Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Thursday, March 4, 2004
-Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
MLB Spring Training:
San Francisco vs. Chicago Cubs
11 a.m., ESPN
Softball
anticipates
Team USA
matchup
Oregon takes its 10-game
winning streak to Florida
for six games, including a
battle with Olympic hopefuls
By Mindi Rice
Senior Sports Reporter
DUCK
SOFTBALL
This year, the Speedline Invitational in
Clearwater, Fla., is more than just a tour
nament for No. 16 Oregon.
After the Ducks
(13-4) play five
games in the tour
nament, they will
face their toughest
competition yet:
Team USA.
"We're just going to take them one pitch
and one inning at a time," Oregon pitch
er Anissa Meashintubby said.
Team USA is 10-0 in its "Aiming for
Athens" tour. The team of Olympic hope
fuls is in the midst of a national tour, play
ing collegiate teams at tournaments across
the country.
In comparison, the Ducks are on a 10
game winning streak. After starting the
season 3-4, Oregon has picked up steam
and finished its past two tournaments un
defeated.
"We are a better team than all the teams,
other than Team USA, that we're playing
(in Florida)," Oregon head coach Kathy
Arendsen said. "But that doesn't guarantee
you anything. It just means that there's
some expectation there."
Oregon has moved up the rankings dur
ing the past weeks. After starting the sea
son at No. 13, the Ducks dropped to No.
20 and No. 21 after their first two tourna
ments. With the winning streak in action,
Oregon is back up the charts to No. 16 in
the ESPN.com/USA Softball poll and No.
14 in the NFCA/USAToday poll.
The Ducks finished the Aggie Invita
tional on Sunday with a 5-0 record. Ore
gon racked up two wins against Southern
Mississippi, two against Penn State and
one win against then-No. 23 Texas A&M,
the tournament host.
"It was a really wide variety of teams,"
Turn to MATCHUP, page 14
Danielle Hickey Photo Editor
Luke Jackson (33) will play his final two games at McArthur Court on Thursday and Saturday.
Ducks fighting to cement
Pac-10 Tournament berth
Oregon's second-to-last home game
this season comes tonight against USC
By Hank Hager
Sports Editor
Oh, how the years have come and gone.
James Davis, Jay Anderson, Andre Joseph and
the perpetual Duck, Luke Jackson, are set to play
their final games at McArthur Court on Thursday
and Saturday.
Those years have dusted through Eugene, blan
keting the area with NCAA Tournament appear
ances and Pacific-10 Conference Championships.
Thing is, this season is a little bit different than
what that quartet is used to.
Tonight's game against Southern California —
tip is 5:30 — could be the start of the end for Ore
_ gon this season. The Ducks
HH my* f ^ know they will need to win
I wl tZ 1^1 ^ one of two games against
BASKETBALL t^ie L°s Angeles schools this
- week to guarantee a Pac-10
Tournament appearance.
Oregon (12-11 overall, 7-9 Pac-10) wants that
win tonight. It doesn't want a do-or-die situation
Saturday when UCLA visits.
"We don't want to take anything for granted and
Turn to FIGHTING, page 14
Jon Roetman
Roughing the passer
Oregon
could be
menace
in tourney
1 can't believe I'm saying this, hut here it
goes: Watch out Pacific-10 Conference Tour
nament participants, here comes Oregon.
The women's tournament begins Friday
in San Jose, Calif., and the Ducks appear
as if they could make some noise.
With wins over then-No. 10 Stanford and
California to close out the regular season
last week, Oregon has transformed itself
from dead money to a potential sleeper.
I'm not saying the Ducks are going to
win the tournament. I'm just saying they
could make life difficult for others.
No. 8 Oregon faces No. 9 California on
Friday. It's a matchup that favors Oregon
after the Ducks figured out a formula for
success in Saturday's 77-62 win against the
Golden Bears.
