Sports
Tennis player inspired to face the best
By Paul Dometer
Stiff Reporter t
Professional wrestler Ric Flair
used to challenge competitors to try
for his heavyweight championship by
saying, “You wanna be The Man,
you gotta BEAT The Man.”
Nebraska tennis player Matthias
Mueller has taken Flair’s words to
heart. He said he knows that to be a
top player, he must play the top play
ers.
So Mueller, in his First season at
No. 1 singles for the Comhuskers,
traveled to the Volvo All-American
tournament in Athens, Ga., last
weekend.
Mueller was the last player to en
ter the qualifying round of the tourna
ment, and he won three matches to
reach the finals of the qualifying
rounds.
Johan Mizuerk of Louisiana State
defeated Mueller, 6-4, 6-4, to keep
the Husker out of the 32-man touma
ment, but with the three victories
Mueller should make the lop 50 in the
next collegiate rankings, Nebraska
men’s tennis coach Kerry McDer
mott said.
Mueller didn’t make the first rank
ings.
Mueller said he went to the meet
so he could play the top individuals in
the country.
“It was my first time out against
all of the good players,’’ he said. “I
want to know how good they are.’’
Last semester, Mueller won the
Big Eight’s No. 3 singles title. When
Steven Jung and Robert Sjoholm
completed their eligibility, Mueller
inherited the top spot
Mueller said he played Jung in
practice last year, and Jung, who was
the NCAA individual runner-up,
always would win.
But last year Jung went to the
Volvo tournament and only reached
the final round of qualifying. McDer
mott said he hopes Mueller can make
the same progress that Jung did.
After his showing at the Volvo
tournament, Mueller said he thinks
he can battle for a top-60 spot, and
maybe make the NCAA tournament
next spring.
Mueller said he isn’t iooking to
make the finals of the NCAAs. He
even said he’d be satisfied with
reaching the semifinals of the Big
Eights this season.
But he is confident in his spot on
the team.
“I don’t want to sound too selfish
and self-centered, but I think I’m the
best player on the team,” he said.
Mueller came to Nebraska from
Hamm, West Germany, last year.
Though originally from Sweden,
Sjoholm played club tennis with
Mueller in Hamm. They even teamed
together in doubles.
Mueller said he visited the United
States in the summer of 1988. He
stayed with Sjoholm for a week, and
McDermott asked Mueller if he
wanted to play for Nebraska.
Kathrin Edelkotter, another friend
of Sjoholm’s and Mueller’s from the
club in Hamm, came to Nebraska in
the fall of 1988 to play % for the
women’s team. She tested the school
for Mueller, and encouraged him to
enroll.
Mueller said Sjoholm helped him
prepare for the SAT and other entry
tests he needed, and after completing
his year of military service, Mueller
joined his friends in Lincoln.
He soon took over at No. 3, and ran
off a 16-match winning streak before
grabbing the Big Eight title.
Mueller said he wasn’t sure he’d
be back, though. He said he had
trouble adapting to the university,
and he knew little English.
He went home to Hamm this
summer, he said, still undecided.
McDermott told Mueller that he
needed to know his decision by early
June, so he could give the scholarship
to someone else if the top returnee
elected not to come back.
Mueller weighed his options at
Nebraska and in Germany, and de
cided to come back to the United
StHtCS
“First of all, I liked it,’ ’ he said. “I
also get the opportunity to play tenn is
every day, study and get my degree. ’ ’
At Nebraska, Mueller gets his tui
tion paid for, and he gets to play some
of the top players in the country.
He said he will improve by play
ing the best players. Going up against
the best is also good for McDermott,
since the coach and the player admit
ted Mueller has trouble concentrating
against lesser opponents.
In spite of that annoying habit,
McDermott said Mueller is in the
same situation Jung was last fall, and
Mueller could do the same things
Jung did.
“I still feel Matthias has the po
tential to be a solid No. 1 for us, and
make a name for himself,” he said.
Columnist advises Iowa on win against NU
Iowa Stale coach Jim Walden will
be up to his usual tricks when the
Cyclones face Nebraska on Saturday.
But he needs to add some new
twists.
Throughout the year, Nebraska
has shown that it is vulnerable. The
Comhuskers have a mounting num
ber of key injuries on offense, and
they showed against Oklahoma State
that their‘dime defense can be run
against.
With this in mind, Walden needs
to adjust his plan of attack so it ex
ploits these areas of concerns. Here’s
what Walden needs to do in order to
beat Nebraska:
• Run in what appears to be obvi
ous passing situations.
