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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