Ducks Face No. 8 Cal, No. 3 Stanford This Week

Last week, Oregon swept its first two-match Pac-10 series in 17 years, defeating Arizona State, 3-1, on Thursday, and Arizona, 3-0, on Friday at Mac Court.

Photo courtesy: goducks.com

EUGENE - The Ducks women’s volleyball team (14-3, 4-3 Pac-10) heads to the Bay Area for matches against No. 8 California and No. 3 Stanford on Thursday and Friday.

Scouting Cal:

The No. 8 Golden Bears (14-4, 3-4), losers of three straight, are one game behind Oregon in the Pac-10 standings heading into Thursday’s clash. Against common opponents in 2006, Cal and UO are both 3-3. Oregon’s game record in those matches is 12-10 compared to 10-11 for the Bears.

Cal had the daunting task of facing No. 4 UCLA and No. 5 USC on the road last week and were swept by the Bruins before nabbing a game off the Women of Troy. Despite its recent mini slide, Cal remains one of three teams in the conference with an unbeaten record on its home court, posting a 9-0 mark this season.

5-8 JR OH Angie Pressey leads the Bears with 4.53 kills per game and a .318 attack percentage. SR S Samantha Carter averages 12.72 assists, 2.15 digs and 0.50 blocks per game. Head coach Rich Feller is in his eighth year in Berkeley and has guided Cal to a 131-94 (.582) record. The Series: California leads the all-time series with UO, 44-12, and has won 14 straight, dating back to 1998. The Ducks’ last win in Berkeley was Nov. 15th, 1998.

Scouting Stanford:

The Cardinal (15-2, 6-1) jumped to No. 3 in the latest AVCA Top 25 poll after road wins against the LA schools last week. Stanford is the hottest team in the Pac-10, having won five straight since an away defeat against No. 6 Washington on Sept. 22. SO OH Cynthia Barboza leads a trio of Cardinal players averaging 3.75 or more kills per game with a mark of 4.63. SO MB Foluke Akinradewo is hitting a team-high .418 and averages 3.76 kills and 1.52 blocks per game.

Sixth-year head coach John Dunning is 161-28 (.852) at Stanford and has the second highest winning percentage among Pac-10 coaches. The Series: The Cardinal have won the last 33 meetings against Oregon and lead the all-time series, 43-2. The Ducks have never won at Stanford and their last victory overall in the series was a five-set win against the Cardinal - ranked No. 6 at the time - on Sept. 30th, 1989.

Oh, Snap!:

In beating Arizona State and Arizona last week, the Ducks snapped a pair of major losing streaks. UO had gone 16 matches without a win against the Sun Devils and 15 straight against the Wildcats.

Ducks Receive Votes: For the first time since 1991, Oregon is receiving votes in the AVCA/CSTV Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Ducks earned 14 votes in the Oct. 16th poll, placing them 30th. UO was ranked as high as No. 18 in 1991, when they cracked the Top 25 three times.

15 For 14:

With 14 wins thus far in 2006, the Ducks have their most wins in 15 seasons, dating to 1991. The ‘91 squad, coached by Gerry Gregory, finished 14-16 (.467) overall and 4-14 in the Pac-10.

Road Warriors:

UO’s 5-1 road mark this season is the third best among Pac-10 schools. Only first-place UCLA (9-0) and USC (8-0) have had more success away from home in 2006.

Leaders of The Pac:

The Ducks begin play this week leading the Pac-10 in opponent hitting percentage (.115) and service aces, averaging 1.83 per game. Oregon is third in blocks per game (3.21). SO OH Mira Djuric leads the conference in aces per game (0.60), and JR MB Karen Waddington is second in blocks per game (1.61).

SR OH Erin Little is sixth (tie) in aces per game (0.33). SO L Katie Swoboda is fourth in digs with 5.03 per game, and FR S Nevena Djordjevic ranks ninth in assists with 7.71 per game.

NCAA Prowess:

As of Oct. 15th, Oregon was ranked 15th in the nation in blocks per game at 3.21. On the individual front, JR MB Karen Waddington was 12th among all NCAA Division I volleyball players in blocks per game (1.61). SO OH Mira Djuric was 21st among all NCAA Division I volleyball players in service aces per game (0.60).

Return of The Mac:

The Ducks posted three consecutive season-high crowds at McArthur Court, drawing 873 against UCLA on Sept. 21st, 1,067 against USC on Sept. 22nd and 2,260 on Sept. 29th against Oregon State. The crowd against the Beavers was the fourth largest in program history.

Serving it Up:

So far during the 2006 season, the Ducks have produced two of the top serving performances in team history. SR OH Erin Little had six aces on Aug. 27 vs. Portland State, which ranks her tied for fifth on the single-match record list, and SO OH Mira Djuric trumped her with seven vs.

Utah State on Sept. 2 to tie for the third most. Only nine other players in school history have recorded six or more aces in a single match. The record is 12 by Lauren Westendorf against Seton Hall in 2004.

300 Blocks For Bitter:

SR MB Kristen Bitter surpassed 300 blocks for her career in Oregon’s 3-0 sweep of Fresno State on Sept. 8th. Bitter currently ranks sixth on UO’s career blocks list with 344.

Fastest to 500:

With 14 kills in the win over Cal State Northridge on Sept. 1st, SO OH Mira Djuric reached the 500-kill plateau faster than any Oregon player since the start of full record keeping in 1982. She now has 660.

Fab Frosh:

When FR MB Sonja Newcombe signed to play for the Ducks last fall, she became just the sixth Volleyball Magazine Fab 50 player to make Eugene her college home. Newcombe is UO’s first Fab 50 recruit since current teammate SR S Heather Madison (2003).

Big Win:

If hard evidence was needed to prove that Oregon’s volleyball program is headed in a different direction under second-year head coach Jim Moore, the Ducks surely produced it with their 3-1 upset at Long Beach State on Aug. 30th. The 49ers, ranked No. 17 in the CVU.com preseason top 25, have a storied volleyball tradition, which includes three NCAA Championships. Only Stanford, which has six titles, has more hardware than The Beach.

Since LBSU was not ranked in the AVCA top 25 - considered the primary poll in women’s volleyball - the Ducks will wait a little bit longer before trumpeting a win over a ranked opponent for the first time since 1998. But that milestone looks a lot more realistic today than at any point in recent memory.

Record Start:

Oregon’s 10-match winning streak at the beginning of the 2006 season was a record start and tied the Ducks’ longest overall streak in school history set in 1984.

Moore of The Same:

In his first two seasons at UO, head coach Jim Moore has a non-conference record of 21-1. That translates into a .955 winning percentage, easily the highest of any coach in Oregon’s 39-year history.

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