Time and time again, Oklahoma
State tailback Vcmon Brown picked
up alarming amounts of yardage
when the Huskcrs went into their
dime defense. The dime is effective
against most passing quarterbacks,
but Brown and the Cowboys showed
that it can be challenged when a team
has a halfway-decent back. •
This week, Iowa State needs to run
in second-and-long situations and
throw only when it absolutely needs
to or believes it can catch Nebraska
off guard.
The Cyclones have a formidable
running back in Blaise Bryant, and
quarterback Bret Oberg is capable of
putting up big numbers through the
air in a hurry. If the Obcrg-Bryant
combination is used effectively and
mixed occasionally with another re
ceiver or tight end, things could get
interesting.
And if nothing else works, Iowa
State always can run up the middle.
•When his team docs pass, work
on the comers and stay away from the
middle.
Throughout the year, Nebraska
strong safety Reggie Cooper has
proved that he is a formidable force in
the middle. To try to neutralize his
presence, as well as give up a seem
ingly automatic six points on an inter
ception return, work on corncrbacks
Tahaun Lewis and Bruce Pickens.
Pickens possesses great speed, but
is vulnerable on short, hook patterns.
If Iowa State starts its offensive series
off with a quick pass for seven yards
that come compliments of Pickens, it
will allow Obcrg to drop back in the
pocket and cither throw or hand off
on a draw to Bryant.
If the quick pass is dropped or
incomplete, let Nebraska’s defense
dictate what is done next. If the dime
unit is in, run. If not, it’s all up to
Obcrg.
And if all else fails, Iowa State
always can attack Lewis by throwing
deep down the sideline. This works —
iust ask Oklahoma State’s Curtis
Mayfield.
• Concentrate on stopping Ne
braska quarterback Gerry Gdowski
and the vaunted triple option.
A large part of Nebraska’s offense
this season has come compliments of
Gdowski and Huskcr fullback Bryan
Carpenter. Carpenter’s statistics
aren’t that impressive, but his role in
Nebraska’s offense is.
Carpenter is dangerous, particu
larly when Gdowski takes the foot
ball and stuffs it into hisbclly to begin
the triple option. If the defensive line
sags toward Carpenter, Gdowski
takes the ball out and runs an option
play.
This combination, which also in
cludes Nebraska running back Ken
Clark, has proved to be an effective
combination all season long. Iowa
State must stop it, or at least contain
it, in order to be successful.
• Force Nebraska to throw.
Gdowski is an impressive passer,
but his once talent-filled group of
receivers is diminishing quickly.
The latest receiver to fall by the
wayside is wingback Richard Bell,
who suffered a hamstring injury
against Oklahoma State. Bell’s status
for Saturday is questionable, and
even if heplays, it’s doubtful that he
will be 100 percent.
To make matters worse, Bell’s
backup - the talented Nate Turner ~
didn’t make the trip to Oklahoma
State and is questionable for Iowa
State. That leaves two unproven
players -- Mark Dowse and freshman
Tyrone Hughes - at the wingback
position.
• Avoid kicking situations as
much as possible.
Iowa State dropped a 43-40 deci
sion to Oklahoma Saturday thanks
largely to kicker Jeff Shudak, who
was suspended for breaking an undis
closed team role. Shudak won’t play
against Nebraska, and his replace
ment, Rich Petrovich, might as well
not even make the trip.
After Petrovich missed his first
extra point attempt of the day against
Oklahoma, Walden elected to go for
two points the rest of the game. He
also turned the ball over three limes
on downs instead of kicking chip
shot field goals.
That means Iowa Slate gave up at
least four points against Oklahoma,
and easily could have made 13 more.
Makes you wonder how Shudak
feels, huh?
• Use the no-huddle offense.
If Walden really wants to throw a
wrench into Nebraska’s plans, he
should run a no-huddle offense. This
would prevent the Huskers from
making their defensive changes and
also would allow for more offense
defense mismatches.
The only trouble with a no-huddle
offense is it relics so much on the
talents of the quarterback. If Obcrg is
on - which he is capable of being - a
no-huddle attack would be a great
weapon.
But if not, it could be a disaster.
None of these recommendations
arc meant to be taken as guarantees of
success. Iowa Stale probably could
run them all day and still find a way to
lose.
But if run effectively, these rec
ommendations would at least give
Iowa Slate a chance.
Apcl i<i a senior news-editorial major and is
the Daily Nebraskan sports editor.
