Stanford made the big kills. They rose above the net for large blocks. The Cardinal owned the better hitting percentage of the two teams.
The Stanford volleyball team visited Oregon Thursday night and left McArthur Court winners in three games.
Oregon’s fourth-consecutive loss left the Ducks at 17-8 overall and 7-8 in the Pacific-10 Conference. Stanford’s record improves to 22-3 and 13-2.
The reaction afterward from Oregon coach Jim Moore and players reflected a team happier about their play than a week ago.
After playing five games against top-ranked Washington two weeks ago, it seemed the match sapped their energy. The upstart Oregon team, which had won seven of its first nine conference matches, changed into a team playing as if they were afraid to lose. The transformation showed in consecutive losses to Arizona and Arizona State on the road last weekend.
“We just didn’t have energy,” outside hitter Mira Djuric said. “We just didn’t have any kind of excitement when we played. We weren’t focused enough. I just think that the loss against Washington totally drained us.”
Oregon’s play improved Thursday in front of a crowd of 1,203. Setter Heather Madison had 24 assists and Nevena Djordjevic had 22. Madison and Erin Little made two service aces.
“I was happy with our serving and our passing even though they also served well,” Moore said.
Stanford, though, is No. 3 in the country and it showed. Outside hitters Kristin Richards and Cynthia Barboza formed a powerful tag-team with 15 and 14 kills, respectively.
“There’s three teams in the country – we said this at the beginning of the year – that are just physically better than everyone else. They are one of those three,” said Moore, also mentioning Nebraska and Penn State.
“We played well and they played awesome,” setter Madison said. “They’re Stanford.”
Stanford trailed only three times in taking game 1, 30-26.
Oregon’s chance to win game 2 ended when they ran out of subs and were forced to use Madison in the front row.
“That lets you know how long that game was and how well we were playing,” Moore said.
Oregon had trailed 29-27. The Ducks used a kill from Neticia Enesi and a service ace by libero Katie Swoboda to knot the score at 29. Oregon and Stanford traded points until an Erin Little service ace gave Oregon the 32-31 advantage. After the Cardinal tied it, Oregon took the lead two more times before the Cardinal ran off three straight points to win the game, 36-34.
In the third game, Oregon stayed close, moving into an eight-all tie on a Stanford attack error. Stanford went on a 7-0 run to take a 15-8 lead. It gave the Cardinal the breathing room necessary to win the game and match, 30-22.
Djuric spurred Oregon’s attack with 14 kills and the leading hitting percentage at .571. Sonja Newcombe led Oregon with 16 kills, though she hit only .211. As a team, Oregon hit .157 to Stanford’s .286.
Madison, Little and Kristen Bitter make their final appearances in an Oregon uniform tonight at McArthur Court. Their challenger is No. 15 California, which beat Oregon State in three games Thursday. The 5 p.m. match is a double header with the men’s basketball team.
“It’s starting to sink in a little bit,” Madison said. “Still, it won’t completely hit me until it’s over.”
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Stanford overpowers Oregon in three straight games
Daily Emerald
November 16, 2006
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