Tennis suffers unhappy break
The men and women fight a bevy
of problems, from injury to poor play
in their action over spring break
Tennis
Ryan Heath
Freelance Sports Reporter
Spring break wasn’t all sandy beaches and
drinks with little umbrellas for the Oregon ten
nis squads. The No. 56 men suffered two tough
Pac-10 losses and the No. 27 women battled in
juries and homesickness on the East Coast.
The men celebrated the end of finals with
a 7-0 home victory against Califomia-River
side on March 25. The win snapped a four
match losing streak for the Ducks and gave
them confidence going into their first official
Pac-10 meetings against No. 7 California and
No. 6 Stanford.
The Ducks kept that momentum going
in the doubles portion of the match by
taking two of three against Cal to win the
doubles point.
“We played some good doubles out there,”
head coach Chris Russell said. “We were com
petitive. We just need to get a little bit better.”
The Ducks were unable to win a singles
match against the Golden Bears, who boast
three players in the national rankings, and
took the loss, 6-1.
Saturday, the Ducks lost the doubles point
despite Thomas Bieri/Manuel Kost’s dominant
8-2 victory of No. 27 KG Corkery/James Pade
of Stanford.
Kost, ranked No. 92 in singles, continued
his strong play with a straight-sets victory
over No. 12 David Martin.
Kost’s victory was the lone point for the
Ducks as they lost by a score of 6-1 for the
second day in a row and fell to 8-7 on the year.
The women fell on hard times during the
break as well. The hobbled Ducks took their
injury woes with them to Virginia, and the
lack of depth led to three-straight losses.
The then-No. 22 Ducks took on No. 37 Vir
ginia in Charlottesville last Monday but man
aged only one singles victory in a 6-1 loss that
dropped them to No. 27 in the rankings.
Senior captain Monika Geiczys was
the only Duck to register a win against the
Cavaliers, as she handled Lori Stern in
straight sets.
The next stop for the No. 27 Ducks was a
heart-breaking 4-3 loss to Virginia Tech.
“It was a hard-fought match,” head coach
Nils Schyllander said. “Obviously, injuries are
starting to catch up with us.”
The Ducks struggled to clinch the match af
ter winning the doubles point and only man
aged two victories in singles competition.
Courtney Nagle, No. 40 in the nation, and Es
ter Bak were the only Oregon players to leave
Blacksburg with victories.
Friday, the Ducks visited Richmond to take
on No. 14 Virginia Commonwealth in their
first matchup as underdogs since a 4-3 loss to
then-No. 21 Washington.
The Ducks fell to the Rams, 6-1, which
dropped them below .500 for the first time
since they started the year 0-1.
The lone Duck point came from No. 15
Daria Panova’s straight-sets victory over No.
67 Barbora Zahnova.
“We just need to try and have other people
step up for us and get things rolling in the
right direction again,” Schyllander said.
The women resume play this weekend on
the road against Pepperdine and Loyola
Marymount, while the men head south
to take on No. 40 Arizona and No. 49 Ari
zona State.
Ryan Heath is a freelance writer for the Emerald.
Sports brief
Ridnour commits possible
NCAA violation
Luke Ridnour attended a Portland Trail Blaz
ers game with a complimentary ticket, and the
Oregon Athletic Department is currently inves
tigating whether or not it constitutes an NCAA
violation.
According to an article in The Oregonian, Rid
nour received a complimentary ticket, courtesy
of ESPN baseball analyst and family friend Harold
Reynolds, to the Blazers-Washington Wizards
game Tuesday.
“Luke did nothing wrong,” Reynolds told The
Oregonian. “There’s no wrongdoing here. We
were well aware of the rules before we walked in
the door. It wasn’t a hidden intent.”
Reynolds said he asked Ridnour to pay $120
for the ticket. But because Reynolds got the ticket
for free from the Blazers organization, it wasn’t
meant to be re-sold and could constitute an
NCAA violation even if Ridnour paid for it.
According to the article, the Oregon Athletic
Department launched an investigation into the
matter Thursday and notified the Pacific-10 Con
ference and the NCAA of the possible violation.
Ridnour is considering leaving for the NBA, and
if he does declare for the draft, the issue of him
accepting free tickets will be moot.
—Peter Hockaday
Today's crossword solution
STOREWIDE
20-70%
OFF
Ski Equipment
Downhill • Cross Country
Snowboards • Clothing
On Now!
13th & Lawrence • 683-1300 • www.bergsskishop.com
—i
Community
Center for the
Pertaining Arts
8th K
Lincoln
■ Tonight m
An Evening with
Adrian Le$$
Acoustic Guitarist
$12 advance, $i4 at door 8:00 pm
■ Tuesday ■
Women of the World:
Mah Damba, Susan McKeown,
Yun$dienLhamo
A Capella
$16 advance, $18 at door 8:00 pm
■ Wednesday m
Mike Watt £ the Secondmen
with Dan lones £ the Squids
Rock
$8 advance, $10 at door 8:00 pm
All Ages Welcome • 6S7-2746
fr<« tf
PIANO ALB M
riiE #1
CHORAL ALBUM
THE ~1
Including these cool classical
TITLES FROM UNIVERSAL THAT ARE
ON SALE FOR $12.99 EACH.
West 1 1th & Seneca • 54 1 683-6902 « wvyw.cpwEBWQRLD.coM
Save 20% off regular
PRICE OF OUR ENTIRE STOCK
OF CDS, DVDS AND
Accessories now through
April 6, 2003.