California is one of two teams in the
Pac-10 that Oregon was able to dominate
inside sans Cathrine Kraayeveld. The
Ducks repeatedly pounded the ball inside
to Andrea Bills, who dropped in a career
high 22 points on 9 of 14 shooting.
Defensively, Oregon switched to a
zone in the second half, forcing Califor
nia — the worst three-point shooting
team in the Pac-10 — to take outside
shots. The Golden Bears struggled, shoot
ing 38 percent from the floor, and never
settled into a rhythm.
If Oregon can get past California, it's on
to face No. 1 Stanford in what equates to a
home game for the Cardinal. While San
Jose is also close to Berkeley, the Golden
Bears' home record (9-7) isn't nearly as
daunting as that of the Cardinal (14-1).
Not only would Oregon have to face
Stanford on its turf, the Cardinal will be
out for revenge. A 67-66 loss to the Ducks
last week cost Stanford a shot at having sole
Turn to ROETMAN, page 14
Emotion helps Oregon duck Washington domination
The Oregon men learn to keep their
feelings in check during recent play
By Alex Tam
Freelance Reporter
The Oregon men's tennis team can be consid
ered an emotional squad. At times, that helps
pump up players to a higher level.
But at other times, emotions can hinder their
play and cause things to go wrong.
The Ducks (7-2 overall) steered their emotions
in the right direction dur
ing Sunda/s upset of No.
18 Washington. Oregon
head coach Chris Russell
said he was proud of the
way his team competed
from start to finish and how hard the players fo
cused on defeating the Huskies — a team that has
historically dominated the Ducks.
"We didn't let things get away from us," Russell
DUCK
TENNIS
said. "I think before, we got excited about getting
a doubles point or having a lead or chances like
that. That's why I'm proud of the guys. They didn't
get ahead of themselves."
Oregon's win was only the fifth victory in the
history of the program against its Seattle foe. The
Huskies still have an impressive 107-5 all-time
record against the Ducks.
"We don't really want to say it, but we have
been haunted by that for awhile," Russell said.
"(For now), we're no longer haunted."
Crowd factor
Fans filled the bleachers to create a rowdy at
mosphere at the Student Tennis Center during
the men's victory. At one point, during the No.
1 singles matchup between Oregon's Manuel
Kost and the Huskies' Alex Vlaski, Vlaski com
plained to Pacific-10 Conference officials that
the crowd was too noisy during play and was
hampering his concentration.
The men's team has received support from its
counterparts, the Oregon women. The men rec
ognize and appreciate the support.
"The women's team has been some of our
best supporters the past two or three years," Rus
sell said. "They have made monumental differ
ences in what we have been able to do in some
of these matches."
Russell said the loud environment Sunday is
partly due to the excitement his team hopes to
generate at every match for the rest of the season.
"I felt the energy is what we're trying to create
out here," he said. "The atmosphere where peo
ple can come out and have some fun."
Women taken down
Whether it was playing outdoors for the first
time since last October or playing three of the
nation's top 10 teams, the women are mired in a
three-match losing streak.
In losses to top-ranked Stanford and No. 9
California, the No. 24 Ducks failed to win a sin
gle dual match point in consecutive 7-0 defeats.
Hie women did not win a single match in dou
bles or singles over the weekend.
Oregon junior Daria Panova, ranked seventh
in the nation, lost both of her singles matches
to drop her singles record to 7-3. The last time
Panova lost two straight matches occurred in
April 2003.
Oregon head coach Nils Schyllander said the
past two opponents, Stanford and California,
showed why they are national powerhouses
year in and year out and how any mistake can
prove cosdy.
"We needed to play with more of a sense of
urgency," Schyllander said.
The women, who started the season by win
ning nine straight games, will continue action
against more nationally ranked schools this
weekend when the team travels to take on No.
12 USC on Friday and eighth-ranked UCLA
on Saturday.
Alex Tam is a freelance reporter for the Emerald. ~