Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemeral d. com
Tuesday, April 16,2002
Oregon still winless
despite improvement
■The Oregon men’s tennis
team falls to 0-6 in the Pac-10
after losses to UCLA and USC
By Peter Martini
for the Emerald
The effort was better, but the results
were the same for the Oregon men’s
tennis team.
The Ducks lost 7-0 to No. 3 UCLA
and 4-3 to No. 10 USC over the week
end to fall to 0-6 in
the Pacific-10 Con
ference.
Against the Bruins
on Saturday, Oregon
fell behind early by
losing the doubles
point and all six first
sets in singles. Junior
Oded Teig and freshman Sven Swinnen
then fought back to force tie-breakers in
their second sets and freshman Johan
Paalberg won his second set.
But all three came up short, and Ore
gon lost every singles match.
“We were right there in three of the
singles matches, and if a few things had
gone differently, we could have won
those matches,” Oregon head coach
Chris Russell said. “We also should
have won two of the doubles matches.
We definitely had chances to pull off an
upset today, but this UCLA team has
been No. 1 in the country this year and
is very tough.”
The Trojans, coming off wins over
No. 6 Stanford and No. 17 California,
came into Eugene on Friday as the
hottest team in the Pac-10, but the
Ducks played without intimidation.
Oregon’s top three players beat USC’s
top three, but the Ducks lost the doubles
point to lose the match.
TENNIS
“I’m very pleased with how our top
guys came through against very tough
opponents,” Russell said. “The Trojans
are very hot right now, and we showed
that we can play with them.”
Freshman Manuel Kost beat No. 110
Ryan Moore 7-5, 6-4 for his second ca
reer victory against a Pac-10 opponent.
“I just battled him, and I was serving
well out there,” Kost said. “This win
makes me feel more confident in my
ability to play at this level.”
After losing the first set 6-1, Swinnen
won 7-5 and 6-4 in the next two to beat
No. 54 Nick Rainey. At No.l singles,
Teig beat No. 33 Andrew Park 6-2,6-3.
“I played my best match of the year,”
Teig said. “I was able to break his serves
early and win my serves. I was hitting
many good shots down the baselines
and hitting deep balls that kept him
away from the net.”
Junior Jason Menke lost his first set 6
3, but battled to a 6-0 win in the second
set. But Damien Spizzo beat Menke 6-2
in the final set to give the Trojans the
victory. Sophomore Chris King and
Paalberg lost their matches in the fifth
and sixth singles spots.
The Ducks, with no seniors, are 12-9
overall this season.
“For a young team like ours, learn
ing is very important in every match
that we play,” Russell said. “This
weekend, I think the guys saw that
they cannot only play with the best
teams in the country, but that if they
do the little things and play hard, they
can beat them. This team is past the
point of moral victories. They play to
win every match.”
Sophomore Greg Dubourdieu left the
team last week to go back to France and
Turn to Tennis, page 10
Thomas Patterson Emerald
Oregon sophomore Martin Pawlowski reacts after mishitting a shot in a doubles match against No. 3 UCLA on Sunday at the
Student Tennis Center. The Ducks lost to USC and UCLA over the weekend to drop to 0-6 in the Pac-10 this season.
Oregon softball determined to find way out of losing streak
r~. .■■■... .. * C. 1
Jonathan House Emerald
Andrea Vidlund (8) and the Oregon softball team have lost their last nine games, all to ranked opponents in the Pacific-10
, , Conference. Vidlund leads the team in batting average (.363), hits (37), total bases (62) and home runs(7).
■ Heading into a stretch of more
tough conference games, Oregon
remains confident in its ability to win
By Chris Cabot
Oregon Daily Emerald
Looking at a record of 0-9 in the Pa
cific-10 Conference (18-18 overall), it’s
easy to see a struggling Oregon softball
club. But a closer look at the score of
the games and the
quality of opponents
reveals a team that
may be on the verge
of breaking through
for its first confer
ence wins.
The faces of the
team may reveal frus
tration from their nine consecutive loss
es, but because only three of those loss
es were by more than two runs and four
games were decided by one run, they do
not show desperation.
“We’re not panicking, but there is a
sense of urgency that it is time to put it
all together,” first-year head coach Brent
Rincon said. “I’m pretty happy with
where we are, but I’m frustrated that we
haven’t broken into the win column in
the conference. But the attitude of the
players and their desire to be successful
has been great.”
Junior shortstop Lynsey Haij, who
„ .leads the team with 20 runs, and the
SOFTBALL
rest of the Ducks know that they are
close to turning the outcome of close
games in their favor.
“I think we are a little down being 0-9
in the Pac-10, but we have to look past
that and look at the positive things that
we’ve gotten out of the games,” Haij
said. “They are only beating us by a
couple of runs, and we are only a key
hit away.”
If Oregon can put a game in the win
column, Rincon expects other victories
to ensue.
“It’s time to pick up the pace a little
bit and get some victories,” he said.
“Winning is contagious and losing is
contagious, so if everything comes to
gether and we can get a victory, I think
we’ll see more follow. It’s just trying to
get all three components — defense, of
fense and pitching — to all be there on
the same day and then at that point, we
are a pretty tough team to beat.”
Despite the rough Pac-10 schedule,
the mood in the Oregon clubhouse re
mains positive, and the ever-important
team chemistry continues to be excel
lent. Unlike last year’s squad, which
was 1-20 in the Pac-10 and struggled
with chemistry problems, attitudes of
the players this year toward the season
and each other have allowed the team
to progress.
“Team chemistry is only going to
. Turn to Softbail, page 12