Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Wednesday, October 16,2002
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
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Emerald
Lauren Westendorf has helped spark the Ducks to 10 victories this season, although she is still
looking for her first career Pac-10 win.
‘West’ coast girl
Lauren Westendorf has been
a force for the struggling
Oregon volleyball team
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
You hope for the best for ath
letes like Lauren Westendorf.
You hope Oregon volleyball can
overcome a 28-match Pacific-10
Conference losing streak. Be
cause, you know, wins and losses,
no matter how close or far apart,
tend to play with the mind.
When an athlete like Westen
dorf chooses Oregon over
schools like Duke, Wake Forest,
Georgia Tech and Washington
State, it means the program has
potential. But that potential, still
ripe for the picking, has not
been realized lately.
Still, Westendorf, who visited
Oregon to “humor” head coach
Carl Ferreira, loved the school
and the program so much she de
cided her senior year at Centinni;
al High School in Bakersfield,
Calif., that she wanted to spend
four years in Eugene.
In two seasons of Pac-10 play,
the sophomore has yet to win a
conference match. But that has
n’t made her regret her decision.
“I love Oregon,” Westendorf
said. “I knew when I came on my
recruiting trip I was going to be so
happy here. It extends past vol
leyball. I couldn’t have picked a
better university.
“Volleyball has had its rough
times and we’re struggling, but
we’re bouncing back and work
ing hard.”
As a senior at Centinnial, West
endorf was recruited by a number
of schools on the East Coast as
well as a wild card from the
Northwest.
Washington State emerged as a
potential suitor for the star from
Southern California, a former all
area pick in 1999.
Her father, Phil Westendorf,
was an All-American honorable
mention selection in baseball as a
designated hitter for the Cougars
in 1975. Her mother, Mary, also
attended school in Pullman.
So the onus to attend Washing
ton State was clearly there. Be
cause of their allegiance to the
WSU, her parents had decorated
their Bakersfield residence with
Cougar memorabilia.
Yet, when Ferreira came call
ing, Westendorf listened.
“I’ve known Carl since I was 10
years old,” Westendorf said. “He
and my family are good friends.
Carl is kind of the reason I came
on my visit here. I had been re
cruited by Oregon and was inter
ested, but had some other schools
I was a little more interested in.
“Carl said, ‘Just humor me and
come on a visit. Just humor me
and if you don’t like it, that’s fine,
but just come and see me.’ I did
and I loved it, and I knew that
Carl was an amazing coach and
would take care of me.”
Westendorfs first season as a
Duck could be described as any
thing but successful. On an indi
vidual level, she had a typical
freshman campaign: start on the
bench, then as the season moves
along, earn more and more play
ing time until a starting spot
opens up.
The only problem is, she didn’t
play in a Pac-10 match that pro
duced a win. So far this season,
she has gone seven conference
matches without a victory.
In two seasons with Oregon,
the 6-foot outside hitter has expe
rienced a 25-match losing streak
in Pac-10 play. That’s tough.
“I haven’t won a Pac-10
match yet but neither has Katie
(O’Neil) or Lindsay Gloss, and
we’re really not focused on
that,” Westendorf said. “We’re
really just, day in and day out,
working hard, and we know we
are an amazing team with amaz
ing potential. We’re really opti
mistic and really keeping our
eyes on a win and playing hard
and playing Oregon volleyball.”
As a freshman, Westendorf
played in 56 games for the
Ducks and averaged .70 kills per
game. Overall, she ended the
season with 39 kills in 136 at
tempts with 38 errors for a .007
hitting percentage.
Those aren’t exactly All-Ameri
can figures.
So, during the summer, after
her job at a law firm, Westendorf
strived to improve. She made the
weight room her second home
and undertook an extensive train
ing program.
“She’s probably the most im
proved returner we have,” Fer
reira said. “She also deserves
credit for an amazing amount of
sacrifice she put in from a work
ethic standpoint. She spent the
whole last winter, five days a
week, riding her bike to the
Moshofsky Center, and — we’ve
got a net set up in there — work
ing on her game.”
On the summer weekends, she
Turn to Westendorf, page 6A
Smith rushes
toward trophy
The running back is playing up to the stature
of his new 100-foot New York billboard
Oregon Notes
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
Onterrio Smith is finally living the 100-foot New York life.
Smith is playing like a 100-foot running back, too.
Smith’s massive billboard with the phrase “O Man” went up in
New York’s Times Square this week, replacing Keenan Howry’s
“We’re Back” poster.
The star junior rushed for 152 yards against UCLA in the Rose
Bowl on Saturday, a feat that extended his 100-yard game streak
to an Oregon-record six contests. Smith has averaged 127.3
yards per game this season and has nine touchdowns.
“I was hampered early by the hamstring, and that’s no longer a
problem, so my movements are going to improve each week,”
Smith said.
Smith, who suffered minor injuries, including a hamstring pull
at the beginning of the season, could plot his 2002 campaign on a
standard bell curve. He started with 124-yard performances
against Mississippi State and Fresno State, ran for 104 and 115
yards against Idaho and Portland State and opened Pacific-10
Conference play with performances of 145 and 152 yards against
Arizona and UCLA.
Smith’s Pac-10 numbers could, eventually, be Heisman
Trophy numbers.
Smith is currently ranked across the map in various national
Heisman polls. He is second in ESPN Magazine writer Gene
Turn to Notes, page 8A
Mark McCambridge Emerald
Onterrio Smith (2) has improved his rushing totals in the past four
games against Idaho, Portland State, Arizona and UCIA
Brand’s agenda may
harm former school
Anyone remember Myles Brand, the former president
here at Oregon?
No? Well, get used to the name. Bobby Knight knows it
by heart.
As Indiana University’s top administrative executive,
Brand fired the legendary head coach of the Hoosier pro
gram. Brand was threatened, and his
wire — a professor in Bloomington —
even had to have police presence in
her classroom. To top it all off, Knight
has gone on to Texas Teeh and has
since won over the student body at
that campus.
|| Last week, Brand was named as the
fourth executive director in the histo
ry of the NCAA, effective Jan. 1, 2003.
The man in the spotlight in 2000, as
the Knight issue came to a boil, has
been thrust into the limelight once
again. Not only does he favor academ
ics over athletics, he doesn’t exactly have an extensive
background in collegiate sports.
Still, Brand has already helped reject some proposals for
college sports that were more absurd than sensical. He re
jected proposals of keeping freshmen from playing sports
and banning some of the more high-profile sports.
Most importantly, he rejected a proposal to detach ath
letics from the University so that athletes could be paid.
Whoever came up with that one needs to have his or her
head examined.
Still, Brand has a long way to go before he wins over
Turn to Hager, page 6A
Hank
Hager
Behind the dish