Sports
Volleyball Super - Stater
chooses the Comhuskers
By Mark Derow itsch
Senior Reporter
A Nebraska high school volleyball
Super-State selection announced
Sunday that she has verbally commit
ted to play at Nebraska.
Janet Kruse, a 6-foot senior from
Blair, said that on Feb. lOshe will sign
a national lctlcr-of-intent to attend
Nebraska.
“All along I’ve liked Nebraska,
and I’ve always wanted to go there
ever since I attended their camp my
freshman year,” Kruse said.
Kruse was recruited by Ohio Stale,
Iowa, Kansas, Arizona State and
Oklahoma as well as Nebraska. But
she said it wasn’t a hard decision to
become a Comhusker.
“I didn’t take any other recruiting
trips because I knew I wanted to go to
Nebraska,” Kruse said. “They have a
good volleyball program.”
Besides attending the Nebraska
camp in her freshman year, Kruse also
participated in the camp with her high
school team.
Although Nebraskaonly graduated
one player from this year’s team,
Kruse said she thinks she’ll sec plenty
of action during her freshman season.
“I’d like to play a lot,” Kruse said,
“but I’ll have to work really hard this
summer to be able to do that.”
Laurel Derry, Kruse’s volleyball
coach at Blair, agreed.
“With them losing only one senior,
who was an outside hitter, 1 don’t
know how she’ll fit in,” Derry said.
“But 1 anticipate that she will see
plenty of action as a freshman.”
Kruse said she will play outside
hitter for the Huskers. She said she
needs to improve a few aspects of her
game to play that position.
"1 need to ork on my blocking and
get that stutT down a little bit more.”
Kruse said. "M> back-court game and
my defense also needs work.”
Derry said Kruse has the tools to
play outside hitter in college.
“She’s such a great hitler and that’s
the highlightofher game,” Derry said.
“Also, she’s very menially into the
game and she’s aware of some aspects
that most players don’t think about.”
As a senior, Kruse recorded more
than 200killsand almost lOOblocksin
leading Blair to the Class B champion
ship game. In the finals, Blair was
defeated by Grand Island Central
Catholic in three sets.
For her efforts, Kruse was named
one of the honorary' captains for the
Lincoln Journal-Star’s Super-State
volleyball team. She was also on the
Class B all-state team.
“By the end of her sophomore
season, she was playing real well with
the best competition,” Derry said. “I
feel she has the potential to go as far as
she wants.”
Ex-Husker wants medal
as a gymnast (or coach)
By Hit hard Cooper
Staff Reporter
Steve Elliott looks down at the
floor exercise board from the stands of
the Bob Dcvancy Sports Center. He
remembers the days when he would
walk on the floor and the crowd would
start to roar.
Elliott, from Amarillo, Texas,
helped the Nebraska men’s gymnas
tics team win four of its Five NCAA
championships. From 1979tol982he
won three individual NCAA titles —
two on the floor exercise and one on
the vault.
Elliott said he remembers the fans
more than anything else during the
years he spcntcompcting at Nebraska.
“Performing at home was the big
gest thrill for me because the fans were
so enthusiastic,” Elliott said. “They
inspired me to do my best.
“i ____*:__1 •_i _ r_
i w a> miiu ui ail
exchange between the crowd and me:
They would get going because of the
things I did, and I got going because of
the things they did. It was an exchange
of motivation and excitement.”
Nebraska men’s gymnastics coach
Francis Allen said Elliott wascxciting
to watch because of his high skill level
at tumbling. By 1980, Elliott was the
only American who used a double
twist double-back flip and a 1 3/4 flip
with a 1 1/2 twist in the laid-oul posi
tion in his floor exercise routine.
Those two tricks earned Elliott
three World Tumbling Champion
ships from 1982-1984.
Elliott said one reason he came to
Nebraska was to compete in diving
and gymnastics. He won the the Big
Eight 3-mclcr diving title in 1979 and
1980.
Elliot said it was hard for him to
compete the diving team because
lie focused more attention on gymnas
tics.
“Doing gymnastics had always
been my first love," Elliott said. “I
didn’t get into diving until high
school, and there were limes when I
would come into the gym only once a
week, because I had been doing
gymnastics so much longer.
“The hard part was spending all
day on the diving platform and then
coming into the gym and working
out.” ,
Allen said Ellioii always seemed lo
show up when he was needed at
gymnastics meets.
“1 remember during his first year at
Nebraska, we were at the Rocky
Mountain Invitational and we needed
him to compete for us,” Allen said.
“Steve showed up right before the
floor exercise, took off his sweats and
performed.
“What’s funny is, he had just fin
ished a diving meet in Arizona, and he
flew up to compete for us.”
Elliott said 1982 is the year he
remembers because it was the last
national champion team he was on. It
was also the year he won NCAA titles
in the floor exercise and vault.
