The Oregon Volleyball team completed a five-match homestand on Tuesday night with a three-game sweep of the Portland Pilots.
The Ducks never trailed in the first two games, winning 30-20 and 30-19; they overcame a slow start in the third game to win 30-28.
Oregon improved its record to 5-0 on the season with the victory.
“It should give them confidence,” first-year head coach Jim Moore said. “They are playing teams that have given this program problems in the past and beating them in three.”
Oregon raced to early leads in games one and two behind the one-two punch from freshman Mira Djuric, who had 10 kills in the first two games, and Kelly Russell, who finished the night with nine total kills.
Freshman libero Katie Swoboda again provided solid defense for Oregon. She tallied a team-high 16 digs in three games, and junior outside hitter Erin Little had nine digs to go along with her seven kills and six block assists.
Providing the dramatics the other two lacked, game three saw the Pilots respond by nearly matching their total kill count recorded in the two previous games. Combined, the Pilots had 19 kills in games one and two and tallied 17 in the third game.
Down 25-22, Swoboda provided a key dig for the Ducks, and Little followed with a kill. Oregon then scored three unanswered points to tie the game at 25, setting the stage for the down-to-the wire, see-saw finish.
Three Djuric kills proved to be the difference for Oregon down the stretch. Her first tied the game at 27 and her second knotted the score at 28. After a Portland violation gave Oregon the lead at 29-28, Djuric put the final touches on an Oregon sweep with her now-patented power spike. The third game comeback against the Pilots was one of many early season comebacks for the Ducks.
“We really fought back, and I had no doubt in my mind that we’d win that game,” junior setter Heather Madison said. “It was surprising, but it wasn’t at the same time because I knew that we have it in us to do that but in the past we wouldn’t have.”
The past is slowly becoming a distant memory for the Ducks, who lost only one game in three matches during the five-game homestand.
“All I hear is everybody saying, ‘You started 7-0 last year.’ I’m a little tired of hearing that,” Moore said. “We just have to worry about ourselves.”
One pleasant surprise for Moore and the Ducks thus far in the early season is the frontline’s performance. Oregon blocked 13 balls in Tuesday’s match against Portland and has 59 blocks on the season.
“We’re blocking a lot of balls,” Moore said. “Thirteen blocks in a three-game match, that’s pretty good stuff.”
Oregon now takes its unblemished record on the road for the Crown Plaza Showcase hosted by Portland State University. The Ducks and Vikings square off Thursday at 7 p.m.
“We have to take one game at a time and not sprint to the finish,” Madison said. “We’re going to take one day at a time and see what happens.”
The Ducks will play four total matches over the weekend at the tournament. After the Vikings, the Ducks return to the court Friday at 1 p.m. to face undefeated San Francisco (7-0), a team coming off a five-game victory over North Carolina. Oregon then plays Evansville and Cal State Fullerton on Saturday.
“It’s a great test for us,” Moore said. “San Francisco is a good team and we are going to have to play a lot better to beat them.”
The Ducks open the Pacific-10 schedule Sept. 23 at Arizona State at 7 p.m.

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