Ducks Spike to No. 7 in National Volleyball Rankings

Junior Heather Meyers came back from an ankle injury earlier in the week to be named the Pioneer Classic Tournament MVP.

Salem-News.com Sports

EUGENE, Ore. - Fresh off a win over No. 9 Minnesota last weekend, the now-No. 7 University of Oregon volleyball team (10-0) jumped five spots in this week’s American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) national poll and sports its second-highest ranking in school history.

Oregon remains one of only three ranked and unbeaten Pac-10 teams, and stood second among the seven Pac-10 teams ranked top 25 behind No. 3 Washington (10-0) – its opponent in this week’s Pac-10 season opener at home, Friday, Sept. 25 at 7:00 p.m.

Other league teams in this week’s top 25 included No. 10 Stanford (7-3), No. 12 California (7-3), No. 13 USC (11-1), No. 14 UCLA (10-3) and No. 19 Arizona (11-0). Two of the other three Pac-10 schools – Oregon State and Washington State – also received votes, and the latter squad travels to Eugene this Sunday, September 27 for a 1:00 p.m. match at McArthur Court.

Another recent Duck opponent – Minnesota – remained No. 9 this week after UO won their showdown last Friday in the Denver Classic, 25-22, 27-25, 22-25, 15-25, 15-10.

Overall in this week’s fourth poll of the season, returning national champion Penn State (12-0) was tabbed first again with 50 of 60 possible first-place votes, while No. 2 Texas (7-0) followed in second place and had seven first-place votes. No. 3 Washington (10-0) picked up the other three first-place votes, and was followed by No. 4 Hawai'i (9-2) and No. 5 Florida (6-1).

The complete poll is listed below, and more information on the AVCA and its polls are available at its www.AVCA.org website. To read an AVCA release about this week's poll, go to the http://www.avca.org/divisions/division-one-women/polls/ address.

UO’s ranking this week matched its previous second-best mark that it held in two editions last October, while its all-time high (sixth) also came last October.

Altogether, the Ducks' string of top-15 rankings is now 26 straight polls strong, and previous rankings follow: 2009: Preseason - 14th, 8/31 - 14th, 9/7 - 12th, 9/14 – 14th. 2008: Preseason - 11th; 9/2 - 13th; 9/9 - 12th; 9/17 - 12th; 9/24 - 11th; 9/30 - 11th; 10/6 - 7th; 10/13 - 6th; 10/20 - 7th; 10/27 - 7th; 11/3 - 8th; 11/10 - 8th; 11/17 - 8th; 11/24 - 8th; 12/1 - 7th; 12/23 - 9th. 2007: 11/12 - 14th; 11/19 - 13th; 11/26 - 13th; 12/3 - ninth; 12/10 - ninth.

Looking ahead to this weekend’s home matches vs. No.3 Washington, Friday, and Washington State, Sunday, the latter contest will offer kids 12 & under $1 admission who are also invited to a free post-match clinic with the Ducks.

In UO’s final non-conference action of ’09 last week, the Ducks’ 4-0 road trip also included wins at returning NCAA regional advancer Utah (3-1), at Utah Valley (3-0) and at Denver (3-0).

In that span, senior Neticia Enesi led the team in hitting (.473), and ranked second in kills (3.47 per set average), blocks (0.73, p/s) and points (3.87 p/s). Senior Sonja Newcombe topped the kills column (61, 4.07 p/s), while sophomore Dana Stephenson paced the blocking category ( 0.80 p/s) and ranked second in hitting (.288).

Junior Heather Meyers came back from an ankle injury earlier in the week to be named the Pioneer Classic Tournament MVP after she posted her fifth career double-double (19 kills, 10 digs) vs. No. 9 Minnesota, while senior Nevena Djordjevic was also tabbed to the All-Tournament Squad.

AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 Poll

2009 Poll #4: September 21, 2009
1 Penn State (50) 1487 12-0 1
2 Texas (7) 1439 7-0 2
3 Washington (3) 1394 10-0 3
4 Hawai’i 1295 9-2 4
5 Florida 1243 6-1 5
6 Nebraska 1143 9-2 8
7 Oregon 1070 10-0 12
8 Michigan 1015 12-1 6
9 Minnesota 955 9-3 9
10 Stanford 943 7-3 11
11 Iowa State 933 9-2 10
12 California 839 7-3 13
13 USC 769 11-1 15
14 UCLA 756 10-3 7
15 Illinois 732 8-1 14
16 Michigan State 574 12-0 17
17 Kentucky 463 11-1 16
18 Florida State 450 9-1 19
19 Arizona 382 11-0 21
20 Wichita State 346 11-1 20
21 UC Irvine 277 10-2 18
22 San Diego 261 7-3 23
23 Saint Louis 227 7-5 22
24 Baylor 163 12-1 24
25 Long Beach State 106 7-3 NR

Others Receiving Votes (and appearing on two or more ballots): Pepperdine 32; Texas A&M 29; Notre Dame 26; Oregon State 21; Purdue 21; Dayton 18; UC Santa Barbara 16; LSU 14; Duke 11; St. Mary's (Ca.) 10; Colorado State 9; Washington State 6; Kansas State 4; Northern Iowa 4; Rice 2

Source: www.GoDucks.com

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