Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Friday, October 10, 2003
Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
• WS U H} JP V
AO
Best bet
College football:
Oregon at Arizona State
12:30 p.m. Saturday, ABC
Kings beat Blazers
in Mac showdown
Former Oregon guard David
Jackson dishes out three
assists in 17 minutes of play
By Hank Hager
Sports Editor
When David Jackson played for Ore
gon, the guard received very little time
on McArthur Court.
Injuries kept him from extensive
time with the Ducks. Thursday, howev
er, he made a return to Eugene as a
Portland Trailblazer, and the Oregon
fans sure didn't forget him.
Sacramento defeated Portland, 111
100, in front of 7,998 at McArthur in
both teams' second exhibition game of
the season.
For the Trail Blazers, the game was
mostly an opportunity to get players
into shape and to shake off the offen
sive cobwebs. For Jackson, the game
was an opportunity to impress Port
land head coach Maurice Cheeks.
With the regular season approaching
fast, the Blazers will have to whittle their
roster down to 12. Jackson is doing every
thing he can to be one of those.
"I'm having to take in a lot in a short
amount of time, (but) come hell or
high water, I'll figure it out one way or
another," he said. "I don't think I hurt
(my chances) any. I didn't shoot the
ball like myself tonight. It's a little bit
tougher trying to run that offense when
you've got guys that are such great indi
vidual players."
Jackson finished the game 0 of 5
from the field. He dished out three as
sists in 17 minutes, but also picked up
four fouls while primarily guarding
Sacramento guard Mike Bibby.
Bibby finished the night with 16
points on the strength of 8 of 10 shoot
ing from the foul line.
Jackson entered the game with 1:56
left in the first quarter, subbing for Jeff
Mclnnis. Jackson earned one of the
loudest ovations of the night from the
Oregon faithful when he stepped on
the court for the first time.
"That was great," he said. "Even
though 1 didn't play much when I was
here, they always supported me."
Mclnnis finished the night with eight
points, and Damon Stoudamire played
just eight minutes. Cheeks said after the
game that Stoudamire could get the start
tonight when the Blazers play in Los An
geles against the Clippers.
Jackson's play against the Clippers
and against Seattle on Tuesday could
determine his status with the team.
"I think I had him on the floor too
much," Cheeks said, also compliment
ing the guard's play. "My intent was to
just put some guys in situations that
they hadn't been in before and see if
they could handle it."
Former Oregon State forward
Phillip Ricci also saw action. The
Sacramento rookie entered the game
with 2:54 left in the fourth quarter
and immediately missed two shots
before draining a jumper with less
than a minute left to play.
"It was pretty fun to hear the boos
when I checked in," he said. "It was
kind of cool coming back here. J never
thought I'd play on this court again."
The game was closer than the
11-point final deficit indicates.
Turn to BLAZERS, page 12A
Mark McCambridge Photographer
Portland guard David Jackson was the star of the show for the Oregon faithful at McArthur Court. The former Duck
posted three assists on Thursday in his return to Eugene with the Blazers.
Emerald
Sophomore Kelly Russell leads the Ducks with 3.29 kills per game.
BLOCKING ADVERSITY
Sophomore middle blocker
Kelly Russell has overcome
odds to succeed as
an Oregon volleyball player
By Jon Roetman
Sports Reporter
When Kelly Russell was a freshman at
Prairie High School in Vancouver, Wash.,
she had visions of being a soccer player.
A gifted athlete with quick feet and good
vision, Russell was
set to excel on the
U| field. But there was
VOLLEYBALL one huge Problem
__ She despised
running.
"I was going out for soccer in the fall,
but then 1 found out how much they had
to run," Russell said. "1 was like, 'uh uh,
I'm not going to run that much. What oth
er sports are there?'"
After turning away from soccer, Russell
chose volleyball as her athletic path and
has been on a winding road ever since.
Now a sophomore middle blocker for the
Ducks, the last five and a half years have
been filled with ups, downs and plenty of
unpredictable moments.
Russell started playing for the elite
Nike Northwest Junior Volleyball Club
in Gresham as a sophomore, where
she would meet Oregon head coach
Carl Ferreira.
"When I initially recruited her, she was
n't a high end player," Ferreira said. "But
you could see that greatness for her was
right around the comer."
Russell said she can remember some of
the first conversations she had with Ferreira.
"My sophomore year, Carl would
come to my club practices and would
come over to my court and talk to me,"
Russell said. "(He'd say) 'you're doing
good, you're improving and I'm going to
keep my eye on you.' I always thought he
was joking around because I wasn't
very good.
"I wasn't on the top teams, and 1 wasn't
the player the coaches were looking at."
It turns out one of the players the
coaches were looking at would greatly in
fluence Russell's life. Jodi Bell, now a
sophomore setter for the Ducks, was one
of the top volleyball recruits in the na
tion while attending Barlow 1 ligh School
in Gresham. The two became club team
mates their junior year, but weren't on
the best of terms.
"We didn't get along really well because
1 wasn't very good," Russell said. "She was
young and didn't have very much patience
and I was young and didn't know what 1
was doing.
"That whole year we worked together
and she never gave up on me and never
stopped setting me."
During their junior year, the duo made a
trip to Oregon, but Russell felt like she was
simply tagging along.
"1 came with Jodi and it just seemed
like the whole trip was for her," Russell
said." 1 thought I was just there for (some
one to tell me) 'if you want to walk-on
you can sure come.'
"(Ferreira) ended up offering me (a
scholarship) when I went up to his office
and I was really surprised."
After wrapping up her high school ca
reer, Russell moved to Eugene and roomed
with Bell in H.P. Barnhart.
"She was my best friend last year," Bell
said of Russell. "She's a caring person who
is always there when you need her. She al
ways knows great advice to give you with
relationships or anything."
Oregon started the season 9-4, but Rus
sell and the Ducks would soon nin into
problems. Ihe initial joy of coming to col
lege had worn off. Russell missed her fam
ily, friends and was stressed out by school
work and the team's struggles. Player rela
tionships were strained by the a 2-17 fin
ish, and six players eventually quit or left
the team for personal reasons.
There were several points during the
season that Russell felt like walking away.
Volleyball had become a burden. But every
time she was close to giving up, she turned
to her mother, Sandra Russell, for a free
therapy session.
"I'm very close with my mom; I look up
to her a lot," Russell said. "She kept me
Turn to VOLLEYBALL, page 12A