Fans may be forgiven if they thought they were experiencing a flashback Friday night.
There was Gorana Maricic, again rifling a shot over the net and jump-starting the celebration in McArthur Court. One night after Maricic’s kill completed an upset of No. 6 USC, the No. 20 Oregon volleyball team beat a second top-10 team, this time sweeping No. 9 UCLA, 30-24, 30-28 and 30-24.
“We pushed Gorana a little bit,” coach Jim Moore said. “She’s tired. She swings at a lot of balls hard.”
Excuse Maricic, who was riding the emotion of another unexpected win if she wanted to keep on playing afterwards. The outside hitter had a match-high 25 kills and a .327 hitting percentage.
“They thought I was tired, but I’m not tired,” Maricic said. “I’m ready to hit every ball. I’m ready to jump for every ball.”
The win holds bigger implications for Oregon, who coming into this weekend had lost seven of nine matches. Beating consecutive top-10 teams for the first time in school history could place Oregon in line for starting the NCAA Tournament at home.
Oregon improved to 18-9 overall and 7-8 in the Pacific-10 Conference.
“I think we have the opportunity to host the first two rounds (of the NCAA Tournament),” Moore said. “Now we have to keep winning.”
Oregon now awaits next week’s visit from rival Oregon State. Libero Katie Swoboda, who made 18 digs Friday, is just 10 away from breaking Teri Kramer’s career mark of 1,481 and will likely eclipse it against the Beavers.
The highlight for Moore came from the defense of Maricic and Sonja Newcombe’s play on defense with the pair combining for 24 digs.
“This was all guts,” he said. “Game 2 to me was where… Gorana and Sonja did exactly what they were supposed to do every time on defense,” Moore said. “Forget about offense. Sonja dug those balls and frickin’ unloaded a couple of balls.”
Oregon held control through much of game 1 and game 3. The Ducks needed a comeback in game 2 when UCLA, behind 26-23, went ahead, 27-26, on a Maricic attack error.
Maricic tied the game at 28 with a kill, and two Sather attack errors gave Oregon game 2, 30-28. Newcombe, smiling afterwards, signified the game as another case of the Ducks’ growing confidence, even when trailing.
“I said right before we went out, I said ‘Let’s make our moment. This is our time. This is our big chance to make a huge thing happen,’” Newcombe said. “You got to expect it and I think it showed that we have the confidence to finish out those games that earlier in the season we weren’t having that confidence.
“I could feel it. I could see it out there.”
Oregon led 15-13 in game 1 on a Neticia Enesi kill and expanded the lead to 23-17 on an Oregon block. Oregon maintained the lead and ended game 1 on a Newcombe kill.
Following Oregon’s game 2 win, the Ducks emerged from the break and built a seven-point lead, 19-12, in game 3 on a Heather Meyers service ace. UCLA came within four, 20-16, on a kill by Ali Daley.
That was as close as UCLA got before Maricic completed the successful weekend with a kill.
“Seriously, I’m out of words,” Maricic said. “This is one of the most incredible things we’ve done in a while.”
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Seizing the momentum, Ducks upset UCLA
Daily Emerald
November 11, 2007
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