Women’s tennis
searching for Pac-10 win
The No. 60 Ducks are running out of chances to win a Pacific-10 Conference match for the first time in two years.
The last time the Oregon women’s tennis team beat a Pac-10 opponent was Feb. 20, 2000, against Arizona. The Ducks, 7-7 (0-6 Pac-10), will try to end the streak this weekend in Los Angeles beginning today against No. 15 USC. USC is 7-4 (1-2 Pac-10) this season, with all of its losses coming to top-20 teams.
“The conference is really tough, but I know we are good enough to compete,” said head coach Jack Griffin, whose team has been outscored 38-4 in conference play this season. “We haven’t been playing well and that has led to the one-sided scores.”
Griffin and assistant coach Nils Schyllander spent much of Monday working with the players individually on the outdoor tennis courts.
“They need to get used to playing outdoors and battling the elements,” Griffin said. “Because of weather, we haven’t been able to practice much out here.”
Oregon plays No. 8 UCLA on Saturday. The Bruins are 8-1 (3-0 Pac-10), losing only to No. 10 Texas. No. 4 Sara Walker and No. 5 Megan Bradley lead a strong UCLA lineup that features four ranked players.
The Ducks are running out of opportunities to earn a conference victory. After this weekend, they only have two conference matches left. They play at home against Washington on April 20 and Washington State on April 21 to finish the Pac-10 season.
Men host Sacramento State
The Oregon men’s tennis team is coming off one of its best weekends in program history.
The No. 66 Ducks swept three ranked teams on the road in New Mexico last weekend and host Sacramento State today before hitting the road again.
“We are playing really well in singles right now,” head coach Chris Russell said. “It was impressive to go down there and win a few.”
No. 95 freshman Manuel Kost and junior Oded Teig lead Oregon at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, but it’s been the bottom of the lineup that has helped the Ducks lately.
“We’ve been getting great production out of the guys throughout the lineup,” Russell said. “That’s very important when you’re playing some of the better teams in the country.”
— Peter Martini
for the Emerald
Softball travels to Vegas
The Oregon softball team heads to Las Vegas this weekend for a four-game tournament where the Ducks feature the best record of all the teams.
In addition to the host team of UNLV, who is 10-13, the 11-7 Ducks will face Boston College (3-10) and Notre Dame (5-7). Because all the teams will not face each other, there will be no winner determined.
Hitting the road again for one last weekend before a 14-game stretch where they will remain in the state of Oregon, the Ducks are coming off a five-game weekend in Utah where they finished 3-2.
Highlighting the Ducks’ offensive attack is Andrea Vidlund with a .426 batting average. Sophomore Anissa Meashintubby is heading the pitching squad with a 4-2 record and a 2.05 earned run average.
— Chris Cabot