Oregon Daily Emerald
Friday, October 14, 2005
“I think that dodgeball derailed
an entire generation of Americans.
It’s the true red menace. ”
Art Jones, director of the movie “Dodgeball”
Bitter, rivals square off in Roseburg reunion
Kristin Bitter and two former Roseburg High School teammates meet
in Duck volleyball's version of the Civil War this evening at OSU
BY JEFFREY DRANSFELDT
SPORTS REPORTER
Volleyball tied them together as teammates
at a small-town high school, and now Kristen
Bitter, Lindsy Bartholomew and Natalie Hoop
er take the same court once again — two as
teammates and another as an opponent.
Oregon’s volleyball team, including Bitter,
faces rival Oregon State and newcomers
Bartholomew and Hooper today — all gradu
ates of Roseburg High. Both schools, Oregon
(10-7 overall , 0-6 conference) and Oregon
State (5-7,1-5) are trying to recover from diffi
cult starts to conference play.
The match is set for 7 p.m. in Corvallis.
Oregon State is Oregon’s first unranked op
ponent after playing five consecutive ranked
teams, but Bitter said the Ducks expect a chal
lenge, having lost eight out of the last 10
matches to Oregon State since 2000.
“They always get up for us, every year,”
Bitter said.
Bitter is the oldest and most seasoned of
the trio meeting tonight. Oregon State’s Hoop
er is a freshman, and sophomore
Bartholomew joined the Beavers this season
after a year at Linn-Benton Community Col
lege in Albany.
Both made it as walk-ons, which makes the
match more meaningful, Bitter said.
“I’m so proud of both of them,” Bitter
added. “I’m so happy to find out they’re on
the team and doing well. ”
Her stay at Linn-Benton was short,
Bartholomew said, after breaking her collar
bone and separating her left shoulder early
in the year. Never fully healthy that season,
and seeking a challenge, Bartholomew chose
to make the jump to Oregon State and Divi
sion I volleyball.
Five-foot-4 Hooper entered her initial colle
giate season after a decorated high school ca
reer. She was first-team All-Southern League
as a junior and senior and guided Roseburg to
a sixth-place finish in the state tournament
last season.
Playing as a defensive specialist/libero,
Hooper has emerged recently, earning more
playing time and experiencing the Pacific-10
Conference for the first time. In two losses
to both Los Angeles schools last weekend,
Hooper played three games each against
USC and UCLA, contributing eight digs
against the Bruins.
“She’s a perfect person for that position,”
Bartholomew said.
Hooper didn’t attend Oregon State’s first
win against Arizona State in Tempe as the
coaching staff contemplated whether or not to
redshirt her.
She is glad they didn’t.
“It’s incredible,” Hooper said of playing in
the Pac-10. “It’s the best feeling to know
you’re playing at such a high level. ”
Bitter came to Oregon from Roseburg, a
small city of about 20,000 people. This wasn’t
the large scale of a Portland or Seattle, but
a ' aller town where sports were the thing
to do.
Bitter compares Roseburg’s atmosphere to
“Varsity Blues,” the 1999 movie — starring
James Van Der Beek and Jon Voight — about
a small Texas town where football is life.
“You’re really encouraged to play as many
sports as you can, and when it’s game night,
everybody knows,” Bitter said.
Her sports were volleyball, basketball and
track and field. Bitter’s athletic success was
n’t limited to one sport, but varied as she
competed in long jump, high jump and triple
jump in track and was part of the basketball
team’s first outright Southern Conference title
since 1987 in her senior year in 2003.
With her large frame and talent, Bitter was
a heavily recruited volleyball player out of
high school. The athlete had a lengthy list of
suitors including Tennessee, Northwestern,
Florida, Virginia Tech, Arizona, Cal-Poly San
Nicole Barker | Senior photographer
Oregon’s 6-foot-4 middle blocker Kristen Bitter, right, prepares for an Oregon serve alongside Erin Little in a
Pacific-10 Conference match against Cal.
Luis Obispo, Oregon State, Portland State and
Colorado State.
Whittling the list down to Arizona and Ore
gon, Bitter chose the Ducks in the fall of 2002
and joined a recruiting class including setter
VOLLEYBALL, page 10A
Midnight Madness returns to Oregon
ESPNU comes to McArthur Court for the first time since 1997
this Friday to see both the men's and women's teams open play
BY JEFFREY DRANSFELDT
SPORTS REPORTER
It’s the first opportunity to show off that
new move learned over the summer, the new
standout teammate or even an improved
jump shot.
