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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 1987)
__ Sports. Nebraska uses trio to defeat Fighting Irish By Mark Derowitsch Senior Reporter and Mike Kluck Staff Reporter Throughout this week in practice, Nebraska volleyball coach Terry Pettit said he could sense the Cornhuskers would perform well against Notre Dame. And Pettit’s expectations proved to be correct as Ne braska defeated the Fighting Irish 15-3, 15-1, 15-9 before 823 fans at the NU Coliseum. “We’ve been practicing well- there wasn’t anybody on the squad or the coaches that didn’t know going into this that we were going to play well,” Pettit said. “I can’t tell whether we’re going to win but I can usually sense when we are about to play really well because it shows up in practice.” Pettit said the 19-1 Huskers played good defense against the Irish. He said they performed equally well offensively. “We did a nice job,” Pettit said. “I thought we set up our block particularly on (outside hitter Zanette) Bennett, who’s a great player. You can’t stop her but maybe at least you can pre vent her from dominating the mitch. We did a good job there.” Bennett recorded nine kills and hit .172 percent. Coming into the match, Bennett was hitting .332 percent. wucrisivciy, uic nusxcrs were led by outside hitter Kathi DeBoer. The senior from Firth had 11 kills and one service ace. Middle blocker Virginia Stahr hit .714 and recorded 10 kills. Lori Endicott had one serv ice ace to raise her string of consecutive matches with at least one to 12. Pettit said he counted on his three offensive weapons to lead the Huskers. “DeBoer, Endicott, and Stahr we count on,” Pettit said. “And they’re doing a good job of getting better.” Pettit said the reason for the Huskers offensive success is because of their fast paced at tack. “The tempo in which we do things is faster (than most teams),” Pettit said. “It would be like playing basketball and then all of a sudden running into a team that was just throwing the outlet pass to midcourt.” In the first set, the Huskers raced out to an 11-0 lead before Notre Dame avoided the shut out. DeBoer had four kills while Angie Millikin added two. Notre Dame added two more points on a Husker error and an ace kill by Taryn Collins to close the gap to 11-3. But two ace kills by Carla Baker and Val Novak, and a Notre Dame hilling error gave the set to Nebraska. The Huskers jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in die second sel before a net violation pul the Irish on the scoreboard. The Huskers scored the next 12 points to take a two-set lead. In the final set, Nebraska look a 13-5 lead before Notre Dame came back and cut the Husker lead to four, 13-9, But a Notre Dame error and a kill by Endicott gave the win to Nebraska. Notre Dame coach Art Lam bert said the Fighting Irish started good but couldn’t keep up the pace. Paul Vonderlage/Daily Nebraskan lldiko Guba Hungarian tennis champ to serve as a Husker By Steve Sipple Staff Reporter Nebraska tennis coach Kerry McDermott stumbled upon Hungar ian tennis player Ildiko Guba this summer. Now Guba is stampeding over opponents on the Comhuskers’ fall schedule. Guba, an 18-year-old freshman from Budapest, Hungary, is unde feated as a Husker. She won champi onships in the Nebraska Open on Sept. 7 and 8 and the Wood Valley Open in Topeka, Kan., two weeks ago. Guba has defeated Arkansas’ Christy Rankin, Oklahoma’s Julie Vaughn and Kansas State’s Theresa Burcham, all of whom are the No. 1 singles players at their colleges. McDermott said Guba may be Nebraska’s best women’s player ever. But if not for Nebraska’s visiting civil engineering professor Istvan Bogardi, McDermott said, Guba wouldn’t be a Husker. McDermott said Bogardi, also from Budapest, contacted Guba about Nebraska last May. McDermott said he met Bogardi during the summer of 1985. He said Bogardi approached him about giving tennis lessons to his children, who played on a club team, the Spartac ules, with Guba. McDermott, who is in his first season as the Husker men’s and women’stcnniscoach, said he learned in May that Bogardi was returning to Budapest for two weeks. McDermott said he sent information on Nebraska and its tennis program to Budapest in case Bogardi knew of any tennis pros pects who might want to attend col lege in the United States. Two weeks later, McDermott said, he learned that Guba was interested. Guba was ranked 10th in the junior world rankings and had captured jun ior titles at Wimbeldon and at the French Open. “At first I thought (her interest) was a joke,” McDermott said. “I thought she was going to turn pro. But her parents wanted her to get an education and at the same time improve her game.” Guba said she liked the idea of coming to America. “It was basically the language,” she said. “I couldn’t learn to speak English any other way. And learning the culture — I liked that idea. “I probably wouldn’t have gone to college in Hungary. I wasn’t thinking of school, I was thinking of taking a year off. But this came and I was feeling good, so I said I’d love to come.” McDermott said he signed Guha in late July. She arrived in Lincoln Aug 20. McDermott