Oregon daily emerald., October 22, 2004, Image 9

Oregon Daily Emerald
Friday, October 22, 2004
“Put this in the paper: I am the Madden king.
Any Madden, it doesn’t matter. I’m the king. ”
Oregon cornerback Aaron Gipson staking his claim as the
best Madden video game player on the football team
■ Duck volleyball
No. 12 Bruins dismantle fading Ducks
Kelly Russell was Oregon's only
attacker to record more kills than
attack errors in llmirsday's match
BY STEPHEN MILLER
SPORTS REPORTER
Oregon remains two key attackers short and
without a win in its last five matches.
The Ducks (9-9 overall, 1-7 Pacific-10 Confer
ence) found that scoring 20 points in a game was
an impossible task as they lost in three games to
UCLA (30-16, 30-18, 30-18) on Thursday.
Junior Kelly Russell had a career night in terms
of digs as she increased her mark from 15 to 19.
The outside hitter and team leader in kills
landed a team-high 10 kills on 37 attempts. She
was the only Oregon player to achieve a positive
hitting percentage, at. 108, in three games.
T\velfth-ranked UCLA (12-5, 5-3 Pac-10) held
the Ducks to a combined hitting percentage
of -.065. The Bruins sustained a fairly consistent
attack, and their .285 average can be accredited
to their third league victory on the road.
“We’ve got players playing in positions that
they don’t have a tremendous amount of
experience at,” Oregon head coach Carl Ferreira
said. “We just have to keep putting them in
situations and supporting them.”
UCLA head coach Andy Banachowski was sat
isfied with his team’s performance.
“1 was pleased with the way we played as a
group out there,” Banachowski said after the
match. “It was a good team effort.”
Ferreira felt that an inconsistent attack caused
his team’s downfall.
“The reason it was so hard to get any rhythm is
because you have to get first ball sideouts and
then a run of points, and the combination of not
serving well really puts you at a disadvantage,”
Ferreira said. “1 thought we played the whole
match without a lot of momentum because we
were struggling with those two things.
“I thought we passed the ball consistently,
but it just came down to our attackers not
having as good of a night as they probably
would have liked to ... and you have to give a
little bit of credit to UCLA.”
The Ducks’ 27 total kills were outweighed by
their 28 attack errors.
The Bruins saw Brynn Murphy — their
leading attacker — and sophomore Nina Meri
wether record 13 kills each. Murphy posted seven
kills in the third game alone. Meriwether, a mid
dle blocker, hit at a game-high .522 clip and com
mitted only one attack error in 23 attempts. She
took advantage of Oregon’s defense several times
with a quick shovel-spike into the open court.
“She plays at such a high level out there that it
gives her a lot more court to hit to,” Banachowski
said. “She’s a great blocker, and she’s going to
become a great player for us.”
Lauren Wimer I Senior photographer
UCLA’s Rachell Johnson (8) spikes the ball past Oregon’s Kim McNally (2) in the Bruins’ three-game sweep
of the Ducks. The loss drops Oregon to 1-7 in the Pacific-10 Conference.
Krystal McFarland gave the Bruins 39 assists
and provided Meriwether with accurate passes.
She came down on a teammate’s foot in the third
game and had to come out.
Libero Chrissie Zartman posted a match-high
24 digs the Bruins.
Neither squad served an ace until the second
game — the only two service aces both teams
saw all night. UCLA committed 10 service errors
to Oregon’s nine.
stephenmiller@dailyememld.com
■ Duck soccer
First goal
ofPac-10
season still
a kick away
Outscored 11-0 in conference
play this season, Oregon looks
to reverse its luck this weekend
BY BRIAN SMITH
SPORTS REPORTER
Oregon will be at home for the second
straight weekend as the Ducks take on
surprise contender Washington State tonight
and No. 7 Washington Sunday at Pape Field.
The Ducks are still in search of their first
Pacific-10 Conference victory of the sea
son. In their first three matches, the Ducks
have been outscored 11-0.