“The 1982 NCAA meet was the
highlight of my career because we had
won four straight NCAA titles,” Elli
ott said, “but winning the floor exer
cise for the second lime and winning
the vault for the first lime was icing on
the cake."
uuring me lour years he was at
Nebraska, Elliott said, the team be
came more confident each year.
“At the NCAA’s it seemed like the
only challenge we had in the team
finals was to beat our previous year’s
score,” Elliott said. “We were so
confident that we felt nobody could
beat us at the NCAA’s—especially at
home.”
Elliott retired from tumbling com
petition in 1985 because he needed
knee surgery. In the spring of 1987, he
came out of retirement to compete in
the U.S. Tumbling Nationals and won
the meet. Elliot said he ended his
retirement because the U.S. Olympic
Committee accepted tumbling as a
competitive event.
Elliott said he wants to earn an
Olympic medal, cither as a coach or a
competitor.
“If something is going to happen in
the next 10 years on the Olympic
scene, I want to be a part of it,” Elliott
said. “I’ve accomplished every goal
as a tumbler except winning a gold
medal,”
Elliolsaid that ifhcisn’iacompcti
tor in the 1992 Olympics he’ll be a
coach.
“Coaching is something I’ve al
ways enjoyed doing,” Elliott said. “If
I don’t make the team, the USOC is
telling me I will be the coach.”
Butch Iretand/Daily Nebraskan
University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Broda Dickerson prepares to block a shot by
Nebraska's Amy Stephens.
Ivy beats Stephens for scoring
honors as NU defeats UMKC
By Chuck (Jreen
Senior Reporter
The mosl-noliceablc contest
during the Nebraska women’s bas
ketball victory Monday was
among the Comhuskcr team itself
— for leading-scorer honors.
Maurtice Ivy scored 22 points
and Amy Stephens added 21 to lead
the Huskers past the University of
Missouri-Kansas City 93-82 at the
Bob Dcvancy Sports Center.
Ivy’s 22 points placed her at No.
2 on Nebraska’s all-time career
scorer. Ivy surpassed Kathy Hagcr
strom and trails Debra Powell for
first place by 54 points.
Ivy was pleased with her No. 2
place on the charts, “but my goal is
to be No. 1,” she said.
“I don’t really think about rec
ords and stuff when I go in,” Ivy
said. “I just go out and play my
game. If I did think about it, there
may be some problems.”
Nebraska coach Angela Beck
said the team as a whole suffered
some problems against the Lady
Kangaroos, particularly in terms ol
motivation.
"We were very lethargic at
times,” Beck said. ‘‘Wcdidn’t play
with a lot of emotion — it just
wasn’t out there on the floor.”
Beck said UMKC’sdcfcnsc—a
three-quarter trap — presented
problems for Nebraska as well.
“We had trouble with that de
fense because we hadn’t seen it this
year,” Beck said. “It was so simple
to break, but we couldn’t do it. The
intensity just wasn’t there.”
Beck said that much of the
motivational problem stemmed
from the fact that the Huskers de
feated UMKC earlier this season
96-79 in Kansas City, Mo. But, she
said, Nebraska wasn’t taking the
Lady Kangaroos lightly.
“UMKC’s not a pushover
team,” Beck said. “They’ve played
some good teams this season, and
played them well.”
Ivy, however, said she thought
the previous victory over UMKC
made it difficult for the team to
prepare for the game.
‘When you play somebody af
ter beating them, like UMKC, you
think about the first win a bit,” Ivy
said. “It’s much easier to get psy
ched up fora No. 1 team, like Iowa,
than it is for a team you’ve beaten
already.”
UMKC coach Nancy Norman
said that although she was satisfied
with her team’s performance, she
wasn’t content with the game’s
officiating.
“I’m really proud of what the
girls did with our 11, 12 or 13
players,” Norman said, “but we
never fouled out four players in a
game before. I just think the offi
cials weren’t ready for this upbeat
of a game. They were never in
position to call a foul. I'm not
saying it decided the game, I’m just
saying it was poor officiating.
When you let one team play physi
cal, you let the other play physi
cal.”
Nebraska led 51 -35 at halftime.
The Huskers’ biggest lead of the
game was 81-55 midway through
the second half.
Broda Dickerson of UMKC led
all scorers with 28 points. Dicker
son connected on 6 of 7 three-point
shots — a record for Nebraska
opponents — and shot 8 of 14 from
the field overall.
“Broda is a streak shooter,”
Norman said. "When she’s on,
there’s no belter shooter than what
she can do for you. She kept us in
the ball game.
“I’d like to think it was, any
way,” Beck said. “It was a very
positive thing and it’s helped the
individual players and the whole
team.”
Ivy agreed.
“We’re at the point where we’re
getting used to playing in the
games with each other,” Ivy said.
“Now our main objective is to go
out and play well in the Big Eight.
We’re starting to gcll together as a
team and I don’t see any major
problems with motivation from
here on out.
“1 think we’re ready to go.”