Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 2003)
Sports Editor. Flank Flager hankhager@dailyemerald.com Oregon Daily Emerald SPORTS Best bet NBA: Detroit at Golden State 6:30 p.m., ESPN Wednesday, November 12, 2003 Mark McCambridge Photographer Tight end Tim Day's late touchdown helped vault the Ducks to the win on Saturday, increasing Oregon's bowl chances. Ducks still in hunt to go bowling Oregon’s win over Cal gives the Ducks better bowl chances By Hank Hager Sports Editor Oregon's bowl hopes got a lot more realistic after Saturday's 21-17 win over California. The win, combined with Arizona's vic tory over Washington and UCLA's blowout loss to Washington State, puts the Ducks in prime position for a post season bowl. And it may not even matter if Oregon defeats either the Bruins or Oregon State in its final two games. "I don't even know what the bowl picture is," Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. "I haven't even looked at if I couldn't explain it to you. I don't know how many games there are, or where we're at. I do know that we want to have a winning season, first of all. That hinges on what we can do this week, in my mind, because we take them one at a time." The Ducks are tied at fifth in the Pacific 10 Conference with Washington and Cali fornia. Because the Huskies defeated Ore gon earlier this season, they would head to the Las Vegas Bowl — presumably, if noth ing else changes — and the Ducks would head to the Silicon Valley football Classic in San Jose, Calif. California would likely be left out. "You can't (think about the bowls)," line backer Kevin Mitchell said. "If you don't win, you don't go. It's a matter of us getting this win. It's just about going down (to Los Angeles), playing hard and hoping for the best." Oregon visits UCLA this week before hosting Oregon State on Nov. 22. There is a catch, however. The Beavers visit USC on Dec. 6, two full weeks after the Ducks' last game of the season. It is conceivable that Oregon won't know its postseason destina tion — if it has one — until that game. The catch Overshadowed in Oregon's comeback win Saturday was the play of wide receiver Kyle Weatherspoon. The freshman made an acrobatic catch, putting the Ducks at California's 31-yard line with a little more than four minutes left to play. Immediately after his catch, quarter back Kellen Clemens found a seam in the Golden Bear defense and connected with tight end Tim Day for 31-yard touchdown that pulled Oregon within three. Weatherspoon made the catch after the ball was tipped by California linebacker Wendell Hunter, who had been defending Oregon wide receiver Demetrius Williams. Weatherspoon caught the ball with his right Turn to FOOTBALL, page 6 Swiss natives lead UO tennis in preseason As fall season ends, the teams look forward to the regular season that begins in January Alex Tam Sports Freelancer An up-and-down season has characterized the year so far for the Oregon men's tennis team. The Ducks' goal has been to continue the development of the team's younger players. With only one senior, the thicks experi enced many highs and lows as the fall portion of their schedule concluded last weekend. "Some guys have shown very good signs of elevating their games, but haven't made it to the level that they need to," head coach Chris Russell said. The Ducks are headed by three Switzerland natives: sopho more Thomas Bieri and juniors Sven Swinnen and Manuel Kost. Kost, ranked No. 31 in the nation, is the leader of the team but is still seeking to play at the consistently high level he is capable of. Kost "has played some good tennis,* Russell said. "1 le just has n't shown the confidence to play the style widt regularity diat he should be playing." The emergence of Bieri and Swinnen has solidified the re maining two of the top three spots in the lineup. Their play at October's 1TA Regionals in Eugene was one of the high points this season. Each reached the quarterfinals in the singles portion. 'Those are the kind of performances that we're looking for in terms of winning and competitiveness," Russell said. "If we can get everyone to do that, we can be successful." The Ducks' hope to be in the top 30 in the nation and have a shot at the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Championships. According to Russell, the lower part of the lineup after the top three will need to step up to help reach that objective. Women “optimistic" heading into the break The fall portion of the women's season was highlighted by junior Daria Panova's win at the 1TA Regionals. Panova, along with senior Courtney Nagle, advanced to play at the 1TA Nation als in Ann Arbor, Mich., this past weekend. The two failed, how ever, to pick up a win as a doubles team after earning an at-large bid to the tournament. The Ducks are optimistic heading into nonconference play. One concern is injuries, which took their toll on the team last season. "On paper, this is the best team we've had since I've been here. We feel like we need to finish the job we started last year before the injuries," head coach Nils Schyllander said. The future also looks bright because freshmen Monica 1 loz de Vila and Dominika Dieskova have impressed their coaching staff so far in their young careers. Dieskova breezed through the first two rounds of the ITA Northwest Regionals without losing a sin gle game. Schyllander said that weekend that Dieskova "made a name for herself and definitely put herself on the map." Heading into the break, the Ducks are looking forward to working on minimizing their errors on the court. "I want to see them make simple and good choices," Schyl lander said. "If we do that we can be a pretty good team because the talent is there." Aiex Tam is a freelance sports reporter for the Emerald. Humboldt State,Whitman tops at Oregon tournament Oregon’s Club ultimate Frisbee teams can’t come away with a tournament win Kirsten McEwen Freelance Reporter After practicing for literally 3ozens of hours in Ore- ^ gon's chilly and unpredictable fall weather, the men's and women's Club ultimate Frisbee teams hosted the Fall Ultimate Kickoff last weekend in Eugene. The tournament, which consisted of 37 teams, served as a fund-raiser for both men's and women's teams. It was the first time both teams, which are ranked in the top five nationally, competed this year. Twenty-one men's teams entered the tournament, and a number of teams split up into evenly skilled squads for the sake of equal playing time. The Oregon men entered two teams in the tourna ment, and both made it to the quarterfinals. One team lost to Oregon State, while the other men's team fell to the second-place team, Humboldt State. Whit man beat Humboldt State in the championship game. Sixteen teams entered the tournament on the women's side. Oregon entered two teams — one in the "A" bracket and the other in the "B" bracket. The Oregon "A" team lost to eventual champion Whit man, while the team in the "B" bracket placed second behind Humboldt State. "This was our first opportunity to see the rookies play in a tournament situation, and for the most part, it was very positive," men's captain Markus Brown said. "Most all of the rookies did great in making the crossover from practice to competition." After a good fall turnout of newcomers, Brown said, " The hardest part of practice is battling the weather." He added that spots are still available and he encour aged new players to join. Turn to ULTIMATE, page 6 Mark McCambridge Photographer Women’s Club ultimate sent two teams to last weekend’s tournament, and one finished second.
