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Bruin turnaround surprises Toledo
Following two losses at
the beginning of the
season, UCLA has won
seven straight games
By John Nadel
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Even Bob
Toledo admits he didn’t expect
this much this soon from the
UCLA Bruins. After all, they
couldn’t win as many as two
straight games last season, much
less eight.
Things have sure changed.
“Our players believe we can
win every game we play,” Toledo
said. “We preach all the time that
you have to play hard, you have
to play 60 minutes, you have to
play four quarters.
“Our team has been ready to go
every week. We have a winner’s
type of mentality.”
That was hardly the case for
most of the 1996 campaign —
Toledo’s first as the UCLA coach
after he spent two years as offen
sive coordinator under Terry
Donahue.
It seemed to change in the final
game — against crosstown rival
Southern California.
The Bruins, who brought a 4-6
record into the game, trailed 24-7
at halftime, and 38-21 after R. Jay
Soward caught a 78-yard touch
down pass from Matt Koffler
with 11:06 remaining.
But UCLA scored 17 points in
the final
6:12 of play
to force
overtime
„ „ .and finally
BRUINS prevailed
■■ ■■ 48-41 when
Skip Hicks ran 26 yards for a
touchdown in the second over
time.
UCLA
It was, Toledo said, the biggest
win he’s ever had as a coach.
And it’s still paying dividends.
“I believe that game did a lot
for this program," said Toledo,
whose team will go for its ninth
straight victory this year and sev
enth in a row over USC on Satur
day at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
“It gave our coaches a lot of cred
ibility. n
Toledo said the Bruin philoso
phy was, and has been, “Keep
playing, don’t worry about the
score. When the gun goes off,
check the score.”
That formula has worked won
ders since the Bruins (8-2 overall,
6-1 Pac-10) lost to No, 11 Wash
ington State 37-34 and No. 8 Ten
nessee 30-24 to start this season.
First, UCI.A overpowered
Texas 66-3. Seven more wins
have followed, the most recent a
52-28 triumph over No. 17 Wash
ington last weekend, lifting the
Bruins to No. 7 in the country —
their highest ranking since 1988.
The Bruins will represent the
Pac-10 in the Rose Bowl if they
beat USC (6-4, 4-3) and Washing
ton beats Washington State in
Seattle. Both games start at 12:30
p.m. (PST).
If UCLA and Washington State
both win, the Bruins will no
doubt play in another attractive
bowl game. In fact, it’s likely the
Bruins and Trojans will both get
bowl invitations.
Hicks, who leads the nation
with 24 touchdowns and needs
one against USC to set a Pac-10
career record in that department,
said he’s not surprised by his
team’s success.
“We knew we had a good
team," he said. “We knew it was
just a matter of time before we
came together. I’m just happy it
happened as soon as it did.”
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Friday, Nov. 21
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Ducks: Ernst is expected to lead UO attack
m Continued from Page 11A
with a win over California sandwiched between
losses to No. 16 Washington and No. 3 Stanford.
The Cougars are led by Jennifer Stinson's 340 kills
and 156 blocks. Keren Oigman recently joined Shan
non Wyckoff as the only two players in Washington
State history to record 1,000 kills and digs. They are
two of the four active Pac-10 players to have reached
that plateau.
The Cougars are third in the Pac-10 in hitting per
centage at .252 and fourth in kills, blocks and digs.
One ray of hope for Oregon is the fact that junior
Madeline Ernst, who had afcareer-high 29 kills in the
win over Arizona State and was nominated for Pac
10 player of the week, missed the last matchup with
Washington State due to a kidney infection.
Ernst is now back at full strength but is weary of
expectations for a repeat of last weekend’s perfor
mance.
“Saturday was a great match,” she said. “[Setter]
Casey [Crisler] did a good job of getting the ball up
there for me, and the passers did a good job of getting
the ball to Casey. It was a team effort, but there's no
superstar on this team. We can’t afford to be a one
woman team.”
Nelson offered a different point of view.
“She's going to get the ball a lot,” the coach said.
“She’s our best offensive weapon. But we need
everyone to play solid and have one person to have a
great night. If we could get that, we would’ve had a
lot more wins this year.”
Oregon’s opening loss in the Pac-10 this season
came at home against the Huskies, who the Ducks
dose the season against Saturday night in Seattle.
Washington is led by senior Makare Desilets, who
has four triple-doubles this season and needs just
nine more blocks to pass Stanford’s Bev Oden and
move into second place all-time in the Pac-10 with
642.
The middle blocker leads the conference with 2.03
blocks per game this season, is third in kills with 4.46
per game and stands 10th in hitting percentage at
.295.
Teammate Leslie Tuiasosopo, sister of Husky quar
terback Marques, is fourth in blocks with 1.54 per
game and fifth in hitting percentage at .320.
“Washington presents some problems for us,” Nel
son said. “But it’s an opportunity to go up there and
play our rears off, and anything can happen."
While playing steady throughout the match Satur
day led to a victory over the Sun Devils, it may not
be enough to win this weekend.
“Steady volleyball can get us to compete with ei
ther of these two teams,” Nelson said. “But we’re go
ing to have to play really good to win. We’re certainly
capable of playing great volleyball, we just need to
put it all together, and what better time than our very
last weekend of competition?"
This will be the last appearance in an Oregon uni
form for six Oregon seniors. Co-captains Casey
Crisler and Shelby Edwards, as well as Tia Stewart,
Dani Cordova, Alison Pepe and Jessica Temple, will
each try to make their last road trip from Oregon a
successful one.
UO: Oregon State will be the test for Ducks
■ Continued from Page 11A
since our last meet. We’re very
confident, and individually we’re
all ready.”
Conditioning was the team’s fo
cal point since its double-header
sweep of Pac-10 rivals UC Davis
and Stanford on Nov. 8. Condi
tioning will be the key, Finley
said, to Oregon’s chances of de
throning No. 6 Arizona State atop
the Pac-10.
“This should be a good tuneup
for us,” Finley said. "I think we
could see as many as nine guys
win their respective weight class.
We should do okay.”
Last season, the Ducks opened
their competition at the Southern
Oregon Open and had two
wrestlers, 158-pound Scott Nor
ton and 177-pound Troy Hughes,
win decisions in their respective
weight classes. Three other Ore
gon wrestlers finished in second
place.
“I expect us to do well this Sat
urday,” Jeremy Ensrud said. “I
have a feeling that we’ll be up for
this one. I’m more confident hav
ing wrestled in the tournament
last season, but Oregon State will
be a tough test for us. We have a
strong team and a lot of team uni
ty. We have a lot of young guys
who are still very experienced
wrestlers.”
Ensrud, along with junior Sean
Morgan, looks to be Oregon’s best
chance of repeating its feat from a
season ago. Ensrud was an All
American last season and is the
Pac-lO’s top-ranked wrestler at
134 pounds. Morgan ranks sec
ond in the conference in the 158
pound weight class. Both are fa
vored in their respected classes.
Oregon and Oregon State’s best
matchups might come in the
heavyweight classes, as several of
the Pac-lO’s top wrestlers will
meet for the first time this season.
The Beavers’ Shane Zajac is the
conference’s top-ranked wrestler
at 190 pounds, and Oregon’s
Chael Sonnen ranks second.
Another anticipated matchup
features Oregon State’s Matt Orn
dorff, the Pac-lO’s second-ranked
275-pound wrestler, and Oregon’s
Rich Polkinghorn, the confer
ence’s third-ranked heavyweight.
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