Club volleyball builds toward three-peat win
The two-time defending
national-champion Ducks have
lost a lot of players this year
Jon Roetman
Sports Freelancer
Hand work precedes success.
Rewards come with success.
The process of rebuilding comes
after success.
The Oregon women’s club volley
ball team is looking to skip the re
building process and get right to
work on a strong showing at this
year’s national tournament.
The Ducks have a hard act to fol
low, coming off back-to-back Nation
al Intramural-Recreational Sports
Association championships, defeat
ing Purdue in 2001 and Miami-Ohio
in 2002. They’ll also have to make
up for the loss of seniors Garli Halli
gan and Annie Pogue, who played for
the varsity program from 1998
through 1999. Halligan was voted
tournament MVP in 2002, while
Pogue received MVP honors in 2001.
The Ducks return three players
from last year’s team. Senior Jessica
Mae Van Ourkerk, junior Nina Bakos
and sophomore Christina Chun bring
experience to a relatively young
squad that features five freshmen.
“The last couple years, we’ve had a
really good team,” said Van Ourkerk,
who is entering her fourth year on the
team. “(Nationals) were really intense.”
First-year head coach Donna
Goode said the Ducks have some
work in front of them if they’re going
to compete for the title.
“We’ve got talent,” Goode said.
“(But) compared to last year’s team,
they have some room to go.”
The Ducks play in tournaments
when they arise, but don’t have a
regular league schedule of games.
They saw action Sunday at Mt. Hood
Community College in Gresham,
where they placed 3rd in a 12-team
tournament. The Ducks will receive
a test in the Far Western tournament
in Davis, Calif., Feb. 16 and 17,
where they will face other NIRSA
competition. This year’s NIRSA na
tional tournament will be held April
10 through 12 in Columbus, Ohio.
Van Ourkerk, a 5-foot-6-inch out
side hitter, said the Ducks need to fo
cus on building team chemistry,
which comes from spending as much
time together on the court as possible.
“We have talent, we have experi
ence, we just don’t have the chem
istry yet,” said Van Ourkerk, a grad
uate of South Eugene High School.
“It’s not something you can just fix.”
Women’s volleyball is one of the
most competitive club sports avail
able, and with that comes competitive
tryouts. Goode said about 30 athletes
showed up on the first day. Freshman
Meghan Griswold described the expe
rience as “nerve-wracking.”
“I went in with no expectations,”
Griswold said. “I didn’t expect to
make the team. It was exciting just
to get a call back after the first day.”
Griswold, a 5-foot-10-inch right
side, said she didn’t know about the
Ducks’ past success until after she
had tried out, but found it a pleasant
surprise that expectations were high
and things were taken seriously.
Freshman Kim McNally said past
success was a big reason she tried
out and she hopes this team can turn
things in the right direction.
“I was hoping that we would be just
as good or better (than past teams),”
said McNally, a 5-foot-l 1-inch middle
blocker. “In our (Gresham) tourna
ment, we showed a lot of improve
ment. Now we’re working as a team
instead of a lot of individuals.”
After losing as much as the
Ducks did in the way of personnel,
many teams would lower expecta
tions and say it’s time to rebuild.
The Ducks, on the other hand, are
keeping goals high and looking to
reload rather than rebuild.
“Once we get to nationals, people
are going to be gunning for us,” Goode
said. “Even if we’re not the same
team, we’re still Oregon club, and peo
ple want to beat the champs.”
Jon Roetman is a freelance writer
for the Emerald.
Sports Briefs
Panova wins Pac-lOs
Oregon sophomore Daria Pano
va cruised to victory in the Pacif
ic-10 Conference Indoor Champi
onships on Sunday, capping a
successful weekend for the
women’s tennis squad.
Panova, ranked 28th in the coun
try, toppled No. 25 Lauren Bamikow
of Stanford, 6-3,6-1, Sunday in Seat
tle. Panova never lost a set and beat
four ranked opponents on her path
to the tournament win.
Although there was no team
winner at the event, the other
Ducks had success in Seattle as
well. Junior Courtney Nagle upset
the No. 3 player in the country,
USC’s Jewel Peterson.
—Peter Hockaday
I' '
Track swings
into action
Senior Niki (Reed) McEwen tied
the Oregon pole vault record, and
senior Santiago Lorenzo returned
from a quad muscle injury as the
Oregon track and field teams re
turned to action on Saturday.
Reed, who redshirted during last
season’s outdoor campaign, cleared
a height of 14-1 1/4 at the USA
Track and Field Pole Vault Summit
in Reno, Nev. The mark ties current
teammate Becky Holliday’s record,
achieved during the 2002 outdoor
season. Reed’s jump was good for
first in the event, just ahead of
Arkansas’ April Steiner.
The mark was an NCAA auto
matic mark for Reed.
Junior Kirsten Riley equaled the
NCAA provisional mark (12-9 1/2)
at the meet, while sophomore Han
nah Moore finished at a height of
11-7 3/4. Holliday cleared 12-5 1/2
but failed to clear any other heights.
Lorenzo finished the afternoon at
the Husky Preview in Seattle in
fourth place in the 60 hurdles with
a time of 8.42. He also took fifth in
the pole vault (15-7).
Lorenzo’s teammate, freshman
Eric Mitchum, claimed first in the
60 hurdles (8.02) and freshman
Teddy Davis’ height of 7-0 1/4 in the
high jump was also good for first.
Senior James March ended the
men’s trifecta of wins with the top
spot in the shot put (52-0).
Senior Jordan Sauvage was the
only Duck woman to claim first
at the Husky Preview, doing so
with a mark of 55-10 1/2 in the
weight throw.
Hank Hager
Women's
continued from page 9
percent from the field in the second half.
“We got away from running things
and execution,” Oregon head coach
Bev Smith said. “Because we wanted to
score immediately.”
Davis led the Ducks with 16 points on
the strength of three 3-pointers in the
second half. She was followed closely by
freshman Carolyn Ganes, who had 12,
and sophomore Kedzie Gunderson’s 10.
After a sluggish first half, which saw
both teams shoot 37.5 percent from the
field and a 28-27 Oregon lead, the sec
ond stanza proved to be an up-tempo
and intense frame for the Beavers.
After the Ducks stretched their lead
to 39-35 early in the second half, Ore
gon State answered back, and at one
point scored 11 straight.
Leilani Estavan gave the Beavers their
first lead of the half, 41-39, with a jumper
at the 12:48 mark. Jessica Jones backed
that up with a 3-pointer two minutes lat
er, and from that point on, Oregon State
forced the Ducks to become ineffective
in all parts of their game.
“They really just got us to the point
where we were flustered,” Ganes
said. “They were really meticulous on
their offense. They waited for us to
break down.”
The Ducks played the game with an
active roster of just eight players.
Smith said that before the game, jun
ior guard Kayla Steen was ruled physi
cally unable to play due to a “chroni
cally” sore back. She had an injection
earlier in the week in an attempt to al
leviate the problem, but it was not suc
cessful enough for her to play.
Contact the sports reporter
at hankhager@dailyemerald.com.
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