Pac-10 Volleyball: No. 5 Stanford Defeats No.19 Oregon

Junior Gorana Maricic led the Ducks with 19 kills, while Sonja Newcombe added 13.

Junior Katie Swoboda had 20 digs against Stanford. Photo courtesy: goducks.com

STANFORD, Calif. - No. 19 Oregon rattled Stanford in game two, but the fifth-ranked Cardinal responded and moved past the Ducks in four games (30-24, 27-30, 30-19, 30-17) on Thursday night at Maples Pavilion.

The Cardinal improves to 21-2 overall and 10-2 in the Pacific-10 with the win, while Oregon falls to 16-8, 5-7 Pac-10.

Freshman outside hitter Alix Klineman paced the Cardinal with 16 kills and tallied a career-high six blocks. Foluke Akinradewo turned in 13 kills, hit .667 and matched a season best with eight blocks.

Junior opposite Erin Waller also had a notable night, tallying ten kills, four blocks and a .450 hitting percentage.

Stanford out-hit Oregon .303 to .165, breaking the .300 plateau for just the second time in the last seven matches. Stanford is now 44-2 all-time against the Ducks.

Oregon was held under a .200 clip for just the fourth time this season.

Junior Gorana Maricic led the Ducks with 19 kills, while Sonja Newcombe added 13 and Heather Meyers' 12. In the last four matches, the trio has reached double figures on three occasions.

Meyers, a left-hander from Temecula, Calif., has recorded double-figure kills in her last five contests, averaging 4.24 points and 3.65 kills per game, while hitting .371.

Junior libero Katie Swoboda led Oregon with 20 digs, but the Cardianl dominated at the net 15 blocks to the Ducks' 7.5.

Oregon jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in game one, but the Cardinal capitalized on three Oregon hitting errors to squelch their early momentum.

Two Klineman kills and a series of Oregon hitting errors allowed Stanford to cruise smoothly to the finish. Klineman gave Stanford game point at 29-23, and Akinradewo ripped her fourth kill of the game to seal the Cardinal win, 30-24.

Game two began with a flurry of ten ties and five lead changes, and neither team able to establish more than a two-point lead.

Oregon held a two-point advantage at 26-24, but two Duck errors and a solo block by Waller put the Cardinal back in front at 27-26. The Ducks rattled off three points of their own, however, and claimed game point on a kill by Meyers at 29-27.

After a Stanford timeout, Meyers ripped another kill to finish game two, 30-27, in favor of the Ducks. Stanford hit just .119 in the second game, and allowed the Ducks a .237 clip. The Ducks tallied 24 kills in the game to just 10 by the Cardinal, and Maricic put down eight kills in game two alone.

Akinradewo was on fire to start game three, as the junior middle blocker tallied two kills and three blocks to account for all five of the first Cardinal points.

A Klineman kill at 17-14 began the series of Cardinal points that finally blew the game open. Waller served eight straight points, including two aces, and the margin became double digits at 24-14.

Oregon held the opening advantage in game four, and took as much as a three-point lead at 7-4. Cynthia Barboza stepped up and delivered a series of powerful serves, however, and the Cardinal took five straight points to take a 9-7 lead.

Stanford took its largest lead at 27-13, and took game point at 29-17. A decisive kill by Klineman ended the game, 30-17.

Oregon remains in the Bay Area to play No. 8 Cal at Haas Pavilion tomorrow night.

Source: goducks.com

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports