by Steve Mims
EUGENE, OREGON
Both of the Ducks’ squads were among the top teams out of the 68-team bracket. The UO men will play in the National Invitation Tournament while the women will play in the WNIT.
The men defeated Washington State 75-70 in the opening round of the Pac-12 tournament as Jermaine Couisnard and Keeshawn Barthelemy each scored 17 points. One night later, second-ranked UCLA blew away the Ducks, 75-56, in the quarterfinals to drop UO to 19-14.
Oregon will host UC Irvine in the first round of the NIT on Wednesday. Irvine beat Oregon 69-56 at Matthew Knight Arena on Nov. 11.
The women’s basketball team will host North Dakota State in the first round of the WNIT on Friday. Oregon is 17-14.
BASEBALL
Oregon dropped two of three games in its Pac-12 opening series at home against UCLA.
Jacob Walsh and Owen Diodati each homered in the first game of the series as the Ducks won 6-2.
UCLA bounced back to win the second game 8-8 before blowing the Ducks away 16-0 in the finale.
Oregon is 9-5 as it prepares to visit Washington State this weekend.
SOFTBALL
Allee Bunker had three hits and KK Humphreys drove in four runs as Oregon opened Pac-12 play with a 8-6 win at Washington. The Huskies bounced back to beat the Ducks 13-8 and 9-7 in the final two games of the series.
The Ducks play their first home games of the year when Stanford arrives for a three-game series starting Friday.
TRACK AND FIELD
Jadyn Mays placed fifth in the 60- and 200-meters to help Oregon’s women place 11th at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Jorinde Van Klinken placed sixth in the shot put while Aaliyah McCormick was sixth in the 60. Claudia Kazimierska finished sixth in the mile while Lexi Ellis was eighth in the triple jump. Jaida Ross placed eighth in the shot put for UO.
Elliott Cook was the lone scorer on the men’s side by placing seventh in the mile.
MEN’S TENNIS
Joshua Charlton, Quinn Vandecasteele, Vlad Breazu, and Jesper Klöv-Nilsson all won singles matches as Oregon defeated Drake 4-1 at the Arizona State Invitational. The Ducks lost to Memphis, 4-3, and ASU, 4-0, later in the weekend.
The Ducks return home to host Texas Tech on Thursday.
ACROBATICS AND TUMBLING
Oregon dropped its first match of the season, 283.305-278.910, at home against Baylor. The Ducks get a rematch at Baylor on April 1.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Oregon dropped four of five matches at the Queens Cup in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Ducks beat Texas 5-0, but lost to Washington, Hawaii, California, and Nebraska.
Steve Mims has spent 25 years as a sportswriter, including 21 years at The Register-Guard. He covered University of Oregon athletics from 2013-2020. He works in Eugene as a registered representative and insurance agent at PBC Insurance. He can be reached at smims@pbcins.com.