Basketball
• OSU wins exhibition: Oregon State won its only scheduled preseason game on Sunday night, defeating Lewis & Clark 83-58 in an exhibition contest in Corvallis. Ahmad Starks led the Beavers with 14 points on four-of-five three-point shooting to go along with four assists. Devon Collier scored 12 points and Roberto Nelson added 10 points. Oregon State led 39-28 at halftime and pulled away with a 17-7 run to start the second half. The Beavers open the season at home on Friday against Niagara. Game time is 6 p.m.
Volleyball
• No. 2 Ducks fall to No. 1 Stanford: In the first-ever meeting in Eugene between the nation’s top two teams, top-ranked Stanford (22-2, 14-0 Pac-12) handed No. 2 Oregon (20-3, 11-3) its first 3-0 loss of the season Sunday at Matthew Knight Arena. In front of the second-largest Duck volleyball crowd ever (5,007), the Cardinal won 25-20, 25-22, 25-21 over the Ducks to keep their Pac-12 record unblemished.
Football
• Cal QB uncertain for Oregon game: California quarterback Zach Maynard has no ligament damage in his injured left knee and his status for this week’s game against No. 2 Oregon remains in doubt. Cal coach Jeff Tedford said Sunday that an MRI on Maynard was negative and he would be day to day this week. The Bears (3-7, 2-5 Pac-12) host the Ducks on Saturday (7:30 p.m. kickoff) in their final home game of the season. Maynard left Friday night’s 21-13 loss to Washington in the fourth quarter with the injury. The senior quarterback has passed for 2,214 yards and 12 touchdowns this season.
• Kentucky fires coach: Kentucky has fired football coach Joker Phillips, a day after an embarrassing loss to Vanderbilt. Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart announced Phillips’ dismissal Sunday in an open letter on the athletic department’s web site. The Wildcats lost their eighth straight game on Saturday, a 40-0 home loss to Vanderbilt. It was their worst loss to the Commodores in 96 years. The 49-year-old Phillips is 12-23 overall in three seasons at Kentucky. He will finish this season. The Wildcats (1-9, 0-7 Southeastern Conference) went to a bowl game two years ago but have gotten worse each season since.
• Georgia loses receiver: Georgia receiver Marlon Brown, who is tied for the team lead in catches, will miss the remainder of the season after hurting his left knee in Saturday night’s win over Mississippi. Coach Mark Richt said Sunday Brown tore the anterior cruciate ligament in the knee. The injury will end the senior’s college career, but Brown is expected to make a full recovery following surgery. Brown and another senior, Tavarres King, share the lead with 27 catches. Brown has four touchdown catches.
Tennis
• Czech Republic keeps Fed Cup: The Czech Republic kept its Fed Cup title Sunday when Lucie Safarova routed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-1, 6-1 for an unassailable 3-1 lead in the final. Safarova won the second reverse singles in the best-of-five series. She captured the match against a former No. 1 player with a forehand on her second match point before an ecstatic sell-out home crowd on the hard court at O2 Arena in Prague. The Czechs are the third country in a row to successfully defend the Fed Cup title. Russia won in 2007-08 and Italy 2009-10. The Czechs took a 2-0 lead after the opening singles Saturday, but Ana Ivanovic made it 2-1 Sunday by beating Petra Kvitova 6-3, 7-5. It was the first loss for Kvitova after 11 straight Fed Cup singles wins.
• Ferrer wins Paris Masters: David Ferrer ended the amazing run of Polish qualifier Jerzy Janowicz 6-4, 6-3 at the Paris Masters on Sunday, clinching his first Masters title and winning a tour-leading seventh trophy of the season. The 69th-ranked Janowicz eliminated five top-20 ranked players, including No. 3 Andy Murray, to reach the final. Ferrer’s seven titles is one more than Roger Federer, who did not defend his title in Paris.
• Petrova beats Wozniacki in final: Nadia Petrova stunned top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-1 to win the Tournament of Champions on Sunday in Bulgaria, clinching her third WTA title of the year. The second-seeded Russian broke Wozniacki twice in each set, taking control from the beginning through her booming serve and groundstrokes.
Hockey
* NHL and union make progress: A secret, long-awaited bargaining session has done some good in the NHL labor fight — so much so that the sides already have plans to get back to the bargaining table soon. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and players’ association special counsel Steve Fehr met for long stretches of Saturday in an undisclosed location, marking the first time the sides had gotten together for talks in more than two weeks. “We had a series of meetings over the course of the day and had a good, frank discussion on the most important issues separating us," Daly told The Associated Press in an email Sunday morning. “We plan to meet again early in the week." Daly and Fehr hadn’t met since Oct. 18 when both sides rejected offers.
Motor sports
• Raikkonen takes F1 race: Kimi Raikkonen won a crash-filled Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday in United Arab Emirates for his first victory since returning to Formula One this year, a result that throws open the drivers’ championship with two races remaining. Raikkonen, the 2007 champion who returned to F1 after rally driving for a year, overtook Red Bull’s Mark Webber at the start to move into second. He took the lead on the 20th lap when McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton retired because of a fuel pressure problem, and then avoided the half-dozen crashes and collisions that twice brought out the safety car. Raikkonen held off Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who finished second. Two-time defending F1 champion Sebastian Vettel clawed back from last to finish third, his lead over Alonso cut to 10 points. Vettel was penalized for fuel irregularities after qualifying, forcing him to start from the pits. He tops the drivers’ championship with 255 points, followed by Alonso (245) and Raikkonen (198).
— From wire reports
