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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 2001)
Wednesday Best Bet NCAA Men: Arizona State at Arizona 7:30 p.m., Fox Sports Net SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com Ducks dealing with rare case of injury bug Angelina Wolvert won’t play this week, but forward Lindsey Dion will be back WOLVERT By Scott Pesznecker Oregon Daily Emerald Angelina Wolvert wasn’t think ing happy thoughts when her lefl knee suddenly buckled inwarc against Washington last Thursday The injury occurred during £ scramble for a loose ball about five minutes into the game. Wolvert who was walking backward; when she saw the ball had beer recovered, said a Husky player fel onto the outside of her knee. Wolvert then collapsed. “I thought I was done for the season,” said Wolvert, Oregon’; leading scorer with 13.5 point; per game at the time. “I jus thought it was done. It hurt rea bad, and it just didn’t feel right You know, you get a gut feeling and I didn’t know really what tc think.” Oregon trainers also thought the injury was serious, originally di agnosing it as a level two sprain of the medial collateral ligament. Such an injury could have cost Wolvert more than a month of re covery. But the injury was less severe than anticipated. Ducks head coach Jody Runge said that the best-case scenario has Wolvert back in action in time for No. 23 Arizona next Thursday. “It’s totally de pendent on her pain and the sta bility of it,” Runge said. “We just have to see how quickly she comes along, because everybody’s different, and there’s no protocol as far as how long. It just depends on the individual.” During rehabilitation, Wolvert spends about four hours a day in physical therapy and must wear a knee brace. Runge said Wolvert can jog forward, but can’t cut side to-side. Wolvert can also shoot jump shots, but isn’t practicing with the team. “Right now, we’re just waiting for it to heal itself,” Wolvert said. “There’s nothing else I can do but heal it, just let my body heal.” Playing without Wolvert and in jured forward Lindsey Dion in Pullman, Wash., Oregon dropped a heartbreaker to unranked Wash ington State two nights after the injury. But Wolvert said her team should have won despite her ab sence. “I don’t think [my team] is going to be missing anything,” she said. “When [Shaquala Williams] got hurt, people were like, ‘Oh God, the whole team will fall apart.’ Well, it didn’t, and it won’t, and it didn’t matter who we lost. “The team is just very resilient and they face adversity really well.” Wolvert had never missed play ing in a game before sitting out against the Cougars. Oregon center Jenny Mowe tried to cheer up Wolvert, a close friend of hers, after the injury hap pened. “Jenny was making fun of me because I made a funny noise when it happened. She was like, ‘You sounded like you were like, aaahhhh!”’ said Wolvert, laughing as she imitated her teammate. Turn to Women’s, page 8 ii The team is just very resilient and they face adversity really well. Angelina Wolvert Oregon forward ^ V, msiiiii .sMt i |11 !|| Adam Amato Emerald Oregon head coach Ernie Kent is expecting big things from freshman point guard Luke Ridnour (13) and junior center Chris Christoffersen (25) this weekend against USC and UCLA. The road games mark a pivotal point in the season where Oregon can get back into the Pac-10 race. Oregon prepares tor round two ot Pacific-10 Conference road trips Oregon looks forward to facing the L.A. schools on the road two weeks after a 0-2 trip to Cal and Stanford By Jeff Smith Oregon Daily Emerald It’s only been 11 days on the calendar, but Oregon head coach Ernie Kent says that his team has matured greatly since it left the Bay Area Jan. 13 with two lopsided defeats. And despite an up-and down weekend at home with the Washington schools, Kent is confident that the Ducks (11 4 overall, 2-3 Pacific-10 Con ference) will perform up to par on the road this weekend in Los Angeles. “We will respond better be cause I think we’ve grown since our last trip as a team in some areas,” Kent said. The road won’t be easy for Oregon, as the No. 22 USC Tro jans await the Ducks on Thurs day night, with 4-1 UCLA looming on Saturday. The key areas of growth for Oregon were in its freshmen, according to Kent. “The biggest thing is that young guys had an opportunity to play down there [in the Bay Area],” Kent said. “Luke Jackson has come a long way since and is a much better, more composed and more confident basketball player. “Luke Ridnour will handle the environment different now going on the road in his second road trip.” Oregon junior guard Fred die Jones wasn’t so quick to make the assessment that his team has grown. He sees im provement, but knows the challenge that this weekend presents. “We’ll find out a lot on this road trip,” Jones said. “I mean, we really don’t know where we are until we get out there and face the crowd and the ad versity again. Turn to Men’s, page 10 Men s tennis team gains help in form of three freshmen ■The Oregon men’s tennis team gains a trio of freshmen following the departure of two veteran players By Robbie McCallum Oregon Daily Emerald Last season, the Oregon men’s tennis team was talented, young and opti mistic. Despite their youth, the Ducks made a surprise visit to the NCAA Tournament and had high hopes for this season. But the departure of two key players seemed to set the clock back for the Ducks and their postseason hopes ... man roster. Three freshmen — Martin Pawlowski, Alexander Druzenko and Greg Dubourdieu — have filled that void. “We’ve been working on these guys for a while,” head coach Chris Russell said. “We’ve got three quality guys who are ready to play.” The Oregon roster now consists of one upperclassman, senior David Becker, two sophomores and five freshmen. The newcomers have had little time to prepare for varsity action. At last Saturday’s Foster Klima Ice Volleys, Pawlowski was the No. 2 singles play er for the Ducks while Druzenko played at the No. 4 spot. “We haven’t had a lot of time work ing with them individually,” Russell said. “So a lot of what they’re going to learn is adjusting for the level of competition that they are going to see.” Pawlowski brings in experience from Poland and Sweden, where he graduated from Kungsgardsskolan. Pawlowski was ranked in the top-10 among Swedish juniors last year. until the arrival of three freshmen this month. When junior Thomas Schneiter and sophomore Leslie Eisinga left the Ducks, the team had an incomplete five Turn to Tennis, page 8 RUSSELL We've been work ing on these guys for a while. We've got three quali ty guys who are ready to play. Giris Russell Oregon tennis coach jj
