Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, April 9,2002
Men’s tennis drops to 0-4 in Pac-10
Beavers
■Oregon miss-serves an opportunity
to take its first Pac-10 win in two years
By Peter Martini
for the Emerald
Despite many opportunities to win its
first Pacific-10 Conference match in two
years, the Oregon men’s tennis team
dropped two heartbreakers at home last
weekend.
The Ducks lost 5-2 to Arizona State
on Friday and 4-3 to Arizona on Satur
day. Against the Wildcats, Oregon lost
all three doubles matches by 8-6 mar
gins, which proved to be the difference.
Trailing 1-0, junior Oded Teig, fresh
man Sven Swinnen
and sophomore Greg
Dubourdieu won
their matches in two
sets to take a 3-1 lead.
But sophomore Chris
King and junior Ja
son Menke lost their
matches 6-4, 6-4, and
6-1, 6-2, respectively,
to even the score at three.
The match came down to the No. 1
singles match between freshman
Manuel Kost and Arizona’s Steven
Capriati, a senior. Kost won the first set,
7-5, but lost the second, 6-4, and the
third, 6-2.
“I was nervous at the beginning of the
third set,” said Kost, who was playing
in only his third Pac-10 match. “I
looked up and noticed that (King) lost
his match and I knew it came down to
me. I played tight, and I wasn’t getting
my first serves in and the other guy
was.”
Head coach Chris Russell said that he
has confidence in Kost to perform un
der pressure even though he’s a fresh
man.
“I know he was nervous out there,
but he’ll get more comfortable as he
plays in more tough situations,” Russell
said. “It’s part of the evolution of a play
er. He should want to be in that situa
tion. That’s what college tennis is
about.”
Russell said he was pleased by his
team’s performance in singles, but said
it would need to improve in doubles if
they are to win in the Pac-10.
“There wasn’t enough discipline on
the doubles court,” Russell said. “To
Turn to Tennis, page 6
Adam Amato Emerald
After winning the first set, freshman Manuel Kost, Oregon’s No. 1 singles player, lost to Arizona senior Steven Capriati in the
final match of the Ducks’ 4-3 loss Saturday. Oregon has not won a Pac-10 match in two years.
to hire
former
UO coach
■ Reports say that Oregon State
will hire Ernie Kent’s former
assistant to coach the Beavers
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
It looks like a former Duck will now
coach the Beavers.
Jay John, a former assistant to Oregon
head coach Ernie Kent and a current as
sistant to Lute Olson at Arizona, will be
announced as Oregon State’s next
men’s basketball head coach today, ac
cording to ESPN.com.
John coached for Kent in 1998-99 and
has been with Olson since the end of
that season. Prior to coaching at Ore
gon, John was an assistant at Butler for
eight seasons.
The list of candidates for the Oregon
State job was reported to include South
Florida head coach Seth Greenberg,
Metro State coach Mike Dunlap, Seattle
SuperSonics assistant Dean De
mopolous and others.
A press conference is scheduled for 2
p.m. today to announce the hiring of
Oregon State’s new head coach.
Oregon State Athletic Director Mitch
Barnhart was forced to find a new
coach when former head coach Ritchie
McKay left the program for the head job
at New Mexico two weeks ago. McKay
has already made an impact on the Lo
bos’ program, where he kicked one
starter off the team and refused to wel
come back another former starter who
left the team in January.
Ducks’ awards announced
Apparently, nobody on the Oregon
basketball team improved more this
season than the team itself.
At the Ducks’ annual basketball ban
quet Saturday night, the entire team re
ceived the Jesse Nash Award for the
Turn to Basketball, page 8
One week provides insight
on entire baseball season
It is nearly impossible to predict a six
month-long baseball season before it
starts. With so many intricacies, ups,
downs and intangibles, how can a mere
mortal like a sports reporter dare to attempt
this amazing feat before even a single pitch
has been thrown?
You need, like, a week.
One week is all it takes to scratch that base
ball jock itch. Things have settled down. Bar
ry Bonds is, obviously, still a hitting god. The
Tigers still stink. Randy Johnson and Curt
Schilling can still carry the Diamondbacks.
Yet things are vastly different. The Devil
Rays are 3-3? Jason Giambi can’t hit a base
ball? Pedro’s back?
These things were inconceivable a week ago.
So without further pomp and circum
stance, here are this humble reporter’s pre
dictions for the 2002 baseball season, with
a week’s worth of wisdom packed in.
AL West
1. Mariners. Some
body asked me the oth
er day who my favorite
M’s player was. I pro
ceeded to name most of
the team, and why not?
These guys are like little
teddy bears, you just
want to squeeze ’em.
Sure they won’t win
116 games again, but
maybe winning few
games, combined with
losing in the postseason
last year, will propel
them to more wins in
this year’s playoffs. Call it baseball karma.
2. A’s (wild-card team). The A’s don’t have
as much pop with Giambi now a Yankee, but
Turn to Baseball, page 8
Hockaday
T\vo minutes for
crosschecking
Hamden fires car veer-best 65;
Oregon second after first day
■The Oregon men’s golf team
recovers from a sluggish start to finish
second at the Western Intercollegiate
By Jesse Thomas
for the Emerald
After a bit of a mediocre morning, the
Oregon men’s golf team
pulled it together Monday
to take over second place
from Fresno State at the
56th annual Western
Intercollegiate.
The Ducks, the defend
ing champs at the Western
Intercollegiate, are com
peting among a tough 15-team field. Oregon
shot an opening round 291 and was in sev
enth place after 18 holes. Washington leads
the field with 546, giving them a 23 shot
lead over Oregon at 569.
Oregon head coach Steve Nosier said the
Huskies are practically untouchable at this
point.
“A second place finish for us would be
great,” Nosier said. “We came out in real
great shape.”
Several Oregon individuals came
through in the second round and fired
off some great second rounds. Senior
Brandon Harnden shot his heart out for
a five-under par 65, the lowest score of
his career (his previous career-high
was 69), to put him in a tie for sixth at
138.
Senior Aaron Byers and junior John
Ellis led the way for the Ducks, shoot
ing 140 and 147 on the par-70 course
Turn to Golf, page 6