Jump serve will be effective against
ISU starters, volleyball coach says
By Darran Fowler
Senior Reporter
Becky Bolli, a junior on Ne
braska’s volleyball team, will find
out if her tight-spinning, high-veloc
ity jump serve still iscffective against
Iowa State when the Comhuskers
meet the Cyclones today at 7 p.m. in
Ames, Iowa.
“I’ve always been real successful
against Iowa State for some reason,”
Bolli said. “I started off real good
against them as a freshman and now I
think it’s just become a psychological
edge.”
Nebraska, ranked No. 4, has a
record of 15-1 and 5-0 in the confer
ence. Iowa State is 13-9 and 4-2 in
Big Eight play.
Nebraska assistant coach John
Cook said he is anticipating a big
match from Bolli. He said he expects
Bolli to be effective again this year
against Iowa State because the Cy
clones are reluming the same six
starters from last year’s team.
“She’s always had big matches
with Iowa State in the past,” Cook
said. “We’re counting on her to make
real good runs on them with her jump
serve.”
“They have trouble with the jump
serve. And it’s the same girls that she
saw last year and she served them off
the court. Psychologically, she’s got
their number.”
Bolli, a walk-on who was awarded
a scholarship last spring, said the
jump serve initially looks like it is
going to sail out of bounds, but then it
drops suddenly due to the ball’s tight
spin.
An ace weighs heavily on the
minds of opposing players, she said.
* ‘Every time I register one they get
light,” Bolli said, “and then it gets to
be a psychological problem more
than a physical one, because it’s not
that tough a serve. It can be
handled.”
Returning to handle those serves
for the Cyclones are three seniors,
two sophomores and a junior.
“They’re a real experienced
team,” Cook said. “They started off
doing really well. They upset Iowa
when Iowa was in the top 20.”
Cook said sophomore Tracy Gra
ham, who is second on the Iowa team
with 268 kills, is the Cyclones’ best
player. Graham has compiled a .241
hitting percentage.
Senior middle blocker Dana Bur
son leads the team with 323 kills and
an average of 3.8 kills per game, and
is hilling .271.
“She’s a big-time outside hitler,”
Cook said. “She could pretty much
start any where in the country. She’s a
6 footer and she rips the ball.”
“We’re going to try and match her
up with (outside hitter) Cris Hall -
our best blocker,” Cook said.
Over the weekend, Nebraska split
a pair of matches with top-ranked
Hawaii. The match-up featured the
nation’s last two unbeaten major col
legiate volleyball teams.
Hawaii won Friday in straight sets
by scores of 15-9, 15-9, 15-9. Ne
braska rebounded by claiming a 15-7,
14-16, 16-14, 15-12 victory Satur
day.
The Huskers had only one day --
Monday - to prepare for Iowa Slate.
Cook said coaches will make sure
plavers are focused on the Cyclones
and not distracted by the win over
Hawaii.
“Any time you go on the road,
you’ve got to play well to win,” he
said. “We’ll convince our players of
that.”
prams*_
I NU claims crew team title
The Nebraska crew team closed
out its season by winning the 10
team Head of the Iowa Regatta
Saturday at Iowa City, Iowa.
The Comhuskers used gold
medal performances from their
men’s novice eight, women’s nov
ice four and men’s varsity light
weight four teams to claim the
team title. Nebraska was awarded
the title based on the fact that it had
six boats finish among the top
three in their respective categories.
The members of the men’s var
sity lightweight four, which broke
the course record en route to win
ning the 2.5-mile event in 14:33,
included Diana Meers, Rob Volk
oun, Scott Nelson, Dave Schmidt
and Rob Mellion. Meers, Paul
Taylor, Eric Dunning, Tom Gajcn
icz, Rich Brown, John Leary,
David Yoacov, David Wieseler
and Eric Dove teamed up to win
the men's novice eight.
Mellion, the team’s public rela
tions director, said he was pleased
with Nebraska’s performance. He
said the team title was an appropri
ate wav to close out the season.
“we’ve been getting better and
belter each time,’’ Mellion said,
“so we’re very pleased with how
we performed.”
■Support dub elects officials
The Nebraska rebounders club
announced its officers and elected
22 people to its board of directors.
The club, which acts as a sup
port group for the Nebraska men’s
basketball program, named Linda
Hrdlicka as its president and se
lected Albert Maxey and Mert
Oden as its vice presidents. John
Westland was named treasurer,
and Pat Jones was chosen as secre
tary.
This year's board of directors
includes Don Bryant, who is the
assistant director of the athletic
department and is the director of
sports information and of the Bob
Dcvaney Sports Center.
