Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, January 28,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
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Danielle Hickey Emerald
Oregon Club Tennis Student Coordinator Seth Davis said this is the'first real season'for the Duck club tennis squad.
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The club tennis squads are a labor
of love and hard work for most
of those involved with the teams
Jon Roetman
Freelance Sports Reporter
Starting something from scratch is
hard work.
Take a club tennis team for example.
Convincing those in charge that the
club is worth the time and effort, while
assuring nothing will be taken away
from the varsity program, comes first.
Once that’s out of the way, finding a
place to practice and funding for equip
ment can be a daunting task.
Then comes the all-important quest
for people who want to play on the
team. Recruitment, tryouts and cuts
take even more time.
OK, it’s time for a break.
Just kidding.
Now comes the competition factor:
Finding other people you can actually
compete against can be a little tricky.
Sound like a lot of work? The Oregon
club tennis team knows these struggles
all too well.
The club tennis team was started last
year as men competed for the first time
during spring term. This year marks the
first time women have competed. Club
Coordinator Seth Davis credits junior
Derek Lehr for pushing the envelope
with the idea of a club tennis team.
“Derek really got the ball rolling,”
Davis said.
Lehr played with the team last year,
but is taking a break because of other
commitments.
Davis, a junior, along with junior
Megan Buller and sophomore Kate Ot
tum make up the coordinating trio in
charge of club operations, along with
competing. They referred to this year
as “the first real season” for club tennis.
The Ducks recently set up an official
five-team league through the United
States Tennis Association. The league
will consist of Oregon State, Portland
State, Washington, Western Washing
ton and Oregon, and will get under way
in the spring.
When it came to choosing players,
Buller said the Ducks ended up with a
team from, “all ages and all walks of
life.” With players from different age
groups and several from different
countries, he said it has been constant
fun throughout the team bonding
process.
“It’s interesting how I’ve met so
many different people,” Davis said. “We
have fun during practice.”
“It’s the most random team ever,”
Ottum said. “We get along really well.”
Although the Ducks emphasize
Turn to Tennis, page 10
Cal Bear-ins down in standings
California is tied with Arizona
atop the Pac-10, and the teams
will face each other Saturday
Men’s Pac-10 notes
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
In this marathon of a Pacific-10 Con
ference season, two runners are separat
ing from the pack as the season’s mid
point nears.
Arizona.
And... California?
In recent years, the Golden Bears
have fielded stars like Sean Lampley
and Jamal Sampson, but it took a rag
tag bunch of semi-stars to turn Cal into
a true Pac-10 title contender. Led by
Joe Shipp and Amit Tamir, the No. 20
Bears have gone undefeated in Pac-10
play thus far, and are tied with Arizona
atop the conference standings.
Of course, Cal hasn’t played the tough
Arizona schools yet — Arizona is No. 1 in
the nation while Arizona State is tied for
fourth in the Pac-10 — and the Bears will
make the trip to the desert this weekend.
But even if Gal loses both games in Ari
zona, the Bears will hold second place in
the conference at midseason.
“I didn’t want the players listening to
what everybody else was saying,” Califor
nia head coach Ben Braun told the San
Francisco Chronicle about preseason
criticism. “Sometimes, if you hear some
thing often enough, you start to think
that’s who you are. Everybody starts talk
ing about who’s coming in next year and
your team just gives up on the season. I
didn’t want that happening.”
Shipp is the Pac-lO’s leading scorer, av
eraging 20.8 points per game, while Tamir
is fifth in the conference in rebounding.
Cal’s clash with Arizona on Saturday will
be broadcast nationally by Fox Sports Net,
with tipoff set for 4 p.m. Pacific Time.
Wild man, really wild
It’s like beating a dead horse that’s al
ready been beaten, then beaten again.
But damn, Arizona is good.
The Wildcats proved just how good
they are by coming back from a huge
"Sometimes, if you
hear something often
enough, you start
to think that's who
you are "
Ben Braun
California head coach
deficit — 20 points, to be exaqt — and
shocked then-No. 6 Kansas at Allen
Fieldhouse on Saturday.
Arizona, which has made a habit of
ending home winning streaks this sea
son, ended Kansas’ 25-game win streak at
Allen Fieldhouse. If Arizona hadn’t end
ed Oregon’s home win streak in January,
the Ducks would currently hold the na
tion’s longest home streak.
Still no Lavin love
Where’s that dead horse? We need it
again, and the subject this time is the
struggling UCLA Bruins and their
1"urn to Men's, page 10
Hassan
Adams and
Arizona
toppled
Kansas in
dramatic
fashion
Saturday.
Adam Amato
B Emerald
Stanford s conference streak ends at Southern California
The Cardinal long and glorious ride
through victory lane ends in a matter
of moments as they lose to the Trojans
Women’s Pac-10 notes
Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
All good things must come to an end.
That saying has been around even longer
than Stanford’s winning streak. The Cardinal,
who had won 10-straight games overall and 28
straight in Pacific-10 Conference play, had to
face that bitter truth Sunday.
And after All-American Nicole Powell’s
buzzer-beater secured her Cardinal a win over
UCLA on Friday, her season-high 34 points
wouldn’t be enough to hold off Southern Cali
fornia on Sunday.
Stanford, which may once have seemed un
touchable, was brought down to a human level
by the Trojans, as USC won 75-72.
Stanford put itself in a tough spot, trailing at
halftime 49-35, and even a 15-1 run over USC
in the second half wouldn’t be enough.
“I thought we made a really good comeback
in the second half,” Stanford head coach Tara
VanDerveer said. “We dug ourselves a hole. I
don’t think we played with the intensity or the
aggressiveness that we need to.”
Previously No. 5, Stanford (15-2,7-1 Pac-10)
still sits atop the conference and is headed for
a prime spot in the NCAA Tournament.
The Trojans moved themselves one game
closer to .500 in Pac-10 play and sit in a tie for
fifth in conference standings.
VanDerveer made her disgust in her team’s
effort well-known to the public and described
her team’s lack of effort as “uninspired.”
“We became a stand-around team,” she told
The Stanford Daily.
The Trojans’ victory came partly because of
the play of junior Rometra Craig, who scored
nine of her 19 points in the final six minutes of
USC’s victory over the Cardinal. Craig was
named the Pac-10 Women’s Basketball Player
of the Week on Monday.
Cougar woes continue
Washington State has become the doormat
on the Pac-10.
The Cougars sit in last place in the confer
ence standings with a winless record of 0-16
Turn to Women's, page 10