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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 5, 1998)
<DregonW€merafo THURSDAY Nov. 5,1998 Best Bet College Football East Carolina at Cincinnati 5:00 p.m., ESPN It’s time to put the past behind us It is no secret the Oregon football team is in a slump. A team that seemed destined fora post-season trip to Pasadena was em barrassed last Saturday by Arizona. The fact that it happened on television didn’t help. The only way to lessen the national humiliation that followed would have been to close the game to all media. I had never seen a greater variety of headlines about one subject before last Sunday. Al most every newspaper got its piece of the pie. Those Arizona newspapers really jumped on the bandwagon. The Arizona Daily Star featured a full-page color picto rial with photos of the Wildcats relent lessly tearing apart the fragmented Ducks. wn me iiuiii spui JJcigt; of The Arizona Republic, one couldn't miss the dom inant photo of Oregon tight end Jed Weaver being stopped by Arizona defen sive end Joe Tafoya. The headline for that story reads, “Crackdown on quackers.” My favorite Sunday headline to emerge from the loss appeared in the Register-Guard — “Cough, Opinion Scott Pesznecker sputter, hack, wheeze. Yes, you guessed it: the story was about Oregon’s offense against Arizona. But from here, Oregon can only do one of two tilings — it can continue to allow themselves to be beaten, or they can move on and play like the talented team they are. Perhaps the most accurate headline that I read this week appeared Monday in the Register-Guard. It read, “Bellotti says there’s no need to look back.” The past few weeks have not been pleasant for anyone who cares about the football team. But things like this happen to all sports teams, and when they do, it is important for everyone to move on and get over it. So to help lighten things up, I decided to write this little song. It goes to the theme of the old-time television hit “Gilli gan’s Island." Turn to PESZNECKER, Page 8 Ernst and White winning together Matt Hatikiti'i/hmerald Senior co-captains Alii White (12) and Madeline Ernst attempt a block against UCLA in October. The two are team leaders in kills and play their final home match on Sunday against Washington State at 1 p.m. Early contentions hare smoothed into a winning relationship for Oregon's top volleyball scorers By Allison Ross Oregon Daily Emerald Madeline Ernst and Alii White. Two pillars within the Oregon volley ball program. Two players, completely different, yet intertwined in an experi ence shared by no others. Both will finish their careers at Oregon this year without a winning season, but each will have left her mark. This year, Ernst became the sixth play er in school history to record 1,000 or more kills in a season when she pounded 26 against UCl.A on Sept. 25. She leads the Pacific-10 Conference, averaging 5.71 kills per game, which also places her sec ona in me nation. Mie lias recorded double digit kills in 23 of Ore gon's 24 matches this season, including 12 matches in which she tallied 20 or more. Ernst’s 451 kills this VOLLEYBALL season put tier atop the Oregon roster and surpass her season total of 363 last year. White is second on the team behind Ernst with 292 kills, and her 3.74 kills per-game average ranks 10th in the Pac 10. Defensively, White is a force as well, leading Oregon with 65 blocks. Their relationship began three years ago, but both admit it was rocky, to say the least. “Alii and 1 didn’t see eye to eye,” Ernst says, laughing. “Our personalities didn’t mesh. She was a different player than I was. She was loud and really aggressive, and I was the complete opposite.” Ernst, a native of St. Paul, Ore., red shirted the 1994 season, and when White arrived from Los Gatos, Calif., in 1995, she gave the passive Oregonian her first dose of competition. “I think it was hard for people to see me so extroverted and loud," White says. “I wasn’t the typical quiet freshman, which got me into trouble sometimes, but that was just my personality.” White worked her way into the start ing line-up that year to become Oregon’s rookie of the year and one of the pro gram’s most successful first-year players. Ernst was also on her way, beginning to showcase the type of player she would Turn O VOLLEYBALL, Page~12 Bellotti writes off loss as ‘stubbed toe,’ prepares for Huskies Last week’s loss to Arizona was less traumatic than the crushing blow that UCLA delivered, Bellotti says By Rob Moseley Oregon Daily Emerald No. 21 Oregon faces its second week of practice after a losing effort, but head coach Mike Bellotti said the attitude of the players this week is decidedly more upbeat than it was two weeks ago. “Our spirits have been good, not anything like they were after the UCLA game,” Bel lotti said. “We had very spirited practices Monday and Tuesday. We know we stubbed our toe, but it’s not as important that it happened. What’s important is what you do with it after the fact and how you re spond to it.” The “stubbed toe” Bellotti speaks of is of course the Ducks’ 38-3 loss at Arizona last Saturday that cost Oregon nine spots in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and a hefty chunk of pride. But Bellotti insisted he and his players are having an easier time overcoming this defeat than their 41-38 overtime loss at UCLA on Oct. 17. “It’s easier to let [the Arizona] game go ana say they got us, Bellotti said. "They were playing very, very well. We did not play well. We were down a couple of bodies that probably would have made a difference.” Football Notes Ho-Ching may return against the Huskies One of those bodies, tailback Herman Ho Ching, may be available against Washington on Saturday. Ho-Ching, out since Sept. 19 with strained knee ligaments, was described by Bellotti as questionable for the Washington game after Monday’s practice. That progno sis was improved to "50-50" after Tuesday. “I was pleased with the progress he made from Monday to Tuesday,” Bellotti said. “He was moving faster and quicker and seemed to be more comfortable and confi dent. If he continues to improve like that, I think there is a very good possibility he could play.” After Wednesday’s practice, Ho-Ching said he felt ready to go on Saturday. “Today I felt great,” Ho-Ching said. “I was doing a lot of things today full speed. I thought I had to prove something to my coaches, that I wanted to play this Saturday, Turn to NOTES, Page 8 (( What's important is what you do with it after the fact and how you respond to it. ” Mike Bellotti Head football coach