducks play Washington State and Washington at McArthur Court and after a trip to Arizona, they finish with a pair of matches against Stanford and Cal. That’s good news because Washington, Stanford and Cal are all teams the Ducks have lost to on the road, and they will be eager to extract some payback.
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