Oregon volleyball coach Jim Moore won’t hesitate in reminding everyone how important outside hitter Sonja Newcombe is to the program. When she sat out the weekend against Arizona State and Arizona on Oct. 24 and 25 because of a slight knee injury sustained the previous weekend at Washington State, Moore said that the difference of play with and without the junior captain was astounding.
“It’s amazing how much calmer we get with Sonja in there,” Moore said. “That’s why she’s really important.”
A change in chemistry was noticeable during the matches, evident in the way errors flustered the players more easily and there was no emotional leader keeping them together. They still won the matches against the Sun Devils and Wildcats, but there was a sense that something important was missing.
That important something returned the following Monday when coach Moore put Newcombe into the second set against Utah. The McArthur Court crowd roared in approval, and just the act of putting her in the match changed the feeling surrounding the team.
“I could just feel a little uplift,” Newcombe said. “I was standing up at the front saying, ‘OK coach, put me in!’”
“It’s tough to understand how good she is until she isn’t there,” Moore said. “Utah missed a serve only because she was in the match. She was able to push the serve receive enough to force them into trying something they weren’t capable of doing.”
Newcombe, a Volleyball Magazine “Fab 50” recruit from Lake Arrowhead, Calif., exudes confidence. Ever since arriving on the Eugene scene, she has been marked to do great things, but that pressure doesn’t show. Her teammates call her a “tireless worker” and a great friend and competitor. Her coach expects the most from her, and when things are wrong he’ll get on her about it.
“I think (coach Moore) really relies on me,” Newcombe said. “He expects me to set a good example and go above and beyond what you’re supposed to do, and he definitely lets me know when I’m not. He keeps me on track.”
Junior Neticia Enesi, who was recruited by Oregon the same year as Newcombe, said she works really hard to set an example.
“She wants to do well and come in everyday and work hard,” Enesi said. “And that shows with her weekend play.”
“I want to be the rock,” Newcombe said. “I come in and just try to be really consistent. Day-in-day-out I try be someone that everyone can come to.”
Moore said Newcombe, along with senior Katie Swoboda, has been one of the reasons he has been able to change the fortunes of Oregon volleyball. Swoboda was recruited in Moore’s first year as coach, but they went 1-17 in conference her freshman year. It wasn’t until the next year, when Newcombe highlighted a recruiting class that included setter Nevena Djordjevic, middle blocker Enesi and libero Amanda Westrick, that Oregon started winning.
The Ducks went 17-12 – it was the first time in 15 years they had a winning record – and earned a birth in the NCAA Tournament. They lost in the first round to No. 12 Hawaii, but the precedent of winning was set, and the next year they marched all the way to the Sweet 16.
“The reason I came to Oregon was because I really liked the coaching staff,” Newcombe said. “I also liked the challenge of taking a program from where we were to where we are now.”
Oregon’s rise to national prominence has mirrored Newcombe’s own. Moore and his assistants knew she would be special, and the coaching staff’s faith reflects in the accolades and records Newcombe has received. She has twice earned Pac-10 All-Conference Honorable Mention and was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team her first year. Since the inception of rally scoring in 2001, only one person has more points in Oregon history than Newcombe. As of Nov. 4, she has 1,168.0 points and she’s roughly 600 points away from taking the record.
But right now the big concern isn’t about records, it’s for the team to improve its success on the road, something the Ducks are still struggling with. They are just 2-4 away from Eugene in the Pac-10 schedule, but the hope is that last weekend’s five-set win over No. 9 UCLA will be the breakthrough.
“We need to play better on the road,” Newcombe said. “I think it was a good win for us, beating UCLA; we needed a few five-set wins, but we have to be more consistent.”
Newcombe and the team are completely focused on finishing the season within reach of the top of the conference. After a trip to Corvallis to play Oregon State this weekend, the Ducks will host Washington State and Washington before heading to Arizona for their last road trip of the season. The season finale in Eugene follows the Arizona trip, when Stanford and Cal will visit.
Then it’s the NCAA Tournament, and a whole new set of expectations.But until the last point of the regular season is scored Nov. 28 against Cal, the tournament and most other talk of the future will be taboo. Moore has preconditioned this team to focus only on the next match.
“Obviously we would like to win them all, but we have to worry about OSU right now,” Newcombe said.
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