Heartbreaking is the only way to describe Thursday’s Civil War volleyball match that extended five games and ended with an Oregon State win before 1,678 fans at McArthur Court.
Oregon (12-14, 1-13 Pac-10 Conference) had chances to win a deciding fifth game featuring a combined four service errors. Oregon’s powerful freshman Mira Djuric had two kills to tie the match at 14. An Oregon State attack error gave Oregon a 15-14 lead, but an Oregon violation and a long hit and block gave the Beavers (9-11, 5-9) a match deciding 17-15 fifth game win.
The emotion of an in-state rivalry and Oregon fans standing for the Ducks’ match point disappeared with a late Oregon State flourish.
“It’s tough that it didn’t go our way in the last game,” outside hitter Kelly Russell said. “To be that close and to lose to a team you know you can beat is frustrating.”
An example of Oregon’s struggles came on a play designed in an Oregon timeout in the fifth game had the Ducks setting for Erin Little. She had a powerful hit returned by a dig from Oregon State and instead of adjusting and setting up the stronger Djuric, Oregon went to Little again.
“We say something and we can’t go away from it,” Coach Jim Moore said. “Then we start forcing it and that’s part of learning how to play the game.”
The match signified the last rivalry match for seniors Jaclyn Jones and Russell. Both contributed with key kills, but right now losing hurts most, Russell said.
“I don’t know, maybe tomorrow
I’ll be able to look at it as a moral victory, but not right now,” she said afterward.
Up until the third game, the match closely resembled Oregon State’s three -game sweep on Oct. 14. The evidence: missing emotion, losing leads and allowing a long Oregon State run.
The same intensity and high level of play Oregon showed last weekend against USC and UCLA disappeared in a 30-28 game-one loss. Oregon State used a late 11-point run to take game two 30-22.
To win, Oregon needs to avoid errors at inopportune times, Moore said.
“It’s not the number of errors; it’s not the number of service errors – it’s when you do them,” Moore said. “We find a way to make it very, very difficult to win.”
Momentum changed after intermission, and Oregon took game four 32-30. Oregon followed with a game four similar to past victories, taking an early lead holding it.
The Ducks started with four consecutive points and pushed the lead to 22-12. Oregon State had a seven-point run to have Oregon answer with a Djuric kill. Oregon won game four 30-21 with a 6-1 run of its own before the deciding fifth game.
The recovery notwithstanding, Moore was disappointed, saying Oregon needed to find its emotion.
“How can you not get up for this match and not be ready to go,” he said. “That just makes no sense to me.”
Oregon State used a powerful block to stop Djuric in the first and second game. Djuric broke through with 10 kills in the third game, five in the fourth and three in game five.
Djuric finished with a match-high 26 kills. Four other Oregon players, Little, Kristen Bitter, Jones and Russell each put in more than 10 kills.
Freshman libero Katie Swoboda had 26 digs and Russell and Little had 12 apiece.
The powerful block of Oregon State was led by Abby Windell and Katelyn Healy, who finished with 12 each.
Brittany Cahoon led Oregon State’s hitters with 19 kills and a .359 hitting percentage.
The strong attendance Thursday featured an Oregon pit crew and a large contingent of Oregon State fans including Beaver quarterback Matt Moore.
Oregon’s next opportunity for a second conference win comes with a visit to Washington State Thursday and No. 2 Washington on Friday.

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