Oregon Sweeps Missouri State to Advance to Second Round

Oregon will return to action Saturday night at 5 p.m. PST to play the No. 9 seed and host Kansas State.

Oregon moved on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a sweep of Missouri State.

MANHATTAN, Kan. - For the first time in 23 years, the University of Oregon volleyball team advanced out of the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Like the Ducks had done 17 previous times this season, Oregon obtained the victory by way of a three-game sweep (31-29, 30-20, 31-29) knocking off Missouri State at Ahearn Field House on Thursday night.

"We were very nervous to start the match but I was very pleased with how we responded in tight situations in games one and three and obviously pleased about playing tomorrow," head coach Jim Moore said. "Our expectations are very high here and it was difficult to play against a team you don’t know very much about."

Oregon will return to action Saturday night at 5 p.m. PST to play the No. 9 seed and host Kansas State. The Wildcats also won in a sweep (30-24, 30-20, 30-23), defeating Conference USA Tournament champions Tulsa in Friday's second match.

Oregon is now 21-10 heading into the second round, while Missouri State ends its season 25-8.

Pac-10 all-conference selection Gorana Maricic led the Ducks with her 12th double-double of the season, 24 kills and 14 digs. Sophomore Sonja Newcombe added 13 kills.

"We have a little more confidence heading into the tournament this year. We have a good young group this season. There are enough leaders on this team who have been here before to give us a good balance and makeup."

On defense junior Katie Swoboda had a match-high 15 digs, and sophomore Neticia Enesi led Oregon with six total blocks.

Setter Nevena Djordjevic finished the match with 20 assists, while adding two crucial kills during Oregon’s last five points of game three.

Oregon hit .277 and held the Bears to .167. It was the 15th time this season the Ducks have held an opponent under .200.

Game one involved 10 ties and six lead changes, but Oregon eventually pulled away and for the 31-29 win. The Ducks were ahead 29-27, but allowed the Bears to tie things with a kill from Sara Staubach and a block on the combined effort of Sara Thomas and Bethany Fuller.

Newcombe blasted two consecutive kills for Oregon to end it. Maricic led Oregon with 10 kills in the game.

The Bears again were hanging around with the Ducks in game two with score even at 18, but Oregon began to get its offense in synch and ended things on a 12-2 run.

Maricic, Kristen Forristall and Newcombe each had two kills apiece during that stretch, while two Missouri State attack errors ended the game. Also during that run, Oregon scored five points on the run of Maricic’s serve.

By the end of game two Maricic had 17 kills for Oregon and Newcombe had 10.

Source: goducks.com

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