Despite Concerns Oregon Picks Up Road Sweep

OREM, Utah — A pair of outsides slugged it out, matching each other in the kills category, but in the end it was Sonja Newcombe's Oregon squad pulling out the sweep over Utah Valley and Kayli Broadbent.

Despite being without Heather Meyers, who was injured Tuesday prior to Oregon's match at Utah, the Ducks fought and came away with the 25-20, 25-23, 25-22 road win on their final trip before conference play begins.

"I was really concerned coming into this match," said Oregon coach Jim Moore about not only being without Meyers, but facing UVU. "They're a very good team. They play as hard as anybody I've seen."

Couple that with his team having time to dwell on Meyers being out just added extra concern for the Ducks. And early on it was valid.

In all three sets, Utah Valley was able to jump out to quick leads before Oregon battled back and regained the leads.

"That's something we've been working on in practice," Newcombe said. "We do lots of games where we're down and have to battle back, so I think that kind of showed we've gotten better at that."

After fighting back, Oregon cruised to the win in the first set, but the second and third were still up in the air late.

The momentum shifted in the second when, with Oregon up 21-20, freshman Haley Jacob was able to make the save while running to the back wall of the gym. It ultimately led to a termination by Newcombe and put Oregon up two.

"We've been struggling a little bit with defense, so that was huge to get that, run that down," Newcombe said. "She's so quick and as a freshman has really been an asset to us, so that was huge. And you love to get the kill."

The third set went similarly, with another big play late for the Ducks. Oregon was up 20-19 when setter Nevena Djordjevic came through with her only block of the match. The resulting celebration provided the energy needed for the Ducks to scrape out the victory.

"She's not the tallest person on our team, so when she gets one it really fires us up because she gets so fired up too. We really needed that energy tonight," Newcombe said.

Newcombe tied for the match-high in kills with 17 while hitting .324. Also joining her in double-figures was middle Neticia Enesi, who hit .550 with 13 kills.

Of her 17 kills, Newcombe had 14 through the first two sets.

"I don't know who is better than [Newcombe] right now," Moore said. "[Enesi] is obviously playing really, really well, but Sonja, she's definitely getting the job done. That's the understatement of the world."

Defensively for Oregon, Jacob had 10 kills while Amanda Westrick turned in a match-high 12.

Pacing the Wolverines was Broadbent, who hit .343 en route to her 17 kills. Camie Manwill added 10.

Up next for the Ducks is the University of Denver Tournament where they'll face Denver and Minnesota this weekend.

Meanwhile, Utah Valley, after facing three Pac-10 foes in less than two weeks, prepares to open Great West Conference play on Friday after making a brief trip to Boise State on Thursday.

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