University of Oregon Women’s Volleyball Weekly Digest

Ducks Embark on First Pac-10 Road Trip of The Year.

Photo: goducks.com

EUGENE -

ABOUT THE DUCKS: The Oregon volleyball team welcomes seven newcomers and returns six players from last season’s squad, which finished 12-18 overall, 1-17 in the Pac-10 Conference. Among the returnees are SO OH Mira Djuric, a Pac-10 All-Freshman team member in 2005, and SO L Katie Swoboda, who earned honorable mention Pac-10 All-Freshman status.

HEAD COACH JIM MOORE: Oregon head coach Jim Moore is in his second season in Eugene and 18th overall as a collegiate head coach. In his inaugural campaign at UO, Moore led the Ducks to their highest win total (12) and winning percentage (.400) in 14 seasons. Moore has compiled an overall mark of 375-176 (.681) during a career that has also included stops at Northern Michigan, Kansas State, Texas and Chico State. His 1993 Northern Michigan team won the NCAA II National Championship.

SCOUTING WASHINGTON: The Huskies (12-3, 2-2) dropped one spot to No. 5 in the CSTV/AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll after difficult road losses to UCLA and USC last week. It was the first time UW - the defending NCAA champion - has suffered back-to-back defeats since 2003. Washington is stacked on the front line with juniors Christal Morrison and Stevie Mussie both averaging more than 4.38 kills per game. JR MB Alesha Deesing ranks second in the Pac-10 in hitting percentage at .467 and SR S Courtney Thompson is the conference’s assists leader at 14.44 per game.

Head coach Jim McLaughlin is in his sixth season in Seattle and has a 126-43 (.746) record at UW. The Series: UW leads the all-time series against the Ducks, 48-19 (33-7 in Pac-10 play), and has won the last 10. UO’s last win against the Huskies was a four-set affair on Nov. 9th, 2000, at McArthur Court.

SCOUTING WASHINGTON STATE: Following a 12-win non-conference campaign, the Cougars (12-6, 0-4) have dropped their first four Pac-10 matches, including 3-1 losses at USC and UCLA last week. SO OH Brittany Johnson leads the team with 4.10 kills per game with JR OH Adetokunbo Faleti a close second at 4.00. FR L Kelly Hyder ranks third in the Pac-10, averaging 5.28 digs per game.

Third-year head coach Brian Heffernan has a record of 26-54 (.325) on the Palouse. The Series: Oregon and WSU are even all-time at 32-32-1, but the Cougars hold the edge in Pac-10 play, 29-9. UO has won two of the last three, including a 3-2 win in Pullman on Oct. 2nd, 2004. The two sides split the season series in 2005, each winning on its own floor.

LIFE IN THE PAC-10: When Oregon faces No. 5 Washington on Friday night it will mark the third time in the Ducks’ first four conference matches that they will go up against a top 10 opponent. The Pac-10 currently boasts five teams among the top seven in the CSTV/AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll.

RETURN OF THE MAC: The Ducks have 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.

LEADERS OF THE PAC: The Ducks lead the Pac-10 in opponent hitting percentage (.119) and service aces, averaging 1.98 per game. Oregon is fifth in blocks per game (3.05). SO OH Mira Djuric leads the conference in aces per game (0.69). SR OH Erin Little is fourth in aces per game. SO L Katie Swoboda is fourth in digs with 4.80 per game, and FR S Nevena Djordjevic ranks eighth in assists with 7.89 per game. SR MB Kristen Bitter is tenth in blocks per game with an average of 1.12.

NCAA PROWESS: As of Oct. 1st, Oregon was ranked 26th in the nation in blocks per game at 3.05. On the individual front, SO OH Mira Djuric was ninth among all NCAA Division I volleyball players in service aces per game (0.69).

BITTER NABS TOURNAMENT MVP HONORS: SR MB Kristen Bitter was named MVP following the conclusion of the Boise State Invitational (Sept. 15-16). Bitter helped the Ducks defeat Gonzaga and the host Broncos to win team title, averaging 2.00 blocks and 2.83 kills per game, and hitting .343. She was also named to the All-Tournament team along with SR OH Erin Little.

SERVING IT UP: Not even halfway through the 2006 season, the Ducks have already produced two of the top serving performances in team history. SR OH Erin Little had six aces on Aug. 27th 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. 8. Bitter currently ranks seventh on UO’s career blocks list with 327 and needs 33 to break into the top five.

FASTEST TO 500: With 14 kills in the win over Cal State Northridge on Sept. 1, 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 613.

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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