Freshman chooses NU over home state
By Cory uolden
Staff Reporter
Eileen Shannon is an impact
player.
The freshman recruit has helped
fill the void left in a
Nebraska volley
I ball team line-up
rocked by injuries.
.. in a big way.
Five players on
Coach Terry Pet
tit’s 12-player
squad have beenL^BHBHHsH^H
held out at some Shannon
time this season,
but the Corn
huskers have continued their winning
ways with a 9-0 record, including
three tournament wins.
“We’ve been kind of going on a
day-to-day basis, trying to piece
things together,’’ Pettit said. “So far
it’s worked out.’’
Pettit said one of the reasons Ne
braska continues to roll is because of
Shannon, whose road from Elmhurst,
III., to the Huskers’ starting lineup
began long before this year.
“I saw her play two or three years
ago in Chicago,’ ’ Pettit said. “At that
time, she was a sophomore in high
school. We were recruiting someone
else on her team, but I made a mental
note that she was somebody we
would want to check back with in a
couple years.’’
Her high school team, Immaculate
Conception, compiled a 31-5 record
and was “ranked first for most of the
year,” Shannon said. ‘ ‘But we ended
up losing in regionals.”
No mailer.
T^e 6-foot outside hitter with the
.30-inch vertical jump already had
turned her share of heads, Pettit said.
“By the time she was a senior, we
k an^ mos* fbe better programs in
the country — were recruiting her,”
he said. ‘ ‘She was identified as one of
the finest high school players in the
country.”
Not only was Shannon named the
Illinois Player of the Year, she was
selected as a Junior Olympic All
America selection along with fellow
Husker recruit Valerie Vermeulen
and was a 1988 lst-team Reebok
High School All-America selection
along with freshman middle blocker
Stephanie Thater.
Shannon also played with the
Sports Performance junior team - the
squad on which Pettit first saw her
play, and was chosen Most Valuable
Player at the Amateur Athletic Union
volleyball championships.
Shannon was offered scholarships
by Notre Dame; Texas, the 1988 na
tional champion; and Southern Cali
fornia; but chose Nebraska.
“I guess I chose it, basically, be
cause there wasn’t anything I didn’t
like about it,” Shannon said.
She also rejected an offer from the
closest top-20 team to home: Illinois.
Shannon said she was thinking of
the future when she turned down the
Fighting Illini.
“At Illinois, lots of their big play
ers were seniors,” she said. “I felt
that if I went there as a freshman, I’d
be just another name. I’d be just
another face in the crowd.
“The underclassmen weren’t as
good as the underclassmen here. I
wanted it to be a better team when I
was a junior and senior than when I
was a freshman.”
With that in mind, Shannon made
her selection. And, along with
Thater, Vermeulen, and Debbie Lee
Brand, she joined Nebraska
“At the beginning, I didn’t think
I’d play because we had Linda
Bareness, Chris Hall, and Janet
Kruse,” Shannon said.
But Pettit thought otherwise.
“I thought she’d get a significant
amount of playing time,” he said.
We thought she was somebody who
could come right in and play right
away. She had all the all-around skills
and experience, and that’s pretty
unusual for a high school player.
“We planned on her having a sig
nificant impact this year.”
Pettit’s plans may have been final
ized by necessity, when Barsness
suffered a season-ending knee injury
in Nebraska’s second match of the
season. Barsness, a junior who was
the Big Eight leader in kills last year,
joined Hall on the sidelines. Hall was
benched with back spasms.
Brand, Shannon and Vermeulen
each took turns in the vacated outside
hitter spot opposite Kruse. But it has
been Shannon, when not dealing with
her own lower back pain,who has
played the majority of the time in the
starting spot.
Pettit said Shannon and her team
mates have responded to the adver
sity of those injuries and others -
including one to All-America selec
tion Virginia Stahr - very well.
“I think she (Shannon) has done
an exceptional job; all of our people
have,” he said.
Assisted by junior setter Val No
vak, Kruse and Shannon have led the
unbeaten team, trading the top spot in
the kill column along the way.
In Saturday’s FirsTier tournament
win over Pittsburgh, the freshman
pounded down a school-record 25
kills in three games. The night before
she tied another Husker best with 77
attacks in a five-match victory
against Kentucky.
Shannon also was selected to the
all-tourney team a week earlier at
Minnesota’s Reebok Classic, in
which Nebraska took first place.
All this still is not surprising, Pettit
said.
“She’s exactly what we thought
we were getting,’’ he said. “She’s an
exceptional player. She has one of the
most efficient approach and attack
movements I’ve seen in volleyball.
She’s able to just kind of glide in, go
up, and attack the ball in several
positions. She’s a good passer, a good
server, and she understands the
game.”
Once Shannon’s lower back pain
lessens, her play will get better, Pettit
said.
“She’s really an exciting player to
coach,” Pettit said, “and as she gets
healthier - as her back gets stronger
-- I think she’s going to do even
more.”
Pettit said he thought Shannon
could “accomplish a lot of things” at
Nebraska, including “a good chance
of making All-American before she
graduates.” But individual honors
depend on the success of the pro
gram, he said.
That is fine with the Husker fresh
man.
“I just want to help the team,” she
said.
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Men’s soccer team takes third place
The Nebraska men's soccer
team picked up a dual victory and
a third-place finish last weekend.
The Comhuskers began their
weekend by defeating Creighton
4-1 at the Cook Pavilion, tfien fin
ished third in the eight-team Jay
hawk Classic in Lawrence, Kan.
Nebraska opened the touma
merit by defeating Kansas State 3
1, then defeated Iowa l-O. The
Huskers then dropped a 3-1 deci
sion to Kansas and suffered a 2-!
setback to Missouri Sunday.
Doug Miller, Lane Kent, Rich
Ellis and Steve Knott all tallied
goals for Nebraska.
I Archery meet begins second phase
The second phase of a two-day
intramural archery meet takes
place today in 301 Mabel Lee Hall.
Persons interested in participat
ing in either the men’s, women’s or
co-rec divisions may register and
shoot any time between 6:15 p.m.
and 9:30 p.m. Novice and experi
enced divisions will be offered.
Hitter chosen as player of the week
Nebraska sophomore outside
hitter Janet Kruse was honored
Tuesday as the Big Eight player of
tiic week
Kruse tallied 55 kills. 13 blocks
and 35 digs while compiling a .346
hitting percentage to lead the
Cornhuskers to the team title of
last weekend's FirsTier Invita
tional.
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