While some of the problems can be
attributed to the ongoing battle with injuries
— Oregon’s top scorer from last year, Nicole
Garbin, is out with a major knee injury, and
one of the Duck’s top scorers this year,
Caitlin Gamble, is questionable for the re
mainder of the season with a stress fracture
— another problem has been hesitation
from the offense to fire shots on goal.
“We’re getting chances, creating
chances,” Oregon head coach Bill Steffen
said. “(Our players) have the green light
(to take a shot), and I think that sometimes
we end up passing the ball too much.”
In addition to injuries, a red card issued
to forward Mele French will keep another
one of the Ducks’ top scorers out for
tonight’s match against Washington State.
She received the red card last Friday >
against Oregon State.
French has two goals on the season and
leads the team with five points.
Cristan Higa, along with Kami Kapaku
and Andrea Valadez, will be looked upon
to ignite the Oregon offense. Higa has
started 50 games in her career and has five
shots on goal and one assist this year.
Oregon (3-9-1 overall, 0-3
Pac-10) vs. WSU (7-5-2, 2-2)
It’s safe to say that the Cougars have been
a surprise in the Pac-10. They were
predicted to finish ninth in the preseason
SOCCER, page 10A
Cardinals outdo Astros, face Red Sox in World Series
Clemens and the rest of the Houston squad gave away a 2-0 lead
to St. Louis, losing 5-2 in Game 7 of the NL championship series
BY BEN WALKER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. LOUIS — The best team in baseball this
year now gets a chance to prove it in the
World Series.
Albert Pujols hit a tying double, Scott Rolen
followed with a home run and the St. Louis
Cardinals suddenly erupted against Roger
Clemens, startling the Houston Astros with a
5-2 win Thursday night to take Game 7 of the
NL championship series.
In a matchup where the home team won
every time, the Cardinals broke through with
two outs in the sixth inning. It came in a span
of only two pitches, as the Cardinals took the
lead for good, and Busch Stadium became a
rolling sea of red.
Jeff Suppan overcame a lead-off home run by
Craig Biggio to win an apparent mismatch
against Clemens. The bullpen combined for
three scoreless innings, shutting down Carlos
Beltran and Co., with Jason Isringhausen
working the ninth for his third save.
After posting 105 wins and running away
with the NL Central, the Cardinals advanced to
their first World Series under manager Tony La
Russa and first overall since 1987.
Next up: the Boston Red Sox in Game 1 on
Saturday night at Fenway Park. The two
teams met in the 1967 and 1946 Series, where
St. Louis won both, each time going the full
seven games.
Pujols led the way, hitting .500 with four
homers and nine RBls. Overall, the teams
combined for 25 home runs, the most in any
post season series.
Larry Walker singled home an insurance run
in the eighth, and the club sporting the famed
birds-on-the-bat logo captured its 16th pennant.
For the Astros, it was total disappointment.
They have never reached the World Series
since their expansion season of 1962, the same
year Clemens was born.
But The Rocket could not hold an early 2-0
lead in his record fourth start in a Game 7.
While Rolen and Pujols did the major
damage in the sixth, Roger Cedeno surely
deserved some credit for rattling Clemens.
Cedeno opened the sixth with a pinch-hit sin
gle, his 11th hit in 25 lifetime at-bats against
Clemens, and immediately began dancing off
first base. Clemens made three pickoff throws
and stepped off the rubber three times trying to
hold Cedeno close.
Cedeno moved up on a bunt, and again his
leads attracted Clemens’ attention before the
speedster took third on Walker's groundout.
That brought up Pujols and brought Astros
manager Phil Garner to the mound.
With the count at 1-2, catcher Brad Ausmus
again went to visit Clemens. Pujols lined the
next pitch into the left-field corner, cocking
his arm as he eased into second base with a
tying double.
The crowd was going crazy by then, and
Rolen seized the opportunity. Clemens tried to
throw a first-pitch fastball by Rolen, but instead
the All-Star slugger rocketed it just inside the
left-field foul pole.
While Rolen ran hard around the bases, and
several Cardinals spilled out of the dugout to
meet him, Clemens could only stare ahead.
An inning earlier, Ausmus preserved a 2-1
lead by picking off Tony Womack at first base
with two runners on.
BASEBALL, page 10A