Wednesday, August 24, 1933
Daily Nebraskan
Page 27
Volleyball i
By Ward W. Triplctt III
What Terry Pcttit has been saying
about his Nebraska volleyball team
may finally sink in this season for both
volleyball fans and UNL students who
could be volleyball fans if t hey gave it a
chance.
"One thing I'm real happy about
going into this season is that we've
already sold 630 season tickets," Pcttit
said. "Our goal was 1,000, but this
shows we've developed some type of
following."
Despite winning its seventh straight
Big Eight championship, a NCAA first
round gamehere and tying for ninth in
the final NCAA poll, last season 200 to
300 people per home game was a good
crowd.
The best crowds came after home
football games on a free admittance
with a football ticket. The NCAA
match against Penn State drew about
GOO spectators. -
"Those ticket sales have gone real
well, since we haven't started the stu
dent ticket promotions yet," Pettit
said.
"We'll have 12 home matches this
year, and the student price will be only
$5 (for season tickets), which is ridicu
lously low."
If the season ticket goal is reached,
1,000 home fans can expect to see
some of t he best female athletes in the
country playing for Nebraska, Pettit
said.
"I expect us to have a very good
team," he said. We return 6 to 7 people
at one time or another. We certainly
should be up to the physical chal
lenge." Nebraska's strength will center
around the ball-handling abilities of
;eam set xor
fast, powerful season
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Photo courtesy of UNL Sports Information Office
Sharon Kramer, a 6-foot sophomore from Clinton, Iowa, gets a spike past
a Penn State blocker in last year's first round NCAA tournament victory
at the UNL Coliseum.
three players, Cathy Noth, Erin Dean
and Mary Buysse, he said. Noth and
Buysse are setters and both all-Big
Eight selections though only juniors
this season.
Dean, one of only three seniors on
the squad, was an honorable mention
Volleyball Monthly magazine All
American. The 5-10 outside hitter was
also named to the all-Regional team in
last year's NCAA championships,
where she had 24 kills despite a five
set loss to Purdue.
The Huskers will also boast a strong
block with 6-foot sophomore Sharon
Kramer on one side, and either
Michelle Smith, a 5-11 sophomore, or
freshmen Enid Schoenwise or Karen
Dahlgren on the other.
"Enid is just a superb athlete a
little better one than we expected,"
Pettit said, and Dahlgren is coming off
a red-shirt season.
The dept h at middle-blocker made it
possible for Pettit to move sophomore
Annette Adamczak, who started most
of last season besides Kramer, to out
side hitter.
"We needed a strong, physical player
who could really wham the ball at out
side hitter," Pettit said. Gwen Egbert
filled that role last season, but she was
Nebraska's only loss to graduation.
"It was always in the plans to move
Annie outside anyway, but with
Dahlgren coming on the way she has,
we were able to go ahead and do it
now," Pettit said.
Adamczak will battle junior Julie
Hermann for the starting role. Pettit
expected Lynae Loseke, a former
Omaha World-Herald athlete of the
Year from Columbus to be in that bat
tle, but she has been lost until Sep
tember to torn ligaments.
Teresa Bohn, another junior, will be
a backup setter, as will senior Debbie
Thompson and freshman walk-on
Jennifer Vilaha from Mexico City.
Senior Sallye Ramsey is slated for
backup front court duty.
Nebraska's Big Eight dominance was
threatened briefly by Missouri last sea
son, after the Tigers won a five-set
match in Columbia. That threat was
ended however, when Missouri lost to
Iowa State in Ames, then were swept
in three sets by the Huskers in Lincoln.
Missouri, also a underclassmen
dominated squad, will be one of 19
opponents Nebraska will face this sea
son that ranked in NCAA Top 20 at one
time or another last season.
"Our schedule is the best we've ever
faced," Pettit said. "We've also got
games against eight teams that were in
the top 10 at some time."
Among Nebraska's oponents are San
Diego State in the San Diego State Invi
tational, and sixth-ranked California.
They will play a dual match against
Nebraska Sept. 22, then play in the
Husker Invitational that weekend. The
Invitational will include Louisville (No.
15) and Texas A&M (No. 19).
"If people like to watch fast-break
basketball, then they're going to love
our style of volleyball," Pettit said,"Our
game is just so fast and so powerful. I
hope we can make the transitions as
fast all season."
America's "TV team
scores on NL network
Analysis By Pat Clark
Due mainly to the miracle of cable television, the
National League is no longer a real baseball league.
Instead, it is much more appropriate to think of the
National League as a nightly television series. Ted
Turner does, and for right now anyway, it's his show.
Given that the only thing more Ainerican than
"baseball is television.what could be more American
than a baseball team that only exists on television?
The Atlanta Braves are such a team. The vast major
ity of their nationwide army of fair-weather fans
have never been within 100 miles of the stadium in
which they play, and probably would not go there
even if they had the opportunity to do so. Many of
them may not even be baseball fans per se as much
as they are simply vidiots, who watch because the
alternatives are "Chips" and Too Close for Comfort".
When Ted Turner dubbed his Braves "America's
Team," he probably did not mean for the name to
become quite so accurate.
