018314 Need a ride to the airport? Get anywhere in western Oregon ■ Eugene ■ Portland ■ Roseburg junctioncity.com/tours 866-998-2450 998-2450 Oregon women upset by Cougars The Oregon women were handed a tough 4-3 loss on senior day against No. 58 Washington State Saturday By Alex Tam Freelance Reporter The Oregon women's tennis team did not imag ine its last homestand of the season _ ending this way. The Ducks (9-7 overall, 2-6 Pacific 10 Conference) lost their seventh DUCK TENNIS USE Q/8EL/® Every Watt Counts SHUTOFF V^oie^ Computers at Night 10°^ Sponsored by the UO Campus Environmental Issues Committee UW Summer Quarter is open to all qualified applicants. For more information, call 800-550-8977 or visit the web site. www.summe r.washington.edu straight dual match, 4-3, to No. 58 Washington State on Saturday. Up 3-0 and needing one more win to clinch a victory, the women were stunned when they dropped the last four singles contests in one of the toughest losses of the year. Oregon's best chance of winning the match came before an injury forced senior Courtney Nagle to retire. "It was a close, hard-fought match," Oregon head coach Nils Schyllander said. "It was a battle out there It was very unfortunate that Courtney got hurt" Nagle appeared on the verge of closing out the victory for the Ducks after winning the first set. However, a back injury suffered during that set became more painful as the match wore on, Nagle said. The injury even tually hampered her ability to serve and she retired at the beginning of the third set to lose 3-6,6-2 and 1-0 (ret.) to the Cougars' senior Lorena Arias. "It sucks because I knew 1 was go ing to beat (Arias)," Nagle said. "I was playing really well. I wanted to stay out there as much as I could, but I couldn't. It was really disappointing." Nagle's teammates said they also felt frustrated that they could not win on senior day and that another opportuni ty passed to snap their losing streak. "1 feel very sorry for (Courtney)," sophomore Dominika Dieskova said. "I hope next time we can win and it will make her happy. (Washington State) came all fired up, but I feel very bad because I feel we were better than they were at every single spot." Oregon dominated early on by sweeping all three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. Dieskova and sopho more Anna Leksinska teamed up to overcome the Cougars' duo of Arias and junior Zsofia Fodor, 8-4, at the No. 2 spot. Dieskova then gave the Ducks a 2 0 lead after she easily handled junior Nora Gaal in straight sets, 6-3 and 6-3, at the No. 3 position in singles. "I think I played really well," Dieskova said. "I was ready because I knew it was a big opportunity for us." Oregon then increased its lead to 3 0 when junior Daria Panova triumphed over third-year Cougar Or solya Sallai, 6-3 and 6-3, at the No. 1 position. Panova, ranked eighth in the country, improved her singles record to 10-4 this year. But Washington State charged back to tie up the score at 3-3 after Fodor beat Oregon sophomore Jamie Mar shall in three sets, 7-6, 1-6 and 6-2. The Ducks had one last chance to claim the victory, but senior Davina Mendiburu's comeback attempt in the third set fell short. Washington State's Chris Martinez battled after losing the second set to win, 6-3, 4-6 and 6-3, against Mendiburu at the No. 4 position. The women end the conference sea son the same way as the 2002-03 sea son by finishing at 2-6 despite winning their first two conference matches. Oregon returns to nonconference action when it faces St. Mary's in Fres no, Calif., on March 21. Alex Tam is a freelance reporter for the Emerald. Skipper leads Ducks down south The Oregon men’s track team claimed four All-American honors at the NCAA Indoors By Jon Roetman Sports Reporter It was an All-American weekend for the Oregon men's track team. The Ducks received four All-Ameri can performances during their most successful NCAA Indoor appearance in program history this weekend at _the Randal f Tyson Track Cehter in TRACK Fayetteville, - Ark. The seven entry Oregon men's contingent — the Ducks' largest ever — finished 18th in the overall standings with 13 points. Oregon finished third among Pacific 10 Conference teams behind UCLA and Arizona State (12th-place tie at 17 points apiece). The Ducks' point tally was two off their all-time best of 15 in 2002. Freshman Tommy Skipper led the way for Oregon on Saturday, gamer ing All-American honors with a sec ond-place finish in the pole vault. The Sandy High School phenom recorded the second-highest mark during his MEN 1 1.mmmmmmmin.... Ski or Ride Sprinr “—■ ■ 1_—1_ ot Hoodoo Open every weekday (Mar 22 (Including Wednesday) Night skiing slopes open til 9:00 pm i (Fridays & Saturdays) 1 • Buy your season pass for 04-05 during the spring sale. Start using it March 29th. www.hoodoo.com 822-3799 • Blowout Week: Ski or ride for $20. __ March 29,h and 30*, April 1sl and 2"d £ Q the end of son ril 3 • 9-4 pin • pond skimming contest • snow shovel race (b.y.o. stock shovel) • airboard races • BBQ and more brief NCAA career, clearing a height of 18-feet, 4 1/2 inches. Only Washington senior Brad Walker, the returning NCAA champi on and indoor record holder, posted a better mark (18-8 1/4). "Personally, I'm a little disappointed because I came in here going for the win and I didn't get it," Skipper said. 'The frustrating part was that coach told me to adjust the standard before my first miss of the night and I forgot to tell the officials to move them, and that def initely contributed to the miss." Skippeds best vault remains his Ore gon record-breaking performance of 18-8 3/4 in February, this season's top mark nationally. He became the Ducks' third-ever indoor All-American pole vaulter, along with Trevor Woods (2002) and Piotr Buciarski (1998). "My goals coming into indoors were to clear 19 feet, get my Olympic Trials qualifier and try to win the na tional title," Skipper said. "I'm still working on those, and getting closer, and I have to give all the thanks in the world to a wonderful team, coach, university and training environment." Three Oregon athletes tallied All American performances on Friday. Sophomore Eric Mitchum claimed honors in the 60-meter hurdles. The Calumet City, 111., native finished with the top time in his class — sixth best overall — at 7.74 seconds. The mark was Mitchum's second-fastest ever and placed him 13 seconds behind event winner Antwon Hicks of Mississippi. "I wasn't intimidated coming in and was ready to try and give it my all in the final," Mitchum said. "I floated a little over the first hurdle and that slowed me some and really cost me. I made up a little in the middle, but you can't make any mistakes when somebody wins in 7.61.1 can't be too upset, though. I'm an All-American and I'm still building towards the out door season." Senior Ryan Andrus accepted hon ors in the 5,000 meters with a sev enth-place finish. The Orem, Utah, native's time of 14:03.21 in the 25-lap race was 23.58 behind event-winner and returning outdoor champion Al istair Cragg of Arkansas. Redshirt junior Leonidas Watson added a third All-American honor to the Oregon resume with a ninth-place finish in the long jump. The St. Louis Community College transfer recorded a distance of 25-2 1/2 and missed the final scoring place (eighth) by one inch. On the women's side, redshirt jun ior Magdalena Sandoval was in posi tion to crack the top 10 in Friday's 5,000, but lost momentum in the fi nal kilometer and dropped back to 17th. Her final time of 16:29.69 was 1:15.51 behind event-winner Kim Smith of Providence. Contact the sports reporter at jonroetman@dailyemerald.com. ...... _ $2 PAMT T A 683-3154