Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1998)
BEST BETS NHL hockey Philadelphia at Buffalo, ESPN (34) 4:30p.m. Emerald NICK MEDLEY/Emerald Erwon Kergroach shakes a fist at his fans after his win against UCLA's Jean-Noel Grinda at Willow Creek Racquet Club. Ducks fail to the Trojans, Bruins Il—llllili 1 _3__ NICK MEDLEY/Emerald f/CZ/1’s Jean-Noel Grinda was ranked 12th in the nation coming into his match against Kergroach. Erwan Kergroach picked up Oregon’s only win of the weekend by defeating No. 12 Jean-Noel Grinda of UCLA By Rob Moseley Sports Reporter Head coach Chris Russell has no qualms about admitting the greatest weakness of the Oregon men's tennis team. Inconsistency has ravaged the Ducks all season, and they were able to over come it on one front this weekend. Ore gon lost to Southern California on Friday and promptly lost again, to UCLA on Sat urday, dropping their record to 11-11. “We’ve got some very talented guys,” Russell said. “The biggest thing right now is consistently being able to stay within a game plan, win or lose.” On Saturday at Willow Creek Racquet Club, Oregon struggled against the No. 8 Bruins’ four nationally ranked singles players and the No. 38 doubles pair of Matt Breen and Jean-Noel Grinda. The Ducks found themselves in a hole early, as Breen and Grinda quickly dis posed of Oregon’s No. 1 doubles pair of Erwan Kergroach and Guillermo Carter 8 1. Jason Cook and Vince Allegre picked up another swift victory for UCLA at No. 3 doubles, beating Cedric Van Haver and David Becker 8-4, but Carlos Navarro and Joaquin Hamdan would not allow the Ducks to be swept in doubles without a fight. Navarro and Hamdan fought back from a 7-4 deficit to the Bruins’ Alex Decret and Brandon Kramer and closed the gap to 7-6. The pairs forced seven deuces on the penultimate point, but Decret and Kramer prevailed 8-6. The Ducks picked up their sole win of the weekend at No. 1 singles, where Ker groach upset Grinda, the 12th-ranked Turn to MEN, Page 16A Women, men finish 1 -2 at Bay Area meet The women dominated the 1,500 on their way to a 35-point win, while the men finished 11 points behind Cal By Rob Moseley Sports Reporter For the second time in three weeks, the Oregon men’s and women’s track and field teams returned from the Bay Area after suc cessful showings. Two weeks after 11 Duck women record ed personal bests at the Stanford Invitation al, three women tallied PRs in the 1,500 me ters alone as Oregon took the team title at the Brutus Hamilton Memorial in Berkeley, Calif., on Saturday. The Ducks led the 12-team field with 132 points, 35 more than second-place Ohio State and 40 better than third-place South ern California. The highlight of the meet came in the 1,500, which was split into two heats that each featured two Oregon women. Marie Davis won the first heat with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of four minutes, 20.23 seconds. She was followed closely by teammate Katie Crabb, who finished third overall and second among colle gians in 4:21.19, a personal best by 11 seconds. In the second heat, the Oregon women swept the top two positions in a slower field. Juniors Heather McMahon and Robyn Sutherland finished in 4:32.02 and 4:32.51, respectively. Each time was a personal best. “The 1,500 was a great event,” Oregon women’s head coach Tom Heinonen said in a released statement. “Everybody rose to the occasion and ran excellent races.” Other Oregon victories in Berkeley came in the 400-meter hurdles, shotput and javelin. Tish Henes ran a season-best 59.60 in the hurdles, matching the NCAA provisional qualifying mark for the first time this season. In the field events, Chris Cvitanich won the shot put for Oregon with a season-best put of 41 feet, 11 inches one day after finish ing fifth in the hammer throw at 163-0. Teammate Heidi Fisk took fourth in the shot put at 44-71/2 and sixth in the discus with a throw of 146-8. Oregon’s Maureen Morrison finished third in that event at 156-3, as well as seventh in the hammerat 158-8. The javelin competition featured a second straight 1-2 finish by the Ducks’ Karis Howell and Katie Pearmine. Howell won the event Turn to TRACK, Page 13A Griffin shines in team scrimmage Damon Griffin bad touchdown receptions of 95 and 70yards in a 50-minute scrimmage at Autzen Stadium Saturday On a day that was owned by the defense, redshirt receiver Damon Griffin provided some much needed offensive punch. Griffin, a 1996 second-team Pacific-10 Conference all-conference wide receiver who missed all of last season with torn thumb ligaments, converted a short side line reception from quarterback A.J. Fee ley into a 95-yard touchdown against Ore gon’s second-team defense in a 50-minute scrimmage Saturday at Autzen Stadium. The score was one of two on the day for Griffin, who later transformed a Joey Har rington pass into a 70-yard touchdown. In a released statement following the practice, head coach Mike Bellotti said he was “encouraged” by both the play of Grif fin and that of the first-team defense which yielded only 35 yards the entire day. Defensive lineman Richie Thomas and Masi Heamish each recovered fumbles and FOOTBALL nneDacKer LMetricn Moore was credited with one in terception. Heamish also forced quarterback Akili Smith out of the end zone for a safety. Four Oregon quarter Dacks comDinea to complete 14 ot 27 passes for 266 yards, with Jason Maas connecting on six of nine throws for 30 yards and one interception. Feeley completed three passes for 119 yards and one touchdown, Smith completed just two for 22 yards, and Har rington was three of eight for 95 yards with one touchdown. Saturday ■GAME1 0SU6.U02 ■ GAME 2 0SU4.U01 ■ NOTES: OSU pitcher Tarrah Beyster recorded 20 strikeouts and hit two home runs... the losses were Oregon’s second and third straight ...the Ducks fell five games be hind Pac-10 leader Arizona Beyster leads OSU’s sweep of the Ducks in Corvallis | OSU’s Tarrab Beyster | recorded 20 strikeouts j and bit 2 borne runs I against Oregon I - By Joel Hood I Sports Reporter The box score reads that the Oregon softball team dropped a | pair of Pacific-10 Conference I games to Oregon State over the | weekend. What it doesn’t say, however, I is that it was just one player that | single handedly knocked the I No. 17 Ducks from the confer | ence race. Tarrah Beyster struck out 20 and hit a pair of home runs Sat urday to lift No. 21 Oregon State to a two-game sweep of the vis iting Ducks at Ropes-Fetrow Field in Corvallis. Beyster, who entered the SOFTBALL doubleheader ranked sec ond in the Pac-10 in in nings pitched, started both games and recorded her team-high 17th and 18th wins of the season with the 6-2, 4-1 sweep of the Ducks. “We were pretty disappoint Turn to LOSS, Page 16A
