No. 21 Oregon Sweeps Arizona

In just her fourth career Pac-10 match, freshman Heather Meyers led the way with 14 kills and a .440 attaching percentage for the Ducks.

Junior Marija Milosevic's four kills in game two were critical in the Ducks' come-from-behind victory. Photo courtesy: goducks.com

TUCSON, Ariz. - For the first time in two decades, the 21st-ranked Oregon volleyball team left the state of Arizona with two victories under its belt, completing the conquest with a three-game sweep (30-21, 31-29, 31-29) of the Arizona Wildcats on Friday night at the McKale Center.

The Ducks improve to 14-2 overall and 3-1 in the Pacific-10 Conference, their best start since the 1987 squad began league play with six straight victories.

That season was also the last time Oregon picked up two victories on the road in Tempe and Tucson.

Arizona drops to 11-5 overall and 1-3 in the Pac-10.

In just her fourth career Pac-10 match, freshman Heather Meyers led the way with 14 kills and a .440 attaching percentage.

The freshman from Temecula, Calif., added three service aces in one of her best performances of the season.

“To go on the road and get two wins over Pac-10 teams is definitely a stepping stone for this program,” head coach Jim Moore said. “We’ll celebrate this for a short time, but we’ll start preparing for next week’s matches tomorrow.”

The team hit .221 on the night and totaled 44 kills. For the 13th time this year, junior Gorana Maricic reached double figures with 11 kills, while adding six digs and four block assists.

“Tonight everyone contributed,” Moore said. “This team has a lot of depth, and it was evident in both of our matches this week. Tonight there were so many crucial moments in games two and three, and each time some one new played a part in our success.”

The Ducks received help all across the floor as junior Marija Milosevic tallied five kills in five attempts, four coming in Oregon’s come-from-behind victory in the second game.

The team totaled eight blocks, led by junior Kristen Forritsall. The Oregon City, Ore., native had a match-high two solos while also posting four assists.

Sophomore Neticia Enesi added four kills, while Swoboda had a match-high 16 digs and Nevena Djordjevic once again dispersed opportunities around the offense with 25 assists.

Arizona’s Randy Goodenough matched Meyers with 14 kills, while Dominique Lamb put down a match-best seven total blocks. The Wildcats hit .138 and committed 27 attacking errors.

Similar to Thursday night’s 3-1 victory over Arizona State, the Ducks showed no let down at the start of game one.

Oregon scored the first seven points, and it proved to be too deep of a deficit for Arizona to overcome.

In game two the Ducks looked like they would struggle early, trailing by scores of 5-12, 7-16 and 11-20.

But once again the serving of Swoboda seemed to make the Wildcats uneasy.

Trailing 17-24, Oregon put down six consecutive points on Swoboda’s serve.

Four of the kills belonged to Milosevic, who appeared off the bench, while another came from Enesi as well as an ace for Swoboda.

After evening the score at 24, the game was tied five additional times, until Oregon finally triumphed with a kill (Maricic) and tag-team block from Maricic and Forristall.

In game three, Oregon’s three-point, 8-5 lead was the largest any team had until late.

Tied at 20-20, Arizona appeared to pull away scoring four straight points. The Ducks found themselves back in the game at 26-26 after two kills from Meyers and two attack errors from the Wildcats.

The game was tied twice more before a Maricic kill and an ace from Enesi completed the sweep.

The 21st-ranked Ducks return to Mac Court to host 10th-ranked California at 7 p.m. on Thursday and the second-ranked Stanford Cardinal at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

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