In front of a raucous crowd of 726 Thursday night at McArthur Court, 14th-ranked California proved it is a team to reckon with in a deep Pacific-10 Conference, while Oregon showed it is a program on the rise.
Cal, now winners of three straight on the road, won the first two games with relative ease against the Ducks, 30-25, 30-16, but dropped the third game 28-30 before winning the final game, 33-31.
“It showed that we can play with anybody; we’re right there,” Oregon head coach Jim Moore said. “It’s really unfortunate because I think (the Ducks) deserved to win.”
Cal, coming off wins at UCLA and USC, started games one and two quickly and was aided by eight Oregon service errors. The Golden Bears never trailed the Ducks in the first two games. Oregon finished the match with 14 total service errors.
“That can’t happen,” Moore said. “We had one ace and eight errors in the first two games. We got better at it, but it just can’t happen.”
Oregon, behind freshman Mira Djuric’s match-high 17 kills, rallied and captured its first lead early in an emotional game three.
The Ducks managed a 27-23 lead after a kill by outside-hitter Kelly Russell, but Cal, after a block and kill by sophomore Angie Pressey, scored four straight to tie the game at 27.
The Golden Bears then took the lead momentarily after a block, but Russell, one of Moore’s senior leaders, would not let Oregon falter. One of her 15 kills tied the game at 28 and her ace put Oregon in position to win the game. The Cal attack sailed long on the next play, and the Mac Court crowd erupted as Oregon won 30-28.
“We have the mentality that we are going to stay out as long as it takes,” said junior setter Heather Madison, who finished with a team-high 15 digs and 25 assists. “We are going to battle and going to fight.”
Game three’s victory sparked new life into the Ducks, who were playing in their first televised match this season. However, much like game three, Oregon held a lead late in the game, only to have it wiped away.
With a Kristen Bitter kill, the Ducks led 27-22, but again the Golden Bears mounted a strong comeback, reeling off five consecutive points to tie the game at 27.
This time, however, Cal’s Pressey provided the needed boost for her team. After three straight errors by both teams and a Djuric kill put Oregon ahead 31-30, a Pressey kill and middle blocker Alicia Powers’ kill gave Cal the lead back.
Pressey then clinched the game with one of her team-high 15 kills to give the Golden Bears (10-2 overall, 3-0 Pac-10) the win.
“Cal was phenomenal,” Moore said. “We finally started to do some things to slow them down, but they were unbelievable.”
Oregon (10-4 overall, 0-3 Pac-10) took 19 more swings than Cal, but tallied three fewer kills. The Bears also out-hit the Ducks .232 to .121 and registered 18 blocks to just seven for Oregon. Cal’s Ellen Orchard finished with a match-high nine blocks.
“(The Ducks) got a good thing going here,” Cal head coach Rich Feller said. “They played really hard.”
Oregon, despite losing its third straight Pac-10 match and 13th consecutive match to Cal, must now turn its focus to defending national champion Stanford, who will visit Eugene and Mac Court tonight. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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