Oregon’s men’s and women’s basketball
teams will showcase their new looks tonight
in front of Duck fans at McArthur Court.
Oregon women will practice from 8 to 9
p.m. before the men take the court immediate
ly after.
Doors open at 7 p.m. for Duck students
wearing wrist bands for distribution of the Pit
Crew T-shirts. Bands can be picked up at 9
a.m. at the EMU. Doors will open to the gener
al public at 7 p.m., with the first 1,000 fans re
ceiving a “Midnight Madness” T-shirt. Admis
sion for the event is free.
Between 7:30 and 8 p.m., fan contests will
take place before the women’s basketball team
begins its practice.
The men’s practice is part of a live national
broadcast by ESPNU — the first time since
1997 Oregon’s Midnight Madness has been
shown on one of ESPN’s channels. Kansas,
Kentucky, Memphis and Michigan State will
also be featured.
Commentators Rich Cellini and Bob Wenzel
are hosting the practice, which will be featured
for 60 minutes.
Fans have reason to be optimistic about the
men’s program, with sophomore Malik Hair
ston leading a maturing team. Friday night
also marks the debut of highly-touted transfer
Ivan Johnson, a late addition from Los Ange
les Southwest College in Southern California.
Johnson, who originally committed
to Cincinnati and Bob Huggins, changed
his mind after the embattled coach was fired
in August.
A spot opened up when Oregon coach Ernie
Kent’s son Jordan Kent joined the football
team and transferred his scholarship.
The disappointment from underachieving
last season has Oregon excited to start this sea
son, but also more knowledgeable from hav
ing gone through it.
“We are hungry,” Hairston said Wednesday
at media day. “We understand what it takes.”
With six straight home games to start the
2005-06 season, this team has an opportunity
to have a strong start and erase bad memories
of last season.
“Moving on with a fresh start is a great feel
ing,” Hairston said.
While Friday is the official day to start prac
tices, the men’s and women’s teams have
started earlier this year with a new NCAA rule.
The new rule, referred to by the NCAA as a
“skill development rule,” was put into place in
August.
Both the men’s and women’s basketball
associations pushed for the changes that led
to pre-Oct. 15 team practices. Women can
practice for four hours a week and the men
for two.
The extra time has been a boon for the
women’s team, said head coach Bev Smith.
Now, when practices Start they can smoothly
transition into harder areas, or the meat and
potatoes, as Smith put it.
“I think its really been good for them,”
Smith said. “There’s some opportunity to sit
back and see the whole picture.”
The incoming roster is veteran-laden, but al
most always with college athletics, rosters
evolve and there are new players. Oregon’s 13
women squad is an exception, with five sen
iors and four juniors.
It is a new season and the extra time has
helped build team chemistry, Smith said.
“They know each other much better as a
team,” Smith added.
In addition to building team cohesiveness,
the new rules have had smaller benefits.
Senior forward Yadili Okwumabua is recov
ering from off-season knee surgery, and the ex
tra time has allowed her to ease back into
playing basketball again.
The rule allows this year’s lone freshman,
Tamika Nurse, and future freshmen to see
“how they fit in and how (they) can contribute
to the team,” Smith said.
Having no Division I experience, new assis
tant coach Phil Brown has received a quick in
troduction.
Smith believes it should make for an excit
ing opening night. Fans will see a “couple of a
new additions that will change how we play
in terms of tempo and how we play the
game,” Smith said.
jdransfeldt@dailyemerald.com
Ducks hope
for rebound
this week vs.
UCLA Bruins
Nicole Garbin and the rest
of the Ducks try to get back
on track after a down weekend
BY SCOTT J. ADAMS
SPORTS REPORTER
Oregon begins its second weekend of con
ference play tonight against No. 4 UCLA as
head coach Tara Erickson and her Ducks try
to rebound after last week’s losses to Arizona
and Arizona State. Although a victory tonight
over the Bruins seems next to impossible, Er
ickson would like to see her team keep pace
with the Bruins (11-1 overall, 1-0 conference).
“Obviously we made some big mistakes
last weekend, and the end result was a pair of
losses,” Erickson said. “We’d like to get back
to playing with the improvements we’ve
made lately. All week we’ve been trying to
work on matching up on defense and playing
within our system. UCLA is an amazing team
and we’U have to defend our best.”
To compensate for UCLA’s high-powered
SOCCER, page 10A