thursday, november 16, 1978
page 14
daily nebraskan
sports
p-
Photo courtesy University of Missouri Athletic Dept.
Missouri senior Earl Gant is eighth in the Big Eight Conference in rushing going
into Saturday's contest with UNL. Tiger coach Warren Powers is confident a
Missouri win will put MU in a post -season bowl game.
Powers is coming home,
bringing Tigers this time
By Brad Horky
When sports enthusiasts say "the stu
dent is meeting the teacher." usually they
are speaking of the Big Ten Conference.
That's where Bo Schembechler's
Michigan Wolverines do battle with Woody
Hayes' Ohio State Buckeyes. Schembechler
was an assistant to Hayes, and they both
are successful coaches.
In the Big Eight Conference, that phrase
is beginning to be as important when Tom
Osborne and Warren Powers match wits
from different sides of the field.
Powers was an assistant coach under Os
borne at Nebraska before accepting the
head coaching position at Washington
State, and is now at the University of
Missouri.
In last season's opener for both schools,
Powers brought the WSU Cougars into Me
morial Stadium and shocked the football
world by downing the Huskers 19-10, in
his" coaching debut.
After one season at the helm of the
Cougars, Powers took the reins at Mizzou
and in this season's opener stunned every
one again as the Tigers dumped defending
national champion Notre Dame, in South
Bend, 3-0.
Saturday, Powers again comes "home"
as he brings the 64 Tigers to Lincoln to
meet the Orange Bowl bound, second
ranked Huskers.
Traditionally tough
"You always like to come back where
you came from and do good," Powers
said, "but it's no fun playing a great foot
ball team like Nebraska.
"But I don't play the game, the players
do, and Nebraska knows the Missouri game
Swimmers seek qualification for nationals
By Ed McClymont
The fortunes of the UNL women's
swimming and diving team appear to be
rosy for the 1978-79 season. The Huskers
return six individuals who qualified for the
national meet last year, and according to
Coach Ray Huppert, they have a chance to
qualify 10 individuals for this year's meet.
"This is the first year we have quality
athletes in every event," Coach Huppert
said. "If we stay 100 percent healthy we
can be a definite power."
The women participated in the Cyclone
relays where no points were kept. Coach
Huppert said the idea of the meet was to
let the girls get "a relationship of where
they stood with other kids." He said he felt
that that if scoring would have been kept,
the Huskers would have won by three or
four points.
Senior co-captains
Senior co-captains Ellen Hollander and
Kristi Wells will lead the women this year,
both having competed for three years in
the national meet. Hollander qualified on
the medley relay teams while Wells
competed in both the one- and three-meter
diving competition.
The four other returning national meet
qualifiers are juniors Cindy Agee, Melanie
Jakob, Anne Watland, and sophomore
JoDea Eckstrom. Eckstrom placed 20th
in the 100 medley, and all four swam on
the relays which competed at the nationals.
The Huskers will have added depth this
year at free-style with the addition of Cary
Backhaus who transferred from Alabama
two years ago. She did not compete last
year, despite the fact she went to nationals
while swimming for Alabama.
Freshman recruits
Three freshmen recruits should also add
depth to the squad, according to Huppert.
Laura Spindler, Rene Sullivan (high
school Ail-American), and Maria
Thompson are all capable of qualifying for
the national meet, which is at the Univer
sity of Pittsburgh this year, he said.
The qualifying time for nationals may
be achieved at any meet in the season.
However Huppert said he isn't concen
trating on that quite yet.
"The first semester we are working
mostly on conditioning," Huppert said.
"Right now we are practicing two times a
day Monday through Friday, and some
times on Sunday. In the second semester
we will start gearing the girls towards the
nationals."
Big eight meet
The Big Eight meet will be held at Okla
homa Feb. 22-24, and Huppert gives the
Sooners a slight edge, due to the home
arena. The returning champs Kansas and
Missouri also look tough, he said. Hope
fully, Huppert said, with added depth and
leadership, the Huskers could rise to the
top.
The women's first dual meet of the
season will be this Saturday at the
Nebraska Sports Center. The opposition
will be Oklahoma.
"We moved the starting time back to
4:30 in hopes that some of the football
crowd might stop in after the game instead
of getting out in the jam," Huppert said.
j: fJUfek. tut,. I
Warren Powers, head football coach
at the University of Missouri.
has always been a tough one, it's not me.
