FRIDAY Nov. 6,1998 NFL: Week 10 N.Y. Giants vs. Dallas Detroit vs. Philadelphia Atlanta vs. New England Indianapolis vs. Miami Cincinnati vs. Jacksonville Oakland vs. Baltimore St. Louis vs. Chicago New Orleans vs. Minnesota Carolina vs. San Francisco San Diego vs. Denver Buffalo vs. N.Y. Jets Kansas City vs. Seattle Tennessee vs. Tampa Bay USA Today/ESPN Top 25 poll College Basketball 1. Duke 2. Stanford 3. Connecticut 4. Michigan St. 5. Maryland 6. Kentucky 7. Temple 8. Kansas 9. Tennessee 10. Xavier 11. N. Carolina 12. Utah 13. UCLA 14. Washington 15. Cincinnati 16. Purdue 17. Indiana 18. Oklahoma St. 19. Arkansas 20. Arizona 21. New Mexico 22. Syracuse 23. UMass 24. TCU 25. Rhode Island Best Bel NHL Hockey Detroit at Ptioenix 5 p.m., ESPN Ducks look to add to best season ever With wins in its final two games of the season at Californ ia and Stanford, the team would secure its first .500 overall mark By Tim Pyle Oregon Daily Emerald If head coach Bill Steffen and the Oregon women’s soccer team had been given the opportunity before the season began to head into their final weekend of play with a chance to earn a winning Pacific-10 Conference record and a .500 overall mark, they would have taken it without even blinking. As the Ducks (6-8-2 overall, 3-4 Pac 10) fly south to the Bay Area to battle California on Friday and Stanford on Sunday, they possess exactly that possibility. “This is the spot where we want to be,” Steffen said. “Considering the demands of the schedule we’ve got, this is very good for a third year program.” Oregon has already gone where it had never SOCCER ventured before. The six overall wins and three conference victories both establish new program bests. Following their first Pac-10 sweep last weekend at Pape Field against the Arizona schools, the Ducks will try for their first wins against both the Golden Bears (11-7, 5-2) and the Cardinal (9-G-2, 3-4) in their first appearances in Berkeley and Palo Alto, Calif. “I think what we need to do is two things,” Steffen said. "One is maintain consistency. When we play well, we can play with anybody, but we need to play well for 90 minutes. And we need to finish our chances. We’ll get chances — we need to put some in and put pressure on the other team by scoring on them.” Until last weekend, Oregon had been having an extremely hard time scoring. But against the Wildcats last Friday, the Ducks posted their highest goal total of Turn to SOCCER, Page12A STEFFEN Oregon Volleyball Matt Hankins/Emerald Senior Alii White, who makes her final appearance at Mac Court this weekend, dumps the ball over the net against USC on Oct. 22. Oregon hopes to serve up wins After a win over Arizona last week, the Ducks are riding high into this weekends matches By Allison Ross Oregon Daily Emerald The Oregon volleyball team concludes its home schedule when it hosts Washing ton State tonight and Washington on Sun day at McArthur Court. The Ducks (7-17 overall, 2-11 Pacific-10 Conference) enter this week’s competition on a high note after upsetting No. 16 Ari zona in five games last weekend. Not only did the Ducks upset Arizona, but they won their second Pac-10 match for the first time in head coach Cathy Nelson’s career. Oregon’s record 18 service aces were the key in the win, and the Ducks will look to serve tough again this week. Washington State (9-9, 6-6) split match es last weekend by sweeping California on Friday, before being swept themselves by No. 5 Stanford on Sunday. The Cougars have won 15 consecutive matches against the Ducks, including a sweep on Oct. 11 at Friel Court in Pullman. However, the Cougars are not the same team. Senior middle blocker Jennifer Stin son dislocated her left ankle in practice on Oct. 22. Stinson leads the team in kills and is seventh in the Pac-10, averaging 4.22 kills per game. Stinson’s 16 kills against UCLA on Oct. 18 put her over the 1,000 mark for her career, making her the sev enth player in school history to accom plish such a feat. Fortunately for the Cougars, senior Wendy Rouse has filled Stinson’s role quite successfully. Rouse is second on the team, averaging 3.35 kills per game and third in digs, averaging 2.38 per game. Oregon seniors Alii White and Ernst lead Oregon in kills this season, but Nel Turn to VOLLEYBALL, Page 12A On Tap WHO: Oregon women’s volleyball WHAT: Oregon vs. Washington State WHERE: McArthur Court WHEN: 7:30 pm UO runners prepare for Regionals Both teams feel that they can provide a good showing at the West Regional Championships By Scott Pesznecker Oregon Daily Emerald In just over a week, the Oregon men's and women's cross country teams will embark on their toughest race this season: the West Regional Championships. The Regionals will be held on Saturday, Nov. 14 in Fresno, Calif. This competition decides which teams travel to the NCAA Championships in Lawrence, Kan. The men proved they are serious con tenders for the national title by placing sec ond at the Pacific-10 Conference Champi onships last Saturday at Alton Baker Park. "We want to keep our momentum going and keep everyone healthy,” Dellinger said. We have to go through the regionals and the NCAA Championships, and we want to be peaking at the NCAA [Champi onships]. That is our goal. Being healthy will be the COUNTRY key. One team member who may help the Ducks by the time of the NCAA Champi onships is Oliver Wirz. An all-American, Wirz is on the rebound from being ill. “We are preparing him,” Dellinger said. “He is still getting fit, but he is not to the point where competition will help him.” The women’s cross country team is also training hard for the regional competition. It was disappointed with its fifth-place fin ish at the Pac-10 Championships and need to do well at the regionals to proceed to the NCAA Championships. “I don’t think that people on the team feel much pressure of what’s yet to come as they do dissatisfaction of our Pac-10 perfor mance,” women’s head coach Tom Heinonen said. “We have put that behind us. Now, we are eager to get to the regionals and do well.” Heinonen said he expects Marie Davis to run well at the regionals. The rolling, paved surfaces of the course are more compatible with her running style, Heinonen said. Dellinger cannot place enough value on the time that a team uses for preparation. Preparation, he said, will account for 90 percent of the team’s performance. What about the remaining 10 percent? “Luck,” Dellinger said. “There is always luck involved.”