No. 15 Duck Volleyball Drops No. 14 Cal, 3-0

Among other notable numbers Friday, Meyers' ace was the 101st of her career and moved her into a tie for 10th all-time UO.

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EUGENE, Ore. - The No. 15 Oregon (13-3, 3-3) won its second straight meeting in McArthur Court vs. No. 14 California (9-7, 2-4) Friday night in 3-0 fashion.

The Ducks' sweep of the Bears by a 25-20, 25-19, 25-20 score was the first by Oregon in the rivalry since 1990 and third ever in the 63-match series dating back to their first-ever meeting in 1977.

“This was certainly our best effort in four weeks," Oregon head coach Jim Moore said. "We sustained momentum well, except when we lost our focus at the end of game two. At that point, I told them that all we needed to do was side out. The key to our success this season will be to take it one point at a time, and we didn't lose sight of that tonight. Nev did a great job of setting the ball to a variety of players that created more openings and opportunities for the offense."

Senior middle blocker Neticia Enesi led the team in hitting (.667), and added 11 kills (and only one error) in her 15 attempts, and three blocks.

"It was a great match - everyone stepped up and played their hardest," Enesi said. "In practice, we built up some confidence this week and had a positive attitude and that improves your play both mentally and physically. It was great to see everyone contribute - that's important for our team."

Senior outside hitter Sonja Newcombe paced UO in kills (13) and points (15) for the seventh and eight times in '09, respectively, and hit .545 - her second-highest mark of the season behind her career high .611 at Portland in early September. The Lake Arrowhead, Calif., native also racked up a team-best 10 digs to claim her 39th career and fifth double-double of the season, and she also tallied two aces and one block.

Senior setter Nevena Djordjevic logged a three-set season-high 39 assists - one more than her previous season high vs. Denver and Washington State - and also had a career-high tying four aces, six digs and three blocks.

"We tried to play as hard as we could,” Djordjevic said. “It was important to get back on the winning track, and will help us get back into the rhythm we had at the start of the season. Tonight we stopped thinking ahead and looking at the score. We need to be focused on the point ahead of us."

Also on defense, freshman libero Kellie Kawasaki shared the team lead in digs (10) - her fourth double-digit tally the last five matches.

As a team, UO hit .402 - a conference-match season high by .097 after it hit .305 vs. Washington State two weeks ago, while Cal finished with a .283 mark. In other team comparisons, UO held advantages in kills (47-37), assists (44-33), aces (9-2) and digs (33-28), while the two teams tied in blocks (7-7).

The Bears' two-time All-American Hana Cutura led the visitors in kills (13) and points (14.5), and other team leaders included Mindi Wiley (hitting, .727), Carli Lloyd (29 assists), Kristen Kathan (11 digs) and Kat Brown (4 blocks).

In the first set after a 5-4 Cal lead, UO never trailed the rest of the stanza and came back to go up 18-12. A few plays later, a near block by the Cal ‘D’ was dug at the last second near the net, and a set by Meyers turned into a Newcombe kill to put UO up, 20-16. Cal then closed to 21-19 on a kill by Cutura, but UO ended the set on a 4-1 run thanks to kills by Heather Meyers and Newcombe and a service ace by Amanda Westrick. Enesi had a set-high six kills in the first set – including three straight to give UO a 9-5 lead early and force a Cal timeout.

At the first set’s end, UO hit .516 for its match best (while its second- and third-set totals were still impressive .344 and .345 marks). Likewise, Cal hit .458 the first set, and added .200 and .242 tallies in the second and third sets, respectively.

In the second set after a 7-7 tie, UO scored a key point on a marathon rally that featured six Cal attacks (including three by Cutura) that was ended on a block assist by sophomore Dana Stephenson and freshman Katherine Fischer. That play started an 11-2 run that eventually put UO up 21-11 and featured kills by Newcombe (2), Stephenson and Meyers and an ace by Newcombe. Cal responded with an 8-3 run that featured three kills by Cutura to make it 24-19, by Meyers ended the set with a cross-court kill that ended a five-point Bear run. Newcombe had four kills in the set, and team-wise, only one UO hitter committed an attack error among the six that combined for 35 attempts in the set.

In the third period, scoring stayed tight as neither team led by more than three points until 18-14 when Meyers, the national leader in aces, logged her first of the night. Moments later, UO went up 22-17 on a lunging dig by Meyers that sent Newcombe racing out of bounds to the edge of the net for an off-balance set that Meyers put down for her fourth kill of the set and ninth and final kill of the evening. Overall in the third set, Newcombe ended with a set-high four kills, while two of Enesi’s blocks came in the final set.

"This week outside of practice, Nev put in extra time, as did Neticia and that was huge," Oregon head coach Jim Moore said. "That hard work boosted us, and they were also responsible emotionally for taking charge tonight. Nev's serving in particular keyed a big run in the second set that was critical."

Among other notable numbers Friday, Meyers' ace was the 101st of her career and moved her into a tie for 10th all-time UO.

Even during intermission, the boisterous 'Pit Crew' student section stayed busy cheering a different type of action as a fifth-year UO student proposed to his girlfriend of 8 1/2 years.

Looking ahead, UO hosts No. 5 Stanford, Saturday night at Mac Court in a 7 p.m. match. Fans are asked to wear pink to the “Spike for the Cure” match vs. the returning national runner-up to support breast cancer awareness month.

Ranked second in the Pac-10 entering the weekend, Stanford (12-4, 5-1) won, 3-1, Friday night at Oregon State, and other league scores included No. 4 Washington winning 3-1 over No. 12 UCLA, Washington State triumphing over No. 16 USC, 3-0, and No. 18 Arizona staking a 3-1 win at Arizona State.

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