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
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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
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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.
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