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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 1989)
Doubles team highlights NU play at ITCA tournament By Paul Domeier Staff Reporter Rachel Collins and Nancy Tyggum were a dual highlight during the Nebraska women’s tennis team participation in the ITCA regional tournament. Collins and Tyggum advanced to the quarterfinals of last weekend’s doubles competition in Salt Lake City, Utah, by defeating a tandem from New Mexico 6-2, 6-1, and re ceiving a default from fellow Corn huskers Meghan Quinn and Tina Coutretsis. Collins and Tyggum, who were seeded eighth, then split the first two sets of their match against Brigham Young’s fourth-seeded duo of Mary Beth Young and Patti Urban, but were eliminated when they dropped the tiebreaker 7-6. Nebraska women’s tennis coach Gregg Calvin said the third set was “nip-and-tuck.” “They need more experience playing against teams like that,” he said. In the singles competition, Collins posted wins in the first two rounds to advance to the final 16. She defeated Susie Ennega of Weber State in the first round, 6-3,6-4, and whipped Big Eight rival Sonja Panajotovic of Colorado, 6-2,6-4, in the second. Another Big Eight opponent, Sally Godman of Oklahoma State, bounced Collins from the tourna ment, 6-1,6-1, in the third round. Every Huskcr except freshman Ann Flannery won a match at the tournament. Collins, Coutretsis and Ildiko Guba all won their first-round singles matches, and Tyggum and Quinn won a match, in the consolation bracket. Coutretsis and Quinn won a three set match over a team from Utah in a preliminary round of doubles, then defeated a pair from Montana State in straight sets in the first round. Guba and Flannery, like Collins and Tyggum, entered the meet unde feated at doubles. Guba and Flan nery, though, had to play Sally Godman and Caroline Delisle of Oklahoma State in the first round. Godman and Delisle took the match, 67,6-3. Calvin said the tough draw hurt his No. 2 doubles team. “There were a lot of spots in the draw where they could have won a match or two,” he said. The tournament included teams from the Big Eight and Rocky Moun tain areas. Oklahoma State is the best team in the region, Calvin said, but the Cowgirls are not quite as good as last season. Now that the fall season is com pleted, the Huskers will lighten their practice load and work on condition ing until the spring season, Calvin said. He said the fall has been a suc cess, with the players advancing and working hard. ‘ ‘Now we want to make sure not to lose that,” he said. Coach says Kansas is ‘much improved’ Comhuskers to retire volleyball jersey of former player Dahlgren-Schonewise By Darran Fowler Senior Reporter There will be an element of sur prise for former Nebraska volleyball standout Karen Dahlgrcn-Schonew ise tonight at the NU Coliseum. Schonewise, who is an assistant coach at Kansas, doesn’t know that her jersey will be retired before the Nebraska-Kansas volleyball match that begins at 7:30 p.m. University of Nebraska-Lincoln students wishing to attend the match will be admitted free if they show their student IDs. “We’re not telling her,” Ne braska coach Terry Pettit said,' ‘but when she sees all her family and friends from her hometown (Ber trand) here she’ll probably figure it out.’’ Pettit has been so effective in keeping it a secret that Comhusker assistant coach John Cook didn’t even know. “I didn’t know that,’’ Cook said. “I’m not sure if the players even know.*’ Kansas, which finished with a 5 24 record last year, comes into the match improved with a 12-15 mark. The Jayhawks are 3-6 in conference play, with one of their losses being a 9-15, 0-15/15-11, 4-15 setback to Nebraska on Oct. 11, in Lawrence, Kan. Cook said the match will not be overshadowed by the events sur rounding Schonewise or by the third ranked Huskcrs’ match against 17th ranked Illinois on Saturday. “Right now the focus will be on Kansas because this is a real impor tant week for us,’ ’ he said.4 4 Kansas is a much improved team. “They’re kind of fun to watch. They’re not real big like us and so they use a lot finesse and try to out trick you. They’re kind of like Colo rado in that they use a lot of motion. ’ ’ Schonewise, who wore the No. 13 and completed her collegiate eligibil ity in 1986, was a two-time All America selection and was the first pick of the volleyball professional draft. Last fall, former Husker setter Cathy Noth, who joined the Huskers’ coaching staff as a graduate assistant one year ago after spending four years as a setter on the U.S. national team, became the first Husker female athlete to have a uniform retired. Schonewise was given the Big Eight player of the year award her senior season and named an All-Big Eight and Big Eight All-Academic selection for four consecutive years. She led Nebraska to its highest finish in the NCAA tournament in 1986. That was the season when the Comhuskers finished as the runner up to Pacific, with Schonewise being named to the NCAA Final Four All Tournament team. In addition, she was named to the NCAA Regional All-Tournament team in 1985 and 