Jon Roetman
Roughing the passer
Post
players
direct
Oregon
With impressive victories over
Valparaiso and then-No. 9 LSU,
the Oregon women's basketball
team established itself as a force to
be reckoned with.
The Ducks proved to be more
than adequate in every facet of the
game, but one area has stood out
as exceptional.
Oregon post players have ex
celled both offensively and defen
sively and have sent a message to
opposing teams: If you're going to
bang with Oregon's "bigs," you
better pack a lunch.
Senior Cathrine Kraayeveld has
played larger than her 30-foot by
12-foot "1 lome Court Advantage"
banner on the side of McArthur
Court. After missing 13 games last
season with a staph infection in
her right knee, Kraayeveld hasn't
missed a beat. The 6-foot-4-inch
forward is averaging 25.5 points
per game, scoring both inside and
outside. There is no better example
of her offensive versatility than the
nine three-pointers she drained in
two games during the Women's
Sports Foundation Classic last
weekend.
Kraayeveld, who hails from
Turn to ROETMAN, page 9A
Stanford dominates Ducks, takes sweep
The Ducks are swept by
Stanford, leaving them
winless in 17 Pac-10
matches this season
By Jon Roetman
Sports Reporter
The Oregon volleyball team
dropped its 18th consecutive match
Thursday, falling to No. 7 Stanford,
3-0 (30-10, 30-20, 30-20) in front of
1,035 fans at Maples Pavilion.
Oregon's overall record is now 3
23, including a 0-17 ledger in Pacif
ic-10 Conference matches. The
Ducks were simply overmatched by
Stanford, which out-hit Oregon
percentage-wise, .449 to .054.
Stanford (20-6 overall, 13-4 Pac
10) was led by junior outside hitter
Ogonna Nnamani, who finished
with a match-high 14 kills, while
hitting at an impressive .560 clip.
Freshman outside hitter Kristin
Richards added nine kills and 11
digs, while junior outside hitter Jen
nifer Hucke had eight kills.
Oregon managed to tie game one
at two before being overwhelmed
by Stanford. The Ducks didn't reach
double digits in game one until a
kill by junior outside hitter Lauren
Westendorf made the score 25-10 in
favor of Stanford. Oregon finished
with a game one hitting percentage
of negative .172, including six kills
and 11 attack errors.
The Ducks improved slightly in
games two and three, but failed to
achieve an attack percentage of .200
in either game. Oregon pulled to
within five in game two when a
Westendorf kill made the score 14
9, but Stanford scored six consecu
tive points to take a commanding
20-9 lead.
Oregon jumped out to a 6-4 lead
in game three after a service error by
Hucke. The lead was short-lived,
however, as the Cardinal scored six
of the next seven points to take a
10-7 lead that it did not relinquish.
"I thought we started off very
slow in game one," Oregon head
coach Carl Ferreira said. "But in the
second half of the match — in
games two and three — I thought
we played with maximum effort
and got into a bit of a rhythm."
Westendorf led Oregon with
eight kills and nine digs and fresh
man setter Heather Madison dished
out a match-high 25 assists.
Oregon's most notable bright spot
was freshman outside hitter Erin Lit
tle, who finished with seven kills.
Contact the sports reporter
at jonroetman@daiiyemerald.com.
~ "T::': -
ipg§|
■■
Adam Amato Photo Editor
BASKETBALL
continued from page 7
McArthur Court. The Ducks don't ex
pect to change that.
"The bottom line, you want to see
them get the 'W,'" Oregon head coach
Ernie Kent said. "All the other stuff
will take care of itself. The biggest
thing is get the win, because these are
counting games. Obviously, you
would like to see your team play ex
tremely well, focus and defend better,
but the bottom line is get the 'W.'"
Defense and free throw shooting
have been focal points for the Ducks
through this week's practices. Oregon
shot 5 for 14 for 35.7 percent from
the line Monday night. Oregon still
has the same run-and-gun offensive
nature as last year, but defense re
mains a key point.
"Defensively, we need to commu
nicate a lot better," Kent said. “There
were some times out there (Monday),
it was so quiet on that floor, it was al
most eerie. 1 thought our stance and
technique and some of those things
could sharpen up."
Oregon is expected to bring the
same starting lineup tonight of guards
Andre Joseph and Brooks, forwards
Ian Crosswhite and Jackson, and cen
ter Mitch Platt. Jackson averaged 16
points per game and 6.9 rebounds per
game last season.
Brooks and Platt will be making
their first career starts for Oregon and
their peers feel they are ready.
"They're going to be kind of nerv
ous but kind up hyped up inside,"
Joseph said. "They're not normal
freshmen; they are mature on the
court beyond their years."
If the game is close it will follow
precedent. Each of the eight games in
the series has been decided by 14
points or fewer. Three of the last five
meetings have been decided by three
points or fewer.
The game begins at 7 p.m. as the
99th season of Oregon basketball gets
underway. The Ducks begin another .
quest to the NCAA Tournament.
What is there to expect from Ore
gon tonight?
"Our game plan is we need to de- '
fend people so we can get out and run
in transition," Kent said. "If we can get
out and run, people don't have a
chance to do anything, man-to-man
or zone (defense), the pressure con
tinues to be on them. The biggest
thing for us comes back to defense
again and shutting people down."
Contact the sports reporter
at jessethomas@dailyemerald.com.
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