Mississippi State
Oregon
Ducks Top VB Bulldogs In Opener of Baylor Tournament
August 31, 2007 | Volleyball
WACO, Texas --- Unbeaten Oregon rallied for a win in a closely-contested opening game and cruised on to a straight-sets win over Mississippi State in the opening round of the Baylor/Clarion Invitational Friday afternoon at Baylor's Ferrell Center. The Ducks prevailed 33-31, 30-17 and 30-25 to improve to 4-0 while the
Bulldogs moved to 2-2.
State led throughout the opening set and was poised to take an early match advantage against their first-time foe from the Pac-10 Conference. A kill by senior opposite hitter Jamie Joyner gave the Bulldogs a 25-21 edge. But the Ducks staged a 6-0 run to regain the lead and claimed a 33-31 win on a block solo by Karen Waddington. State out-hit Oregon .170 to .130 in the opening stanza, but a 5-0 edge in total team blocks, proved the difference in the game.
Oregon raced to a 10-3 advantage to begin game two and never slowed up in registering a 30-17 win. The Ducks held a commanding 18-7 lead in kills and held the Bulldogs to negative hitting for the set.
The Bulldogs never led in the deciding third set but hit at a respectable .294 clip to stay close before bowing in the match-clincher 30-25. A kill by setter Eva Kriegel pulled the Bulldogs to within a point at 20-19. Oregon recovered from the 5-1 MSU run to out-point State 10-6 down the stretch and remain unbeaten on the season.
Cristina Jucan tallied 11 kills and Ioana Demian added seven to account for half of MSU's season-low 36 kills. Senior middle Lauren Kowal, making her first start of the season added five kills while Kriegel and Erin Seago chipped in four kills each.
Senior libero paced the MSU defense with 15 digs and Seago paced MSU at the net with four blocks.
Gorana Maricic and Sonja Newcombe led Oregon with 12 kills each. Katie Swoboda had 18 kills and Waddington finished with six total blocks for
the Ducks.
State continues play in the two-tournament Saturday, testing host Baylor at 1 p.m. and Stephen F. Austin at 5 p.m.
