NetSraskan
Wednesday, November 1,1989
Beck guards against high expectations
dj rnui i/umcici
Staff Reporter
Nebraska women’s basketball
coach Angela Beck prefers silent
sanity over midnight madness.
Beck said she is taking a silent
approach toward
this season be
cause she wants to
guard against ex
pectations that are
too high. While
the Nebraska
men’s team
opened its season
by having a game
in the middle of
the night, Beck’s team is slipping into
the season unnoticed.
“I’ve kind of kept it that way,”
she said.
Beck begins her fourth year at
Nebraska hoping to bounce back
from a disastrous season last year.
Last season, Nebraska was picked
to repeat its performance as Big Eight
champions but slumped to a tie for
sixth in the conference with a 14-14
record.
Beck said she takes some respon
sibility for the downfall because she
set up the team’s killer schedule. She
said her high-strung attitude also put
extra pressure on the team.
‘‘At the time I didn’t understand
the growing progress,” Beck said.
In the meantime, the Comhuskers
grew further away from their 1988
NCAA bid.
This year the Huskers have a more
conservative outlook, Beck said.
“We have expectations, but not
extremely high,” she said. “We
don’t have any Big Eight goals or
national goals.”
Beck said she is comfortable with
her team. The Cornhuskers added six
freshmen and three transfers, includ
ing junior college AH-America selec
tions Kristin Dahn and Kristine Kin
caid and freshman Karen Jennings.
Dick Vitale’s Basketball maga
zine rated Jennings as the fifth-best
freshman in the U.S.
Even with all the new players,
Beck said, the team is focused, and
the attitude and work ethic have been
great.
“If we never win a game, I’d like
the players I’m working with,’’ she
said.
Captain Ann Halsne and Kim
Yancey key the returning Huskers.
The 6-foot-1 Halsne is the only re
turning starter, and Yancey will take
charge of the offense at guard.
“I’m really, really proud of
(Yancey),’’ Beck said. “She’s out
working Amy Stephens.”
Stephens set the standard for get
ting the most out of her ability last
season when she limped around on a
bad heel but still earned All-Big
Eight honors. Beck said Yancey is
further along than Stephens was as a
sophomore.
‘“Now she just has to put it into a
game,” Beck said.
With the top returnees and the
recruiting class ranked as one of the
top 10 groups in the country, the
Huskers have the potential to return
to the level of two seasons ago.
But Beck is comfortable starting
in the middle of the pack.
“Last year we went after things,
and people went after us,” Beck said.
“It was crazy, like Pinal Four pres
sure.”
This year, she said, the team only
is looking for steady improvement.
“We want to work hard and do
what’s expected,” she said. “I like it
kind of quiet.”
I
Eric Gregory/Daily Nebraskan
Nebraska fullback Bryan Carpenter plows through the Iowa State defense as Doug Glaser
blocks.
Osborne says national championship
won’t concern him during CU game
By Jeff Apel
Senior Hditor
A national championship will not
wctgh heavily on Nebraska coach
Tom Osborne’s mind when the Corn
huskers face Colorado Saturday in
Boulder, Colo.
Osborne said he is not overly con
cerned about the top ranking even
though the Ncbraska-Colorado game
will have national championship
implications. He said he cannot
worry about the illustrious ranking
because there are so many variables
that surround it.
Some of those variables will be
tested when the second-ranked Buf
faloes face third-ranked Nebraska in
a game that will be nationally tele
vised by CBS (Channel 3). The win
ner of the contest will have an inside
track to the Orange Bowl and will
slay alive in the national champion
ship picture.
Osborne said teams have to be
good and lucky to win a national
championship, and also must receive
the necessary votes. He said top rank
ings arc hard to control because
sometimes teams are good and lucky,
but they don’t receive enough votes
to win the national title.
“It’s just something that hap
pens,’’ Osborne said.
Osborne said he does not know
what is going to happen when Ne
braska faces Colorado. He said he
does know that the Buffaloes are a
good, solid team that has run its
record to 8-0 by relying on balance.
“I think they’re a fine football
team,” Osborne said. ‘‘They’re very
solid.”
Osborne said one of Colorado’s
main strengths is its offensive line.
He said the Buffaloes’ line, which is
anchored by 6-foot-8, 295-pound
right tackle Mark Vander Pocl, helps
open things up for quarterback Dar
ian Hagan, tailbacks Eric Bieniemy
and J.J. Flannigan, and fullback Erich
Kissick.
Osborne said Hagan is a good
scrambler who hurts opponents with
his passing. Hagan, a right-handed
signal caller who throws equally well
left handed, is averaging 20.9 yards
per completion.
Osborne said Nebraska cannot
afford to take Colorado’s passing
game lightly.
“A lot of people might not think
too much about their passing game,”
Osborne said, ‘‘but they’ve got a tre
mendous yards-per-complction ra
tio.”
Osborne praised the play of
Hagan. The sophomore from Los
Angeles, who was recruited by Ne
braska, was given the starting quar
terback job when the late Sal Aunese
was diagnosed as having inoperable
stomach cancer last summer.
“Hagan has played very well,”
Osborne said. “Whenever he can get
a chance to get some daylight he’s a
great thrower.”
Osborne said Bieniemy and Flan
nigan add two more dimensions to
Colorado’s offensive attack. Bieni
emy is questionable for the Nebraska
game because of a broken bone in his
right leg.
Last week, while filling in for
Bicniemy, Flannigan rushed for 103
yards during Colorado’s 20-3 win
against Oklahoma. Flannigan was the
tailback who muffed an apparent
touchdown when he fumbled in the
open field during the Huskers’ 7-0
win against Colorado last season.