The Atlanta Braves have become so closely tied to
their television fandom that even their games look
like they have been scripted out in advance. The
story is always the same: after eight innings, the
Braves are behind 4-1 (sighs and curses wheeze
from America's living rooms). But in the bottom of
the ninth, plucky little Brett Butler leads off with a
single, Rafael Ramirez gets a walk, then Dale Murphy
and Bob Horner hit back-to-back home runs to give
the Braves a 5-4 victory. The vidiots are happy.
That's my team out there!" they say between gargles
of beer. "Go all the way Braves, 'cuz if you dont I'm
television show to maintain viewer interest arid hold
The day may soon come when it is a matter of
national pride to cheer for the Braves, and they will
win 10 pennants in a row and Ted Turner will be
elected president of the United States. In fact, Ted
Turner and Ronald Reagan may really be the same
person. (You've never seen them standing together,
have you?) '
The National League still has 11 other teams
besides the Braves. For the most part, their function
this year is to serve as guest stars of the Braves
television show, to maintain viewer interes and hold
up the Nielsen ratings in the crucial Los Angeles
market, the Dodgers have been allowed to win
enough games to finish second in the division so far,
and even stay within hailing distance of the Braves.
There's a sneaking suspicion that this, too, has been
scripted out in advance, because the Dodgers con
tinue to win despite looking high and low for new
and ever more interesting ways to lose. With Pedro
Guerrero playing third base like it was in the Twi
light Zone," Greg Brock getting a steady two hits a
week at first base, and Steve Sax turning ground ball
outs into souvenirs for the fans behind first base,
there's no particular reason why this team should
have the second best record in the National League
cneven the Dodger organization.
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Photo courtesy of the Atlanta Braves
Bruce Benedict, an Omaha native, is one of the
players on the Braves' priae-tiine champion
ship show.
At the bottom of the NL West, and probably des
tined to stay there, are the Cincinnati Reds. If Amer
ica's Team is destined to win the division, it is only
appropriate that a team called the Reds finish dead
last. The Reds are harmless enough now, but if they
should start to win again, President Turner-Reagan
will doubtless institute a plan of covert aid to their
opponents.
In the National League East, appropriately re
named the National League Least, the club presid
ents recently got together for a secret meeting in St.
Louis to scrap the championship race altogether,
and try to forge a six-way tie for second. At press
time, Phillies had the lead at a whopping six games
.600. The two teams that have done the best job of
staying with this breakneck pace are the Pittsburgh
Pirates and the Montreal Expos.
Certainly, the St. Louis Cardinals dont intend to
stand in anybody way if they want to take the
division championship. The Cardinals still have the
fastest outfield in baseball with Lonnie Smith, David
Green and Willie McGee, and they've had to be faster
than ever this year to dodge all of those line drives
flying through the infield.
The case against the NL East this year could be
summarized by the fact that if the Chicago Cubs
have a good September, they could conceivably win
the division.
Ccr.tir.aed on Parte 23
AL like a hot dog
with all the fixings
Analysis by Pat CVDoimell
This is the best time of the year for the sports
fan.
Nowhere in the major leagues are the races
hotter than in the American League East. Bal
timore, Detroit, Toronto, New York and Mil
waukee trade the lead among themselves al
most everyday.
Many baseball fans say this is balance of
power, great baseball, the best competition. In
an absurd way, it is. None of the teams are
well-rounded enough to win the division by
more than a game or two.
Sure the American League is more exciting. .
.it has George Steinbrenner. We haven't heard
much from George this year. That's the number
one reason why the Yankees are going into
September with a shot at the pennent. George
did have something to say last week when he
lambasted the hot dogs at Fort Lauderdale,
Fla., where the Yankees have a Class A team.
Too cold and too stale, he told the New York
press. Heads will probably roll, he said, if he
couldn't get a hot dog with all the fixin's, on a
fresh bun. That's the way Steinbrenner keeps
his team winning, by keeping out.
We have heard from Billy Martin though, as
he set an American League record for being
suspended twice this season and has been
thrown out of more games than American
League President Lee McPhail can count on his
fingers.
. The Kansas City Royals are in the same
situation they were in a year ago. . .a great
team, but something is missing. This year, just
like last year, they are a starting pitcher short
of the playoffs. But unlike last year, the Royals
don't have to worry about the California
Angels, whose only bright spot is Rod Carew.
Reggie Jackson is the highest paid .212 hitter in
baseball and he won't have October to redeem
himself this time.
But on the bright side, Chicago is geared up
for a pennant for the first time in ages, and
they very well may make it. The White Sox are
the most successful combination of experience
and youth in the American League. Greg Lu
zinski is playing as well as ever, and Ron Kittle
is the talk of the Windy City, a shoe in for rookie
of the year. Only one other good thing to say
about the rest of the AL West . . . Ricky Hender
son has more than 70 stolen bases.
Meanwhile, back in the East, Milwaukee has
been practically invincible since the AH-Star
fireak, and Cecil Cooper leads the league in
homers and RBI's. Peter Ldd has become the
new fireman to replace the injured Roiiie Fin-
Csrs.