University of Washington
Oregon
UW Rallies from Two Games Down to Defeat Oregon
September 21, 2007 | Volleyball
Sept. 21, 2007
EUGENE, Ore. - The No. 8 Washington volleyball team rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat No. 24 Oregon at McArthur Court, 3-2, on Friday night in the Pac-10 opener for both schools. Stevie Mussie led the Huskies with 27 kills, as UW moved to 12-0 on the season. Oregon fell to 11-2.
Oregon started fast, winning the first two games 30-28, 30-26, and appeared to have the match secured up behind a loud McArthur Court crowd. But Washington didn't give in, instead rallying to win the final three games, 30-16, 30-25, 15-11.
"They [Oregon] came out of the gate and put pressure on us right away," UW head coach Jim McLaughlin said. "They had us on our heels in game one. If you don't do the right things it can cause some problems."
"We eventually settled down, locked down the system and found our rhythm."
The Ducks opened up a commanding 7-1 lead early in the first game. Even though Washington was able to fight back and to tie the game late at 26-26 and then at 27-27, the momentum was with Oregon throughout much of the game.
Oregon carried that momentum into game two, hitting .359 as a team, after hitting .316 in game one. The two teams traded the lead early in game two, and were tied at 18-18 mid-way through, before Oregon took a 24-19 lead behind two service aces from Nevena Djordjevic, a pair of kills from Gorana Maricic and a Husky attack error. The Ducks eventually won 30-26.
With their backs against the wall, the Huskies rallied behind Mussie and led through all of games three and four, and were tied just once in the fifth game, at 1-1, before leading the rest of the way. Mussie tallied 15 of her 27 kills and seven of her nine digs over the final three games, and led UW in kills in four of the five games.
"Oregon came out to play and was hitting well," commented Mussie on the Ducks early 2-0 lead. "We knew we had a long night in front of us, but we always focus on playing point to point, and we weren't going to leave here without giving it a go."
To Mussie,the crowd of 2,375, most of whom were Oregon fans, wasn't the reason the Huskies fell behind early.
"I don't think so," Mussie said about the pro-Duck crowd having an impact on Washington's players. "It was a great crowd, but they weren't a factor. Oregon was just hitting very well and we weren't passing well. Once we started to pass well and hit well things started to open up for us."
Washington led by as many as 12 points on two separate occasions in game three as they hit .333 and held the Ducks to their lowest hitting mark of the night at -.029. The Huskies sided out at 82 percent in the game, while Oregon sided out at a match-low 44 percent.
Oregon provided Washington its first true test of the season, after the Huskies amassed 10 three-game sweeps in their first 11 matches, and had only lost one game coming into tonight.
"It was a good test for us tonight," said McLaughlin. "Our kids are tough and they showed that tonight in a very tough environment. They learned to keep their composure against a very good team. But I would like to see us play good volleyball from start to finish and not wait until game three to turn it on."
Christal Morrison added 17 kills and 10 digs for Washington, Jessica Swarbrick had 12 kills and led all players with a .500 hitting percentage, and Becky Perry finished with 11 kills, as UW hit .292 as a team.
Oregon, which hit a combined .338 in first two games, finished the match with a .168 team hitting percentage. Maricic led all players with 33 kills, while Sonja Newcombe and Heather Meyers both had 15 kills for the Ducks.
Also for UW, Jenna Hagglund had a match-high 61assists, Tamari Miyashiro had 21 digs and Alesha Deesing had a match-best 10 total blocks. Washington recorded 17 total team blocks, while Oregon had just seven.
Washington continues Pac-10 play tomorrow night at Oregon State (8-5, 1-0 Pac-10), which won 3-2 over Washington State tonight. Match time is set for 7 p.m.
NOTES: Fittingly, Mussie had the final point of the night on a kill, giving UW the 15-11 game five win ... Game two featured 12 ties and five lead changes ... UW has now won 13 matches in a row against Oregon, dating back to the 2001 season ... The last time Washington rallied from a 2-0 deficit was on Oct. 28, 2004 at Oregon State (20-30, 37-39, 30-16, 30-27, 15-10) ... The Huskies now lead the all-time series with Oregon 51-16.
