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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 29, 2004)
Cougars start off weekend The Oregon men’s tennis team faces Brigham Young to start off a tough three matches in four days By Alex Tam Freelance Reporter The Oregon men are looking ahead to a grueling dual-season schedule DUCK TENNIS when they take on three opponents in the next four days. The Ducks (1-0) will play No. 61 Brigham Young (1-1) in the Student Tennis Center today at 5 p.m. Oregon, currently ranked one spot ahead of Brigham Young at No. 60, is coming off a season-opening win against Santa Clara, 5-2. After put ting together four singles wins and sweeping all three doubles matches, led by sophomore Thomas Bieri and junior Manuel Kost, head coach Chris Russell said his young team needs to continue improving its play. "It is a good start (to the season)," Russell said. "Our goal is get better. We need to play a little more fearless ly and not let the emotions get in the way of our guys' game styles." The historically strong Brigham Young men's tennis program is led by No. 82-ranked Erik Nyman. The Cougars have won nine Mountain West Conference championships, in cluding five singles and four doubles champions. However, Oregon has had the up per hand the past two years, winning both of their head-to-head matches. In Provo, Utah, last year, the Ducks won the dual match, 5-2, behind the singles play of junior Sven Swinnen, and they received strong support from Bieri and Kost. In 2002, Ore gon slipped by in a 4-3 upset. The Cougars' first-year head coach Brad Pearce said they are ready for their early season matches after com ing off an easy 7-0 victory over Utah State and a tough 5-2 loss to Denver. "I am very excited about this week," Pearce said. "I really feel like our guys are ready to take on (Ore gon). They gained a lot of confidence from last week's match. This will be a good trip for us." The Oregon men will continue ac tion throughout the weekend, host ing the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns (0-1) of the Sun Belt Confer ence at 11 a.m. Saturday and the Pa cific Tigers, from the Big West Con ference, at 11 a.m. Sunday. Russell said this week will be a true test for his team to see how they will reart to playing three matches in four days against up-and-coming men's tennis programs. 'This will be a challenging and re vealing three matches for us," he said. "All three are programs that are on the rise, but we like to think that we are as well. The team that has the most hunger this weekend should prevail." Alex Tam is a freelance reporter for the Emerald. POINT continued from page 13 with the team. "It will then be just a matter of how well his body responds as to when he can get back to us," Kent said. It is possible that Brooks could re turn Feb. 19 against Arizona at McArthur Court. That would put him on target to return six weeks af ter the injury, matching the 6-to-8 week timetable the Ducks originally set for him. The Ducks will enjoy Brooks' ability to make the sharp pass, something he was getting accustomed to doing as Oregon started off its season. In nine games before the injury — all starts — Brooks averaged 23.9 min utes, 6.7 points and a shade under three assists a game Those figures were punctuated in the game before the in jury, a 92-74 win for the Ducks over Southern California in Los Angeles. In that game, he scored 13 points and dished out four assists. Until he returns, though, those fig ures will stay frozen. In the meantime, Davis and Lin coln will handle the point guard du ties. Third place is at stake when the Ducks host California tonight at McArthur Court. "I think it means a lot (third place) for us with the fact that we lost our point guard and we've been able to survive the first half of the conference," Kent said. "I think that would say a lot about this basketball team, that we finish in third place. Obviously with two great games this weekend, we have the opportunity to do that. "(Lincoln and Davis) have not run it with the effectiveness Aaron Brooks would have, but I think they've done a commendable job there. We've kind of patchworked that position a little bit, and that .again is a great compliment for this team, that we can get through this weekend without that point guard position where it needs to be." Contact the sports editor at hankhager@dailyemeraid.com. WOMEN continued from page 13 winning track." Leading the Ducks offensively is center Andrea Bills. The junior is scoring an average of 12.1 points per game and leads Oregon with 8.4 re bounds on average. "We're just going to keep focusing on what we've always focused on," forward Eleanor Haring said. "Main ly rebounding and defense. It's the same focus — keep going hard and keep pushing." The focus has paid off for the Ducks in their preseason and against Oregon State and Washington State. In its last 10 games, Oregon is 2-8 with the conference victories the only bright spots on its schedule. A scare regarding starting forward Kedzie Gunderson's lateral meniscus in her left knee was a false alarm. An MRI on her left knee came back neg ative. Gunderson went down 35 sec onds into Saturday's game and re turned to the bench for the second half but did not play. Sophomore Chelsea Wagner par tially tore the lateral meniscus in her left knee in the Jan. 15 game at Washington. Wagner's MRI six days later confirmed the tear, and the guard now plays with a brace on her left knee. Oregon opens the road trip with a game against the Bruins. In this season's first match between the 1 A BENEFIT RACE FOR MENTORING AT-RISK YOUTH Sunday, February 8th • 1:00 pm JERRY'S KIDS FUN RUN ~ 2 MILE WALK/RUN ~ 4 MILE RUN Truffle 4 