Best Bet
College Volleyball: Oregon at Oregon State
Fox SportsNet, 7:30 p.m.
SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
The Civil War
Facing the Adversary
■ A win against the surprising Beavers would give the struggling Oregon
volleyball team a momentum-booster into the second half of the season
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
How sweet it would be.
A victory over the Beavers. You gotta
love the sound of that.
But, as an educated reader, you must
be thinking that it would take a miracle
for the Oregon volleyball team to win its
first league match against a Beaver
squad that is the biggest surprise in the
Pacific-10 Conference this season.
Impossible, vou sav?
Hardly.
In their first meeting of the season,
back on Sept. 19 at McArthur Court, the
Ducks (7-10 overall. 0-9 Pac-10) nearly
defeated their heated rival. First-year
head coach Carl Ferreira’s club took a
quick 2-0 lead and was confident it was
on its way to a successful start to the
Pac-10 season.
Then the bottom fell out.
In a tenacious effort, the Beavers (14
6, 5-4) deflated Mac Court and the
Ducks in a come-from-behind 3-2 win
(12-15, 12-15, 15-11, 15-10, 15-12). The
two teams haven’t been the same since.
Oregon State has gone on to win five
conference matches, including a win at
then-No. 5 UCLA. The Ducks, on the
other hand, are still searching for their
first Pac-10 win.
“Early conference confidence is cru
cial,” Ferreira said. “And what we failed
to grasp, they snagged.”
What the Beavers grabbed is their best
start since 1993 and a fourth-place ticket
in the Pac-10, behind three of the na
tion’s elite — USC, Arizona and UCLA
.The Beavers were projected to finish
eighth in the conference.
Tonight’s Civil War rematch will be
broadcast on Fox Sports Northwest at 7
p.m. The teams have split each season’s
series the past two years.
“We are struggling right now,” Fer
reira said. “We need an injection of en
ergy. And being live on Fox Sports and
going up against our number-one rival
Tu rn to Volleyball, page 8A
Erin Swanson-Davies Emerald
Senior middle blocker Halie Mazza (17) and the Ducks are looking for revenge after an emotional 3-2 loss to the
Beavers Sept. 19 at McArthur Court.
Erin Swanson-Davies Emerald
Angela Romero (7) and the rest of the Ducks could grab a fifth straight win against the Beavers tonight.
■The Ducks have had the upper hand in soccer’s Civil War, winning the
last four meetings by a combined score of 12-2
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
This weekend could be very kind to the
Oregon soccer team.
While the Pacific-10 Conference’s top
programs battle it out on other fields, the
Ducks get to return home and face Oregon
State, a team that has been an automatic
“W” on Oregon’s schedule for four years.
But that doesn’t mean the Ducks are
overlooking the Beavers.
“It’s intense, but in a different manner,”
Oregon head coach Bill Steffen said.
The Ducks (4-11-0, 1-3-0 Pac-10) will
take on Oregon State (6-9-1,0-3-1) at Pape
Field today at 3 p.m. Oregon has beaten
the Beavers in the teams’ last four meet
ings, and the Ducks have outscored Ore
gon State 12-2 over that stretch.
Oregon’s one Pac-10 win this season
came on Pape Field, a 3-0 victory over Ari
zona two weeks ago.
Last week the Ducks were roughed up
in Los Angeles, losing to No. 13 Southern
California, 3-0, and No. 7 UCLA, 8-0. Ore
gon State fared nearly as poorly against
On Tap:
Who: Oregon soccer vs. Oregon State
When: Friday at 3 p.m.
Where: Pape Field
those schools, losing 3-0 to UCLA and 5-2
to the Trojans.
Oregon State is one of two teams in the
Pac-10 — Arizona being the other — with
a worse record than Oregon. The Beavers
have gone six games without a win, al
though they did tie Arizona 1-1 in Corval
lis. Oregon State’s last win came Sept. 26th
against Portland State.
The Ducks could be the beneficiaries of
a Pac-10 mix-up this week if they can beat
the Beavers. No. 3 Washington will take
on the ranked Los Angeles schools, while
No. 20 Stanford and No. 8 California will
take on Arizona and Arizona State. When
the dust clears, Oregon could find them
selves back in the thick of the Pac-10 race.
That’s just what Steffen and his team
Turn to Soccer, page 6A
Hoops teams set to perform before football game
The Oregon
basketball
programs will
be making
their tint
appearances of
the season on
Saturday
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
Are you ready for some bas
ketball?
Yup, the Oregon hoops sea
son is approaching and on Sat
urday, both the men’s and
women’s teams will be giving
fans an opportunity to check
them out for the first time.
The basketball teams will be
a part of the pre-game festivi
ties scheduled for the No. 7
Oregon football team’s Pacific
10 Conference clash with No.
21 Arizona.
Both the men and the
women will be holding an ex
hibition-type practice at 4:15
p.m. in the Moshofsky Center.
Admission is free, but only for
those who have tickets to the
football game.
“It gives the fans the opportu
nity to see these guys,” men’s
basketball head coach Ernie
Kent said. “And it gives the new
guys the opportunity to perform
in front of a new environment
and new people to maybe get
some of those jitters out as we
head toward our season.”
Kent enjoys showcasing his
team on a football game day
and is thrilled with the football
team’s success.
“As an athletic department,
it’s just a great time right now
to be a Duck,” Kent said. “I’ve
gone to school here back in the
‘70s, and I’ve never seen it like
this, where there’s just so much
success all the way around.”
The teams will run through a
few short practice drills, then
take part in shooting and skill
competitions for the enjoyment
of the fans. There will be auto
graph opportunities available
for kids when the session con
cludes^ 5 p.m.
Thelfromenhpen their exhi
bition season Nov. 3 at home,
and the men take the floor of
McArthur Court Nov. 6.
Harrington to chat on
ESPN.com
ESPN just can’t get enough
of the Ducks.
Today at noon, junior quar
terback Joey Harrington will be
taking part in a chat with fans
from across the nation on
ESPN.com.
To get straight to the ESPN
chat page go to:
http://espn.go.com/communi
ty/chat.
Harrington is coming off a
week in which he completed
2 7 of 4 2 passes for a career
high 382 yards while leading
the Ducks to a 28-17 road win
overUSC.