Oregon daily emerald., May 13, 2005, Image 9

Oregon Daily Emerald
Friday, May 13, 2005
“I don’t think we were going to go
fonr-four-four-four (series sweeps),
so that wasn’t going to work. ”
Phoenix Suns coach Mike D'Antoni after his team
lost to the Dallas Mavericks in Game Two
After suffering
a torn anterior
cruciate
ligament
during her
junior season
two years
ago, Davina
Mendiburugj
has returned I
as one ofl
Oregon's topi
players. 1
Danielle Hickey | Photo editor
■ Women’s tennis
RETURJMform
Davina Mendiburu, who lost her 2002-03 season to a torn ACL,
looks to cap her stmggle back with an Oregon win at the NCAAs
BY ALEX TAM
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
More than two years ago, Davina
Mendiburu was quickly becoming one
of the rising stars of Oregon tennis. She
was voted the team’s most valuable player fol
lowing her freshman campaign in 2001, when
she racked up a 16-7 singles record.
In her sophomore season, Mendiburu had al
ready garnered 31 career singles victories — on
pace to be in the top five all-time in career sin
gles victories at Oregon. The Ducks finished
that season 14-11, their first winning record in
six years.
Everything was going as planned for
Mendiburu as she entered her junior season
two years ago. The Ducks had a solid core that
consisted of Mendiburu, Daria Panova and
Courtney Nagle and had hopes of making an
NCAA Tournament appearance.
In the first regular season match of the
2003 season, the Ducks traveled to Boulder to
play Colorado in what would be a turning
point in Mendiburu’s career. The match was
close throughout as Oregon held a 3-2 advan
tage, needing just one more match to clinch
the victory. Two more matches remained,
including Mendiburu’s.
The 22-year-old Mendiburu was on the verge
of closing out the Ducks’ first win on the sea
son when she led 3-1 in the final set. In the next
game, Mendiburu led 40-15 and was about to
take a commanding 4-1 lead.
“I remember I was coming back big time and
you could tell the girl was starting to doubt,”
Mendiburu said. “I had the edge over her and I
felt so good.”
Never did she know that her next serve
would be the last point of her junior season.
“I thought the girl was going to hit it down
the line and she hit cross court and my foot
got stuck and my knee shifted,” Mendiburu
said. “Then I heard a huge pop and next thing
I remember I was on the ground screaming
and crying.”
Oregon head coach Nils Schyllander said he
wasn’t on the court when it happened, but he
recalled hearing a “loud scream.”
“We saw her go down and we knew it was
really bad right away,” he said.
The diagnosis later showed a torn anterior
cruciate ligament and an injured meniscus in
her right knee, which meant a lost season and
months of rehabilitation ahead.
One of the most promising careers at Oregon
was spiraling in the opposite direction.
“At the time it was horrible,” Mendiburu
said. “I couldn’t travel with my team and I was
stuck here doing my rehab.”
Teammates were also aware that one of their
top players was disheartened because she
wanted to contribute to the team so badly.
“She was very down,” doubles partner Ester
Bak said. “Just like a lot of athletes get down
when they’re injured when they’re not able to
do something that they love. I know she loves
playing tennis. ”
But Mendiburu refused to believe her tennis
career was over. In the eight months following
that Colorado match, Mendiburu worked every
day on getting the strength back in her knee.
“It never occurred to me that I would never
play again,” Mendiburu said. “I was doing the
rehab and working my butt off because I want
ed to be back.”
When she finally returned to the tennis
courts in September 2003, her coaches and
teammates saw a different type of player, one
who attacked more than before the injury.
“I think in a way, (the injury) was positive
and it really put things into perspective for her
and she realized how much she missed play
ing,” Schyllander said. “When she came back,
she really played more aggressive.”
In her first season back from injury,
Mendiburu recorded a then career-high 18 sin
gles victories and anchored the No. 4 position
in the lineup.
“It seems after my surgery I found the game I
wanted to play and I stuck with it,” Mendiburu
said. “And since then, I’ve played pretty much
the way I’ve been wanting to play — being ag
gressive and consistent.”
After Oregon’s subpar 10-15 record in 2003,
the Ducks bounced back to a 17-9 overall
record when Mendiburu returned in 2004.
Oregon also appeared in the NCAA
Tournament and recorded a program-best
No. 23 national ranking.
“It was huge (to have her back), not only
from an athletic standpoint, but she was always
a leader on the team,” Schyllander said. “She’s
a player that the other players look up to, not
only on the court, but off the court as a friend
and as a teammate.”
MENDIBURU page 12
■ Women's track and field
Malone primed for shot
at Pac-10 javelin crown
The Oregon women's track team will send 24 athletes in search of
its first Pac-10 Championships victory since the 1992 campaign
BY STEPHEN MILLER
SPORTS REPORTER
Inga Stasiulionyte used to dominate the
Pacific-10 Conference javelin scene. The former
USC star swept the javelin event at the Pac-10
Championships each season of her career, which
spanned from 2001-04.
Each season, Oregon’s Sarah Malone finished
behind the four-time All-American and Pac-10
record holder. The fifth-year senior finally sees a
clear path to a javelin title this season now that
Stasiulionyte has graduated.
“I’ve gotten second the last three years I’ve
been at the Pac-lO’s, so it will finally be a time
where I can come out on top hopefully,” said
Malone, the Pac-lO’s leading javelin thrower this
season. “The competition is mostly with my
teammates, past and present.”
Malone will have to compete against team
mates Roslyn Lundeen, Elisa Crumley and
Rachael Kriz Wallace as well as Washington’s
Tiffany Zahn, her former Newberg High
School teammate.
Malone’s main competition will be junior Jen
na Dean of Washington State, whose mark is only
eight feet shorter than Malone’s season-best of
177 feet, 3/4 inches.
Oregon will send 24 female athletes to Los
Angeles for the Pac-lOs at UCLA’s Drake Stadi
um this weekend.
Multi-event athletes got a head start on
WOMEN, page 12
■ Men's track and field
Ducks send a veteran field
to Pac-10 Championships
Oregon, which has finished in the top two for the past three years, will
feature at least one top-10 athlete in 18 of the tourney's 21 events
BY BRIAN SMITH
SPORTS REPORTER
The Oregon men’s track and field team contin
ues the championship portion of its 2005 outdoor
season as the Ducks compete in the Pacific-10
Conference Championships at Drake Stadium in
Los Angeles on Saturday and Sunday.
Having finished in the top two in each of the
last three years — first in 2003, second in 2002
and 2004 — Oregon will send a deep and veter
an field in an attempt to capture its second con
ference title in as many years and to avenge last
year’s 143-130 loss to UCLA.
The Ducks return 85 of their 122 individual
points from last year’s meet and also feature a
top-10 ranked performer in 18 of the 21
conference championship events. Oregon’s
roster also includes 11 NCAA veterans, eight
of whom have combined for 12 All-American
awards, two NCAA titles and two NCAA
runner-up finishes.
Meanwhile, the defending-champion Bruins
graduated four of their individual champions
from last year but will present Oregon with a for
midable challenge in sophomore Brandon John
son — returning champion in the 400-meter hur
dles — and junior Jon Rankin. Rankin is tops in
the Pac-10 in both the 800 (1 minute, 47.11
seconds) and the 1,500 (3:39.49) this season.
The Bruins won’t be the only team battling
the Ducks for a conference crown.
MEN, page 12