Happy Saturday, Duck fans! This weekend, we talk turkey about the ups and downs and goings-on that happen on both sides of the Willamette and across the country that don’t necessarily have much to do with football but have everything to do with Ducks! Gobble gobble!
Cross Country
Oregon goes to the Natty! The men and women’s cross country track and field teams are in Indiana today to participate in the NCAA Championships. The event will be broadcasted live by the NCAA at www.ncaa.com, beginning at 9am Pacific. Splurge early and get that shiny new flatscreen with wi-fi and stream it for your family and friends!
Oregon’s lady Ducks are the defending national champions and enter the meet on an at-large invite, currently ranked 17th nationally. Standouts include Molly Grabill, Megan Patrignelli, and Annie Leblanc (Eric Evans, goducks.com photo).
The drakes come in sporting a 20th ranking and red-hot freshman Edward Cheserek, the alphabet soup (USTFCCCA) West Region Athlete of the Year and, some say, heir-apparent to the Prefontaine legacy in Eugene. Then again, everyone’s the next Prefontaine, until they ain’t. Also keep an eye on Mac Fleet and Tanguy Pepiot, two guys with funny names that can run like the wind.
Golf
The University of Oregon men’s golf team concluded its fall season with a 10th-place finish at a very competitive Gifford Collegiate on the Ocean North Course of the Pelican Hill Resort Tuesday afternoon. Sulman Raza found his groove in the final two rounds carding 79-69-68—216 (+6) and tied for 25th.
Volleyball
Oregon traveled to Utah Friday night and dismantled the Utes 3-1 in a block-fest, in-your-face slapdown affair that started out rough and tumble but ended with a smirk, going away 25-15, 25-15. Oregon is 13-0 when it wins the first set, as it did on the night of the double-double, a great momentum builder as the national tourney approaches.
Post-match commentary usually centers around standout Liz Brenner, whose effort did not go unnoticed last night, but Ariana Williams had a career night with 11 blocks and 13 kills, the first double-double for the lady Ducks since 2008.
Williams became a force to be reckoned with that drew defense to her side, and that opened up a lane for Brenner’s 25 (!!!) kills and 18 digs. Honorable mention goes to Lauren Plum with 51 assists (the “set” in bump, set, spike) and ten balls dug out of the floor on the night. It was a gritty performance at the end of a season that hasn’t gone as planned, but “they remember November” and the Ducks must play tough to have any hope of making it back to the tourney.
Next game: At Colorado, Sunday at 10am on the Pac-12 Network.
Women’s Basketball
The high flying lady cagers traveled to the other side of the known universe last Wednesday to take on the top-ranked UConn Huskies, averaging about a million points per contest under coach Westhead’s dribble-dribble-shoot scoring machine. The plan was to outrun, outgun, and stun the Huskies.
Outgunning was no problem. Oregon outshot UConn 88-69 but only connected on 27 from inside the line and went 7-28 on treys for a miserable 30.7% average. To make matters worse, the Ducks were outrebounded 56-34, only snagging 19 of their own missed shots. Connecticut, the funniest state name in the country, blocked 12 of Oregon’s shots and never trailed. Final score: Oregon 68, UConn 114.
Oregon is now 2-2 on the season, a learning year for a team with just three seniors, and return to action versus Pepperdine at Matthew Knight Arena on November 25th.
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