The last ten years Nebraska has won five
games and Missouri has won five."
Powers said the Nebraska and Missouri
football programs were alike, but Washing
ton State was a different story.
"Missouri and Nebraska both have
excellent programs," Powers said. "They
both have great followings. At Washington
State, the school was smaller and they
didn't have the great following out there as
NU and MU enjoy."
Powers also mentioned that he noticed
a different style of play in the Pac Ten
and Big Eight conferences.
"They are both excellent conferences,
but the Big 8 is a little more physical. De
fense is emphasized more here than out
there, and the defenses are a little more
aggressive.
"The Big 8 also has a tougher running
game than the Pac Ten does."
Plenty of incentive
Powers was asked if Nebraska's win
against Oklahoma would aid Mizzou
player's incentive.
"Our team really doesn't need any more
incentive," Powers said. "They (the MU
players) always play hard. But playing the
Big 8 champ and a team that is headed
towards the Orange Bowl has to add some
thing. When a team's on top everybody
wants a shot at you. Missouri can be tough
on Nebraska, I know, I used to have to
coach against them when I was at
Nebraska."
Powers said he is pleased with the
players at Missouri.
"They have adapted real well to having a
new coach at the institution," Powers said.
"We knew at the beginning of the year we
had an excellent chance on having a good
team. We'd have a better record, but we are
young and we've made a few mistakes."
Powers said that a bowl for Missouri
isn't out of the picture.
"We've got a few bowls interested and
looking at us. We've got a good shot at a
bowl if we can knock off Nebraska, but I
don't think we'll get a bid if we lose."
"We have great personnel," Powers said.
"We're young, but we'll grow, we're going
to continue to get better."
'Team presence contributes to winning volleyball season
By Kathy Chenault
Strenuous training and team play are
to be credited for the impressive 27-2
record compiled by the UNL freshman vol
leyball team, according to its coach, Russ
Rose.
"Individual-wise we weren't as potent as
many, possibly most of the teams we
played, but our success came as a result of
the actual talent we displayed as the pres
ence of a team." Rose said.
Rose commended his players for
working and training hard from the begin
ning through the end of the season. He said
his expectations at the start of the season
weren't high because there wasn't as much
individual talent present as in past years.
Expecting humble year
"I told myself at the outset that I would
have to be humble this year. I have always
been fortuate in being involved with suc
cessful teams, both as a player and since,
as a coach. But these girls have earned my
respect.
"They went out and worked together to
become the best playing unit they could
become. Nobody is capable of out-training
this bunch."
One of the reasons the team earned
respect from other teams and players as
well as Rose was the size of the squad, he
said, because there were only seven
members on the team.
"If you know anything about volleyball,
you know that doesn't allow for much
depth," he said, chuckling. "But they knew
they would play. They had to play."
Varsity opponents
Out of 29 matches played, only one was
against a junior varsity team. The
remainder were against varsity squads, who
Rose said are usually reluctant to play the
Nebraska freshmen.
"The large schools feel thay have
nothing to gain by playing a freshman
team, and a lot to lose," Rose said, adding
UNL manages to schedule the matches be
cause of its reputation as a strong team.
This season the team claimed victories
in Fort Hays. Colby and Nebraska invita
tional tournaments, while finishing second
in the Jayhawk meet. The high point of the
season, according to Rose, was splitting a
match with the varsity squad from Kansas.
The confident attitude of the girls was
another reason they were able to do well in
competition with top teams from other
schools.
No 'leftover' treatment
"They were not treated like leftovers
because I could never think of them in that
way. Consequently, they don't feel
inferior. This allowed them to go out and
concentrate on winning."
The only match losses were the first and
last played, which, Rose said, "made for a
very exciting and fun time in between."
Although the freshman team philosophy
is to work as a separate entity, the main
goal is developing future varsity members.
Rose said.
"I stressed performing under a certain
discipline and playing the name of the
game -defense. As far as individual poten
tial for varsity action, it's up to their own
personal desire and determination.
"Beyond that, they made the season a
total success by creating an atmosphere of
trust and confidence among themselves,
and a feeling of pride from me. I'll never
forget this team."
