Oregon women will face
Lobos in CAA first round
The women will start their
postseason in Seattle,
while the men fly south
to tackle Vanderbilt
By Clayton Jones
Freelance Reporter
A season's worth of hard-fought
victories, nail-biting defeats, tough
injuries and inclement weather
will come to realization as both
the Oregon men's and women's
tennis teams compete in first
round action of the NCAA Tour
nament on Saturday.
It's the first time since the 1999
2000 season that both the men and
the women will compete in the
tournament in the same season.
The women will not have to trav
el far; they will face New Mexico in
their first round matchup in Seattle.
Head coach Nils Schyllander
said his team has been making the
most of the
time off be
fore the
TENNIS tourna
_ ment.
"We're
resting, but were also concentrating
on a lot of fitness," Schyllander said.
The 32nd-ranked Ducks should
face a challenge against the No.
31 Lobos. New Mexico has domi
nated doubles play so far this sea
son, compiling a 90-17 record.
The Lobos' doubles play is led by
the No. 8 duo of Mountain West
Conference Player of the Year
sophomore Maja Kovacek and
senior Sandy Lukowski. That pair
is 30-7 this season.
Oregon will counter with a bal
anced attack at the singles and
doubles positions. The Ducks
have compiled an above .500
record at all six singles positions
and three doubles positions. They
will be led by the one-two punch
of No. 12 Daria Panova and No.
71 Dominika Dieskova. The two
have combined for 52 victories
this season, the most by any com
bo in Oregon history.
Panova says that, as a team, the
Ducks have a good chance of ad
vancing and possibly facing rival
Washington.
"I think we're on the right
track," Panova said. "We just need
to make sure everybody shows up
on the same day."
Men face NCAA runner-up
The Oregon men's tennis team
will travel to Oxford, Miss., for its
first-round NCAA Tournament
match against a Vanderbilt team
that lost in the NCAA Champi
onship match last year.
Head coach Chris Russell
knows many people don't see his
team getting past the No. 22
Commodores.
"On paper, we're the underdog,"
Russell said. "They have a good
team with experience."
The Ducks believe this isn't only
Oregon versus Vanderbilt; but
rather, a matchup of the Pacific-10
Conference against the Southeast
ern Conference.
"Both teams feel they come from
the best tennis conference in the
country," Russell said. "We're going
into the middle of SEC country
and playing in an SEC
environment. Hopefully we can
prove that the Pac-10 is the best."
Oregon's Markus Schiller, a
transfer from Auburn — a fellow
SEC school — knows from first
hand experience what the environ
ment is going to be like.
"It's crazy, very hostile and they
don't respect the other players at
all," Schiller said.
Weather and humidity differ
ences could also challenge the
Ducks, but team members have
been practicing in sweats to simu
late the Mississippi heat.
"It's supposed to be cooling off,
so hopefully that won't be too
much of a factor," Russell said.
Oregon hopes to counter the
hostile environment with their
tough singles play. The Ducks will
be led into battle with what is
now being called the "Swiss
Army." The group includes Swiss
natives Sven Swinnen, Manuel
Kost and 6-foot-6-inch Thomas
Bieri. Swinnen is ranked 16th in
the nation and Kost is 66th.
Both Swinnen and Kost have
knocked off top-10 opponents this
year and Bieri looks to be on the
brink of coming into his own.
Russell believes the key for his
team is coming out strong and
combating the SEC environment.
"Everybody in the SEC comes
out with fire and are fearless," Rus
sell said. "If we can match that
fearlessness and be willing to take
this match from Vandy, we will
have a good chance."
Clayton Jones is a freelance reporter
for the Emerald.
SPORTS BRIEF
Hairston officially a Duck
Oregon officially announced Malik
Hairston's signing of a National I^etter of
Intent on Thursday, just one day after the
Detroit native said in a press conference
that he was bound for Eugene
"This concludes a remarkable recruit
ing class for Oregon," said head coach
Ernie Kent, who is in Kansas City, Mo., at
tending meetings for the National Asso
ciation of Basketball Coaches' board of
directors. "Malik is one of the top 10 play
ers in the country."
Hairston, a 2004 All-American, av
eraged 20 points and 11 rebounds per
game for Renaissance High School
during his senior season. As a junior,
he averaged 22 points and 12 re
bounds per game while getting six as
sists per contest.
The 6-foot-6-inch wing averaged
18.7 points, 12.4 rebounds, six assists
and 2.7 steals per game in his career
at Renaissance.
Hairston, whose father, Richard,
played for Morris Brown College in At
lanta, is also a member of the USA Bas
ketball Men's Junior National Select
Team and participated in the 2003 USA
Basketball Developmental Festival.
"It was the overall picture," Malik
Hairston told The Detroit News of his
decision to head west. "There are a lot
of connections. Plus, it's the coach. 1
should have said that first. He's the
one I'm going to play for. It's his tem
perament that suits me. They play a
transition game, and transition is suit
ed to my style of playing.
"All I can tell people is to watch Ore
gon next year. I don't have any worries
about playing away from home. It's go
ing to turn out well. I'm confident my
decision was the right one."
Hairston joins fellow signees Maarty
Leunen, Chamberlain Oguchi, Bryce
Taylor and Kenny Love to form a five
man recruiting class.
— Hank Hager
TRACK
continued from page 7
weekend's decathlon, however, Oregon
is poised to defend its crown.
Holliday enters the meet with the
Pac- 10's top time in the 400-meter hur
dles (51.08 seconds). Another impor
tant point-scoring hurdler will be soph
omore Eric Mitchum, who owns the
top time in the 110 hurdles (13.50).
In the field, junior transfer Leonidas
Watson will be an important factor for
Oregon in two events. He sits second in the
triple jump and third in the long jump.
Freshman Tommy Skipper enters as
the favorite in the pole vault. The Sandy
native helped give the Ducks an early
points lead by winning the Pac-10 de
cathlon championship.
Holliday (2002,400 hurdles) and sen
ior javelin thrower Adam Jenkins (2003)
are the only other Ducks who have won
an individual Pac-10 championship.
Other teams expected to be in the
hunt for a title are Southern California,
Stanford and Arizona State.
"The pre-meet charts have UCLA as
the favorite, with us close," Oregon head
coach Martin Smith said. "But I'm not
about to count any team out."
Contact the sports reporter
at jonroetman@daityemerald.com.
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