Ducks 11th after first round in Vegas The Oregon women’s golf team faces tough conditions in Sin City Golf Jon Roetman Sports Freelancer On a day when the weather was an extra opponent, the Oregon women’s golf team fin ished the first round of the Las Vegas Founders Women’s Collegiate Showdown in 11th place. No golfers made par at the Anthem Coun try Club in Las Vegas, Nev. Monday, as the wind pushed 46 of 81 scores over 80 strokes. Brigham Young sophomore Margaret Gibby led the field with a 1-over par 73. “A round in the 70’s was a good score to day,” Oregon head coach Shannon Rouillard said. “Rounds were high overall, I think, cer tainly higher than what you see under nor mal conditions.” The Ducks are 22 strokes behind tournament leader UNLV, which carded a 303, but are only six strokes out of the top eight. New Mexico is in second place at 306, followed by Pepperdine at 307, Denver at 310 and BYU at 311. Other tour nament participants include Colorado, San Jose State, Califomia-Irvine, San Diego State, Texas A & M, Hawaii, Colorado State, Eastern Wash ington and Wyoming. “The wind and the greens made it a tough round today, so I feel wonderful about our position,” UNLV head coach Missy Ringler said. “We need to stay focused on the greens, but the most important thing is that we re main confident because we have the advan tage on this golf course.” True freshman Erin Andrews carded the Ducks’ best score with a 6-over 78, putting her in a tie for 21st, five strokes off the pace. True freshman Therese Wenslow was the only other Duck to finish under 80, shooting a 7-over 79. Sophomore Johnna Nealy is tied for 48th after a 10-over 82. Sophomore Jess Garlyon is tied for 65th, shooting an 86, while senior Annie Davis, who joined the team last winter, tied for 74th after a round of 89. “Therese and Johnna have been so solid for us and I’m so excited that Annie has been able to come so far in such a short time,” Rouillard said. “I don’t think she even real izes what an accomplishment that is.” UNLV redshirt freshman Tina Mabanta is in second place individually with a 74, one stroke behind Gibby. Denver’s Tessa Gillam, Pepperdine’s Katherine Hull and Lindsey Wright, New Mexico’s Kristi Larsen and UNLV’s Sunny Oh and Young Pak share third place at 75. “We played the most difficult side in a lot of wind,” Rouillard said. “Now that we’ve seen the course, we’re looking to improve over the next couple of days.” The Las Vegas tournament will last through Wednesday, as teams play 18 holes a day. The Anthem Country Club is a 6,194 yard, par-72 course. This is the Ducks’ final tournament of the fall. Jon Roetman is a freelance writer for the Emerald. Volleyball continued from page 9 could. We executed tonight. We played Oregon volleyball. Everything was there. UCLA just did a lot of the right things in the end and came out on top.” Against No. 2 USC, the Ducks were even more in-tune offensively, but the Trojans were just too much in a three-game victo ry (30-20, 30-21,30-23) Friday in front of 715 fans at Mac Court. “That’s as good a collegiate volleyball roster that you will see in the next 10 years,” Ferreira said of USC. “It’s awe some.” The Trojans (21-1,14-1) had runs of at least seven points in each of the three games en route to the victory. However, the Ducks matched up well with their Southern California opponents. Overall, USC out-killed (49-34) and out dug (44-39) the Ducks. Closs had 10 kills in the loss. Nothing but the best Oregon came away happy with itself af ter playing well against the Bruins and Tro jans. The Ducks didn’t win, but against ar guably their stiffest competition all season, they played with a cohesive offense that didn’t cave in. Ferreira said he was impressed by Ore gon’s play in the loss, but he won’t be com pletely happy until the Ducks can pull out the victory. USC “averaged 22 points a game, and we averaged 18 points a game,” Ferreira said. “So you go, ‘Wait a minute, the sec ond-ranked team in the country has got four points a game on you.’ You think that’s not real significant. But over the course of every single game you play, it is very significant. “I have said this consistently, entirely throughout the entire Pac-10 season. We have played at a top-20 level the whole Pac-10 season. Winning requires you to stay at the top-20 level the whole time. And we can play at that level. I think we’ve proved it week in, week out.” No rest for the weary Although the AVCA/USA Today Top 25 Poll has not been released, the Ducks Adam Amato Emerald Freshman Dariam Acevedo played well for the Ducks, but Oregon couldn't pull out a victory against the No. 2 Trojans or the No. 19 Bruins. know they will visit tough competition this week in the desert. Friday, Oregon takes on No. 16 Arizona in Tucson. The Ducks were swept by the Wildcats earlier in the season at Mac Court. Saturday, they travel across the state to Tempe, where they visit No. 23 Arizona State. Contact the sports reporter at hankhager@dailyemerald.com. Water polo continued from page 9 However, the team has a spring season to look for ward to. “We attend open tournaments throughout the spring,” Baumann said. “We don’t have any champi onship goals, and in the spring we play at open tour naments for fun.” Baumann said the demanding conditioning and physical play often go overlooked in water polo. “Conditioning is a huge factor in playing well,” water polo team member Anthony Tran said. “We are really well-rounded athletes, we stay above water for the en tire time and swim with someone against us, pushing us down.” "When a player has the ball\ his arm is an extension of the ball.... They can pretty much maul you, to an extent, they grab and hit" Matt Baumann Water polo team coordinator Think hockey, but with the ice melted and with no sticks. “The refs don’t call what’s under water,” Baumann said. “There is a lot that goes on.” Kicking, grabbing and swimsuit-pulling are a few of the tactics used by the players to gain every advantage that they can. “When a player has the ball, his arm is an extension of the ball,” Baumann said. “They can pretty much maul you, to an extent, and they grab and hit.” There are limits, of course. There are regular fouls, and flagrant fouls warrant a 20-second penalty, in essence providing a power play for the opposition. Three of those fouls, and you’re done for that game and the next. Then there’s the conditioning. “For the first two weeks, we work only on condition ing,” coach Jeff Lee said. “Warm-up laps, team laps and leg exercises. After that, we scrimmage” Those leg exercises consist of emptying out a five-gal lon jug full of water upside down with your legs while it drains out — under water, of course. The players also tread water for 15 minutes, without using hands. “People forget how tough it can be,” Tran said. “Peo ple give you crap about wearing a Speedo, but they don’t know what they are saying. Go swim 100 yards full speed, let’s see what they have to say after that.” Scott Archer is a freelance writer for the Emerald. — -_ —am t Jeremy Forrest Emerald Malaefou Mackenzie (21) and the Trojans are three wins away from a possible BCS bowl berth. Pac-10 continued from page 9 In the race for the Heisman Trophy, Palmer and Gesser jumped to fourth and fifth, respec tively, in an unofficial poll of ESPN.com college football analysts. Oregon’s Onterrio Smith is no longer listed on the poll’s top-14 candidates. Huskies still barking After three straight Pac-10 losses, the Huskies (5-5, 2-4) finally got back in the win column Saturday against Oregon State. Oregon State’s Richard Siegler, like Oregon’s Keith Lewis, provided the Dawgs with plenty of motivation after disparaging comments last week. “We proved you can’t run your mouth in Husky Stadium and get a win,” Washington re ceiver Reggie Williams told The Seattle Times. “It definitely made us a little angry, all the dis respect that was going on.” Oregon State quarterback Derek Anderson threw five interceptions in the 41-29 Husky win. Meanwhile, junior quarterback Cody Pickett threw for 262 yards against OSU to be come Washington’s all time passing leader with 5,917 yards. “It’s going to get us on a roll. We’re defi nitely on a roll now,” UW comerback Chris Massey said. The Huskies roll right into Autzen Sta dium on Saturday. Stat of the week The five Pac-10 winners Saturday put up 55, 49, 41,37 and 32 points, an average of 42.8 points. A defensive coordinator’s nightmare. An of fensive coordinator’s dream. Contact the senior sports reporter at adamjude@dailyemerald.com. BCS l' - standings |I f\p V. Ohio State ■ 2* Miami 3. Washington State 4. Oklahoma 5. Texas 6. Georgia 7. Notre Dame 8. Iowa it use