said it is time for him to appreciate Guba’s talent. “A week after school started I saw her play for the first time,” he said. “I knew she was good, but I didn’t know how good. “But from playing her ... she hits so hard for a girl.” McDermott said Guba mixes power with finesse. “She has really soft touch for a girl, which you don’t see much,” McDer mott said. “She can slice her backhand and lop-spin her backhand one handed — not many women can do that.” Guba spent last season as a member of the Hungarian Federation tennis team. She said she has played all over Europe, South America and the United Slates with that team. Guba said she first came to the United States last December to play in the Continental Players’ Cup at Pom pano Beach, Fla. Later that month, she competed in the Orange Bowl Junior Clay Court World Champion ships in Miami. Guba said the time she spent on the road made her high-school days dif ferent from that of the average teen ager. She said it also made her lirst weeks as a college student rough. “It was so scary,” Guba said. “It was like, 'Oh my God.’ It was so different to go to class every day. I had to get used to that, but it’s fine now. “(In Hungary') I could go whenever I wanted to, but I didn’t have much lime.” Guba said the Hungarian Tennis Federation allowed her to travel and take tests by certain deadlines that were set by her high school. She said exceptional athletes are often granted that benefit in Europe. “1 always did fairly well,” she said. McDermott said Guba has made a smooth transition from high school to college. “She used to travel by herself at a young age,” he said. “I think she’s made the adjustment real well. “Hopefully she can benefit from what we have to offer and we can benefit from what she has to offer.” McDermott said Guba will offer stability at the lop of the Huskers’ lineup when they start Big Eight con ference play in late April. Wildcat impressive, Osborne says By Mark Derowitsch Senior Reporter After holding Oklahoma State running back Thurman Thomas to seven yards on nine carries last week, Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne said the Comhuskcrs must slop another impressive running back Saturday. Osborne said that although Kansas State tailback Tony have Thomas’ sta tistics, the scnioi from Rochester, N.Y., is just as good as the Oklahoma Stale Hcisman Tro phy candidate. “The guy that catches your eye is Tony Jordan,” Osborne said. “He’s _ probably the big- Jordan gest pure running back we’ve faced this year, and 1 really believe that he’s as good as anyone we’ve seen. He may not have the opportunity that (UCLA running back)Gaston Green and Thur man Thomas would have, but I think his abilities arc equal.” Jordan and the rest of the 0-6 Wild cats will face the Huskers Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is sched uled for 1:35 p.m. Jordan has rushed for 345 yards on 75 carries this season despite an in jured left ankle. Those numbers com pare to the 707 yards on 129 attempts that Thomas has picked up this season. Kansas Stale coach Stan Parrish said Jordan has managed to play well despite the injury. “When he’s been healthy he’s played really well,” Parrish said. ‘Right now, it’s not fair to assess what he’s all about. He’s the best football player on the team. “He’s the cog that keeps things going. He keeps the spirit up, keeps us working.” Parrish said what keeps Jordan from being named all-Big Eight is a talented offensive line. “Let him run behind (Nebraska’s) line, he’d do very well,” Parrish said. “1 mean, running behind our line, how well is (Husker I-back) Keith Jones going to do?” Parrish said another offensive weapon the Wildcats rely heavily on is quarterback Gary Swim. Swim, a transfer from Snow Community Col lege in Ephraim, Utah, has completed 51 percent of his passes for 706 yards and six touchdowns. Osborne said Swim is a different type of quarterback than what the Huskers arc used to seeing. 'He's the cog that keeps us going. He keeps the spirit up, keeps us working.' —Parrish “Their quarterback is a good thrower,” Osborne said. “He doesn’t appear to be a scrambler. Bui I think he has the ability to stand in there and throw the ball pretty well.” Osborne said the 6-0 Huskers can’ll afford a letdown even though they have defeated Kansas State the last 18 times they have faced them. Nebraska has outscored the Wildcats 704-173 during that era. “It (a Wildcat victory) can happen,’ Osborne said, Osborne said he remembers the last time Kansas State beat the Huskcrs. Osborne was an assistant to former Nebraska coach and current athletic director Bob Dcvaney when the Wild cats defeated Nebraska 12-0 in 1968. “(Nebraska linebackers coach) John Mellon and I sat up in the press box and hid for about an hour when the score was 12-0,” Osborne said. “We wouldn’t come out because we let the fans go al ter Bob. T hen when the coast was clear, we came down.” Parrish said a Kansas Slate victory over Nebraska would go down as “one of the biggest upsets in the history of college football.” “It would mean everything to beat Nebraska,” he said. “It would be a resurrection. It would also be one of the dark days in (Nebraska’s) pro gram.”