A win in Corvallis
would boost UO
■A struggling Oregon
volleyball squad is confident
and wants to make noise in
the second half of Pac-10play
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
Less than a month ago, the Ore
gon volleyball team was riding
high after taking its first three Pa
cific-10 Conference opponents into
the fifth game of the match —
something the team failed to do
even once last season.
Since Sept. 19, though, the
wings have essentially stopped
flapping.
The Ducks’
only win in
their last 10
matches came
against a win
less Portland
State squad.
“It’s been
extremely
frustrating,”
senior outside
hitter Amy
Banducci said.
“But we need to look ahead at
what we can control. We’ve got
nothing to lose now. We just have
to rise above it.”
After this Thursday’s match at
Oregon State — a team that Oregon
narrowly lost to earlier this season
— the Ducks will get a break from
brutal Pac-10 competition and host
the University of California-River
side on Sunday.
“It’s definitely disappointing
that we haven’t won,” sophomore
setter Sydney Chute said. “But
we’re not dwelling on the past.
We’re only looking to improve
from here.”
In comparison to recent years,
the players know they have made
improvements under first-year
head coach Carl Ferreira. In their
3-1 match loss at Washington, the
Ducks won their seventh individ
ual game in the Pac-10 — two
more wins than they had all of last
season.
“We’ve had some key aspects of
our game come together that
weren’t clicking before,” Chute
said.
Confidence is magic
Although they have yet to win a
Pac-10 match, the Ducks are still
remaining optimistic about the
second half of the season.
“We know we can do it,” Chute
said. “We have confidence in the
coaching staff and each other. We
just have to prove what we can
do.”
A win this week could give the
team a much-needed boost.
“We are
hurtin’ a little
bit,” Banducci
said. “But we
have been in a
lot of close
matches and
showed that we can compete in
this conference.”
Setting the stage
Setter Julie Gerlach was on a
mission Friday at Washington. The
6-foot junior from Scottsdale,
Ariz., recorded 13 kills and hit
.480, both career highs. The per
formance came after Gerlach was
benched for a match against Ari
zona the previous week.
4 4 We know we can do it.
We have confidence in the
coaching staff and each
other. We just have to
prove what we can do.
Sydney Chute
Oregon setter
Her 2,193 career assists rank
fifth all-time in school history. Ger
lach and Chute are both benefiting
from more touches with Ferreira’s
new offensive system. Together,
the duo is averaging 10.3 assists
per game.
In the leaderboard
A school record 7,298 fans
watched the No. 5 Arizona Wild
cats (15-2, 8-1) sweep Pac-10 pow
erhouse USC (14-1, 8-1) last Fri
day. The Women of Troy, the
nation’s top hitting team, were
held to a mere .139 attack percent
age in Tucson. As the nation’s sec
ond-best attacking team, the Wild
cats also hit a below-average .219
from the floor.
The lOth-ranked UCLA Bruins
(12-5, 7-2) beat Arizona to give
the Wildcats their first loss of the
season Thursday night. The Bru
ins trail USC and Arizona by just
one game atop the Pac-10 stand
ings.
All three teams swept Oregon in
their first meetings of the year
Soccer
continued from page 7
both Arizona and Arizona State
last weekend by beating both
teams.
Crystal phone home
Junior forward Crystal David’s
torn knee ligament must be worse
than she originally thought.
The team’s
second leading
scorer has now
missed four
games because
of the injury.
She was sup
posed to play
last weekend
against UCLA
and USC but
BOWLER sat out both
■ .games.-'She- is
listed as probable to play on Fri
day, Steffen said.Versatile senior
T.J. Johnson was also supposed to
play this weekend and didn’t.
Beth Bowler, the team’s third
leading scorer, also missed last
weekend’s action, but Steffen said
that she should return to the
Ducks’ lineup this Friday.
Breathing easier
This weekend will mark one of
the few times this season that the
Ducks will play a soccer game
without facing a ranked opponent.
Since the Tennessee Tournament
in September, the Ducks have
faced at least one top-25 team
every weekend. Steffen insists the
game still has as much importance
as a top-25 game because it has as
much intensity.
But past history would suggest
this Civil War is a little less than
intense. The Ducks will take on
Oregon State Friday at 3 p.m. on
Pap§ Field.
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