4 4 Shuffle 2004 i 4 4 Ah» EUGENE ^ OREGON __^ Register at Fenton & Lee Confections 35 East 8th Ave. Monday February 2, from 11 to 1 pm & get a FREE TRUFFLE! Committed Partners For Youth Office 1591 Willamette St, Suite B ♦ 344-0833 two teams, the Ducks had a 14 point lead in the second half before UCLA implemented a full-court press that led to a 20-4 run for the Bruins. The Jan. 4 game ended in a 63-57 victory for UCLA. The Ducks opened Pac-10 home play against the Trojans on Jan. 2 with a 69-55 loss. Oregon committed 24 turnovers in the game and USC led 21 - 6 after the first nine minutes. "We had chances to beat them here," Mizusawa said. "So going on the road is going to be tough for us, but I think we're ready to go. Espe cially with a great week of practice so far." Contact the senior sports reporter at mindirice@dailyemerald.com. UO softball prepping for start of season Thirteenth-ranked Oregon will open its softball season Feb. 6 with a rematch against No. 10 Georgia By Mindi Rice Senior Sports Reporter The No. 13 Ducks fielded ques tions Wednesday as part of media day, It was the first time since two exhibi tion games in September that the Ducks have played a contest other than an intrasquad game. Next up, Oregon opens at the Florida International Tournament in Miami on Feb. 6 with four games during the weekend. "We're a young team right now," catcher Jenn Poore said. "I think it's kind of good to be young. Fresh arms, fresh everything — they're really excit ed to be playing." The Ducks lost five starters from a squad that was picked to finish eighth of eight teams in the Pacific 10 Conference last season. That same team finished the season in May ranked No. 11, tied for third in the Pac-10 and as the runner-up in DUCK SOFTBALL just after field ing balls as the squad took on members of the local me dia in a six-in ning game. its NCAA Regional tournament. "They've worked so hard," head coach Kathy Arendsen said. "This is a real enjoyable group to work with. A lot of enthusiasm, a lot of talent. We're young so there's a lot of energy too. There's some real positives going on. * The Ducks' strongest area this sea son is the pitching staff. Oregon lost third-team All-American Andrea Vid lund and her nation-leading 11 saves to graduation, but the Ducks return starters Anissa Meashintubby, Lindsey Kontra and Amy Harris. "I think our depth is as good as any body's in the country, maybe the best " Arendsen said. "Right now, we don't have Amy healthy yet, but when she comes back, holy cow, what a staff." Harris suffered a wrist injury to her pitching hand in September, Arend sen said. The team isn't rushing the healing process, and the right-hander will likely be back at full strength in three to four weeks, Arendsen added. The Ducks open the February tourna ment against No. 10 Georgia, a team they beat last season when the Bull dogs were ranked No. 12 and Oregon was unranked. "We're ready to get out of here," sophomore Beth Boskovich said. "All we've been talking about is Miami this and Miami that. We're excited to play Georgia again." Contact the senior sports reporter at mindirice@dailyemerald.com. BACKBONE continued from page 13 scorer, but he's a fierce competitor." Senior center AmitTamir also put on a show against UCLA when he scored 19 points. Tamir is averaging 11.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. He is 17 of 40 (42.5 percent) from the three-point line in Pac-10 play. Oregon head coach Ernie Kent isn't worried about what Powe and Tamir bring to McArthur Court. "The thing everybody has to un derstand is that there's going to be a lot of talk about Tamir and Powe," he said. "I've got two big guys in (Ian) Crosswhite and (Mitch) Platt that are big bodies and playing very well that (Tamir and Powe are) go ing to have to defend, also along with a Player of the Year candidate, an All-American candidate and a Wooden award candidate (Luke lackson) on my team, along with the top three-point shooter (James Davis) maybe in the country. "So there's a lot that's going on for Oregon, too, that people tend to forget." Oregon holds a record of 35-2 at McArthur Court over the last three sea sons. Cal and Arizona are the only two teams to win during the span. In the last three seasons, Cal has won 018105 Pocket Playhouse Productions present: Valparaiso • by Don DeLilo Directed by Scott Thorson & Sean Andries January 29-31 5:00 pm Tf?e Dreaming An original work Directed by Sarah Tuck Feb. 5, 6, 7 5:00 pm $1 Suggested Donation • 102 Villard Hall five of six contests against the Ducks. "I don't think anything makes it easy to play at Mac Court," Braun said. "We're feeling probably like any team would feel after two games back-to back where we feel good about our wins, but we know these wins don't guarantee us anything in Oregon at all." Cal (8-8 overall) and Oregon (9-5) are tied for fourth in the Pac-10 with 4-3 conference records. As Pac-10 play reaches the midway point, a lot is on the line for both teams. The Bears bring a strong defensive and rebounding front to Oregon. Only two opponents have managed more than 70 points against Cal this season. Cal ranks third in scoring defense in the Pac-10, allowing opponents an average of 62.4 points per game. Con versely, the Ducks are averaging 79.1 points per game. In rebounding, an area where Oregon has struggled lately, Cal is averaging 13.1 offensive rebounds per game, nearly four more per game than its opponent. Powe is leading the conference av eraging 9.7 rebounds per game. Today, he'll bring "The Show" to Eugene. Contact the sports reporter at jessethomas@daityemerald.com. BERG’S SKI BUS to Willamette Pass & ML Bachelor! GOT A STORY IDEA? 75Z give us a call at 346-5511.g<| _J3DE
