Erik Bishoff Photographer Daria Panova lost her first match of 2004 as the Ducks lost in Washington. SPLIT continued from page 7 opportunity slip away." Three Ducks headed into the contest with perfect singles records, but all three came out with their first loss of the year. That included Panova, the No. 8 sin gles player in the country, who lost at the No. 1 position to the 35th-ranked Carter in three sets, 6-3, 5-7,1-0 (5). Senior Davina Mendiburu also suf fered her first defeat, against Dinka Hadzic at the No. 4 position in straight sets, 6-2, 6-0. Mendiburu had not lost one singles match the entire year dat ing back to fall preseason tourna ments. Her record now stands at 9-1. At the No. 6 position, junior Ester Bak earned the lone singles win by triumph ing over Monika Kolbovic, 6-2,7-5. Against Washington State, the dou bles portion proved to be the tiebreak er as the two teams split the six singles matches. "It was a good win for us," Schyl lander said. "It was a tough place to play, but we came through when we needed it." The two games will not count to ward the conference record, but the teams will play in Eugene next month. The schedule only gets tougher for the Ducks when they travel to the Bay Area to take on a pair of top-five schools. The women resume confer ence play to face No. 1 Stanford on Fri day and No. 4 California on Saturday. Men's weekend called off The Oregon men's matches against host UC-Santa Barbara and No. 22 Oklahoma State in Santa Clara, Calif, were canceled due to rain. The Ducks (6-1 overall) return home to face No. 23 Rice on Friday and play the first match in the confer ence against No. 10 Washington on Saturday at the Student Tennis Center. Alex Tam is a freelance reporter for the Emerald. SPORTS BRIEFS Boss doesn't appreciate Henry's comments TAMPA, Fla. — Further annoyed at John 1 lenry for the Boston Red Sox owner's public comments Saturday comparing him to Don Rickies, Yan kee owner George Steinbrenner is planning to file a grievance with the commissioner's office against Henry, according to sources. Steinbrenner, the sources said, feels that Henry violated an edict from Bud Selig last Thursday by talking to re porters again about the verbal bean balls the two sides have been throw ing at each other. Selig told both men to shut up when their sniping got white-hot. It's another in a long line of recent events that could make the front-office rivalry between the teams the equal of the juicy one of the field. It's almost as if the owners are trying to one-up the amazing, seven-game ALCS the two teams played in October, which the Yankees won on Aaron Boone's 11 th inning home run in Game 7. It all started when Henry, a former limited partner in the Yankees, sent an E-mail to reporters saying that base ball should have a salary cap to deal with the Yankees' "insane resources." He added that the game "didn't have an answer for the Yankees." An angry Steinbrenner released a statement that chided the Sox for los ing out on Alex Rodriguez, the star who once seemed destined to be traded to Boston. Rodriguez himself said yesterday that it felt like "there were about three-fourths of my body that was wearing a Red Sox uniform." But the Yankees eventually stunned baseball by trading for A-Rod and, in some way, trumping the Sox "We understand that John Henry must be embarrassed, frustrated and disappointed by his failure in this transaction," Steinbrenner's statement read. "Unlike the Yankees, he chose not to go the extra distance for his fans in Boston. It is understandable, but wrong, that he would try to deflect the accountability for his mistakes onto others and to a system for which he voted in favor." — Bill Madden and Anthony McCarron New York Daily News Pettitte, Clemens get accustomed to Astros KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Brad Ausmus looked up while stretching. He saw the crowd, a thick one, three rows deep. Rarely do stretching Houston Astros receive this much attention, especially in February. 'That was different" the catcher said. Where hype is concerned, every thing is different here. Pitchers Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte have re turned home Now, it's as if the people of I Iouston drink wine and smell ros es each day. The love has ventured to Florida, and the Astros have six weeks to prepare for arguably the most antic ipated season in their history. "I'm as excited as ever to be here and get this thing started," Clemens said. Clemens couldn't miss this. He ex ited the shortest of retirements to pitch with Pettitte again. Only a hun dred million Steinbrenner dollars ago, Clemens and Pettitte were pitch ing for the New York Yankees. It was the World Series. Clemens was in Mi ami, supposedly pitching his final game It was a stunning ending. Appar ently, it was not the fitting one. So Clemens, the ultimate worker, the most vicious competitor, will try again. The legend and one of base ball's most accomplished left-han ders join a team already good enough to have playoff aspirations. And so here we are, at a giddy news conference, watching the two joke on each other like brothers. — Jerry Brewer The Orlando Sentinel / ' , . ■ Join the Peer Health Ed. Program at the UO Health Center Andrianne Gee ■Jr / Political Science • Kirn Wiriterheimer Jr. / Biology I* Alexandra Bullock So i General Science ... Zach Fischer Jr EMS