Osborne said Colorado runs some
plays that are very similar to ones
used by Nebraska.
“I wouldn’t say they necessarily
copied our offense,” he said, “(but)
the two teams resemble each other.
“There’s a lot of similarity on
defense, too.”
Osborne said Colorado’s defense
is strong up front. He said the Bufla
loes’ secondary uses zone coverages
to try to shut down opponents’ pass
ing games.
“They don’t get involved in a lot
of man to man,” Osborne said.
“They don’t want to.”
Osborne said Colorado’s zone
defense has worked this season as the
Buffaloes have defeated several
teams that arc rich in college football
tradition. In addition to defeating
Oklahoma, the Buffaloes beat Texas,
Illinois and Washington.
Osborne said Colorado has played
a tougher schedule than Nebraska.
While the Comhuskers opened their
season by facing Northern Illinois,
Utah, Minnesota and Oregon State,
Colorado faced the three non-Big
See TITLE on 8
JNU women s tennis team
ends season this weekend
By Paul Domeier
Staff Reporter
. The Nebraska women’s tennis
team will begin its last competition of
the fall season today at the Intercolle
giate Tennis Coaches Association
regional tournament in Salt Lake
City, Utah.
Six Comhuskers will play in
singles in the tournament which runs
through Saturday, and Nebraska
coach Gregg Calvin said all six also
will play doubles in the one-flight,
single-elimination event.
“We wanted to make sure all six
had a chance to concentrate in prac
tice and have a tournament at the
end,” Calvin Said. “Originally, we
were planning on only taking four.”
Ildiko Guba, Ann Flannery,
Nancy Tyggum, Rachel Collins,
Meghan Quinn and Tina Coutrctsis
will play for the Huskers. Tyggum
and Collins, Guba and Flannery, and
Quinn and Coutrctsis will team up in
doubles.
Calvin said 76 individuals are
entered in singles, with about half as
many doubles teams. He said his
team has a chance to play against the
top players in the country.
Arkansas and Minnesota gave
some indication of the quality in the
region, he said, but at the ITCA tour
nament the Huskers will sec players
from Oklahoma State and Brigham
Young, which arc two of the top-10
teams in the nation.
“It’s nice because you can gauge
where you’re at,” Calvin said. “You
can sec the nationally ranked team
and sec how far you have lo go. ’ ’
Nebraska also will see all the other
Big Eight teams except Iowa State.
Calvin said the meet should include
many teams, like Kansas Slate and
Oklahoma, similar to the Huskcrs.
Guba is seeded in the lop 18,
Calvin said, and the top two doubles
teams, both undefeated, also should
be seeded.
Nebraska placed one individual
and one doubles pair into the quarter
finals last year.
“If we could duplicate that-- even
with one person -- that would be
great,” Calvin said. “We also want
every player that goes to win a
match.”
He said success at the ITCA tour
nament should mean a national rank
ing for any of his players. Last year,
Tyggum and Doncta Holmcn de
feated two seeded teams on the way
lo the quarterfinals, and by the end of
the year they were in the top 25.
“The only way to (get ranked) is
to play the good teams and beat the
good teams,” he said.
The singles finalists and the win
ner in doubles also get an all-ex-,
pcnsc-paid trip to the National In
doors in February, he said.
“The neat thing is, it gives our
players a chance to have a win against
players from teams ranked ahead of
us,” he said.
Success depends largely on the
draw, he said, so he is expecting play
ers to do their best against evenly
matched opponents.
“We want to have some good
results and some competitive play,”
he said.
lenms team takes second
at weekend tournament
By Paul Domeier
Staff Reporter
Second place at the Drake Indoor
Tournament was good enough for the
Nebraska men’s tennis team to re
establish itself in the region, Coach
Kerry McDermott said.
The Com huskers lost 5-4 to Colo
rado in the finals Sunday, but McDer
mott said he was please because his
team defeated Tulsa, 8-1, in the first
round and Southwest Missouri State,
5-4, in the semifinals of the 10-team
tournament.
“It was a great tournament to beat
the; teams we’re expected to beat,’’ he
said.
McDermott said being runner-up
showed that the Huskers have recov
ered from losing four seniors from
last season. He said since he became
the Huskers’ coach, he has worked to
construct a strong program, not an
occasionally strong team.
“We developed a name in our
region, and we’re always in the top
three or four,” he said. “We want to
keep that together.”
He said the Huskers, along with
Colorado, Kansas and Wichita State,
will be invited to the National Indoor
Regional Team Tournament, which
will be at Wichita, Kan., in two
weeks.
And despite the loss to the Buffa
loes, McDermott said he was pleased
with the Huskers’ effort.
“I guess I’ve never been dis
pleased with a loss like that,” he said.
The two teams were tied 3-3 after
the singles. Matthias Mueller at No. 1
singles, Ken Feuer at No. 2 and Troy
Larsen at No. 6 had won for Ne
braska, while Steve Barley, Scott
Randolph and Joseph Rahme had lost
at Nos. 3,4 and 5.
In the doubles competition,
McDermott said he was disappointed
in Barley and Randolph, the No. 2
team. He said the pair was up 40-0,
with three break points, in the seventh
game of the first set.
But the Huskers failed to capital
ize, and Colorado took the match, 6
4,6-1.
The No. 3 team of Rahme and
David Moyer won to tie the match
again, but the contest slipped away
when Mueller and Feuer lost for the
See SECOND on 8