1986, was honored five times as the Big Eight player of the week and selected to the Big Eight All-Tournament team three times. Her 46 solo blocks in a single season and career marks of 436 games, 132 solo blocks, 418 blocking assists and a hitting percentage of .386 are all-time Husker bests. Nebraska, which traveled to Austin, Texas, lost its second match of the season Friday to defending national champion and eighth-ranked Texas by scores of 8-15,15-9, 7-15, 17-15, 15-5, before an enthusiastic crowd of 2,526. The Huskers, who lead the Big Eight with an 8-0 mark, dropped to 19-2 overall. “Texas played what a coach would call career match,’ ’ Cook said. “I mean they played hard. “We had too many service errors and too many service receiving er rors. I’m not sure if the crowd had anything to do with it. “It was a real intense crowd. It was the first match we played on the road with that kind of crowd and it took some time to adjust to that. Plus Texas played great.’’ The Huskers rebounded from the loss by claiming a 15-12, 15-10, 15 11 victory Saturday night over Texas A&M at College Station, Texas. David Hanaan/Daily Nebraskan Nebraska’s Janet Kruse executes a dig Hold your gripes Nebraska, CU will learn Although Comhusker fans every where are mourning Saturday’s loss to Colorado, they should not worry. Be happy. Nebraska doesn’t have to. travel to that unforgiving hell known as Miami. Sure, Colorado has all but a lock on the Big Eight championship. The Buffaloes have games with Okla homa State and Kansas State remain ing — although Oklahoma Stale has been known to give Colorado fits throughout the 1980s. But eternal optimists who dream of upsets and outside chances at na tional championships again will be disappointed. And it’s too bad, too. The better team didn’t win Saturday. All season, I thought the Buffs would stampede over Nebraska like dried cowpies on the prairie. Then, the week before the game, I started getting a gut feeling that the Huskers would pull through. Talk is usually pretty cheap, but it could have cost Colorado a Big Eight title and a shot at the national cham pionship. The way the players and media of Colorado were talking and writing about the game, someone who didn’t know anything about the matchup would have thought the Huskers were a junior high school lCam. Nine limes out of 10, in today s wacky world ol college football, the team that runs its collective mouth olf for two weeks before a game usually gets beat by the opponent, who hasn’t said a word. Look at the Nebraska-Oklahoma shoot-out in 1987. Broderick Thomas and Co. talked and talked and talked — for three weeks. Then they talked and talked and talked for a week after the game — apologizing to Nebraska’s Ians and making lame excuses for getting their butts kicked from one end zone to the other by the Sooncrs. I thought for sure the same thing was going to happen last Saturday, and it should have. But please ... before the excuses for why Nebraska lost start smother ing the sports pages’ letter sections, just drop it. All the bitching in the world isn’t going to change the out come of the game. Just for one season, 1 don’t want to hear how the Huskers would have won the game “just if ... ” Please save the B .S. about how Nebraska got screwed by the officials. It went both ways. On Bryan Carpenter’s touch down run on Nebraska’s first play from scrimmage, there was a vicious clip at midfield. But there wasn’t a flag. Nor was there a flag on a few other plays, or which the Huskers got away with something or other. The officials were half asleep for much of the day for both teams. Save your gripes about the othci penalties, too. They’re part of the game. Nebraska has benefitted in the past by bad calls omo-calls, and so has every other team. Drop it. And if I hear anyone tell me the Huskcrs would have won the game “if you could take away those two long Colorado punt returns,” I’ll scream. Punt returns, like penalties, arc part of the game. Even though it’s probably true. How many games has Nebraska won because of long punt or kickoff returns, or any other form of big plays? Quite a few. It was Colorado’s job to make the big play, and they did it. After the game, Husker center Jake Young said he once was told that great teams make their own big plays. He’s right. Except that part about Colorado being a great team. At the risk of sounding like sour grapes, I’ll venture to say that Colo rado, if they play Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl for the national title, will lose by at least three touch downs, maybe more. Colorado has a good team, but was beaten by Nebraska everywhere but on the scoreboard. If the Huskcrs can play the Buffs to within inches of beating them, the Fighting Irish will waste them. Not to take anything away from Nebraska, but they wouldn’t have beaten Notre Dame, either. Maybe nobody can. Colorado can’t -- and won’t. Tradition isn’t an evident feature of the Colorado football program. The Buffs don’t know how to win the really big games yet, plain and simple. Just look at their Ians. They’re not used to winning. Yes, I know, they’ve beaten five top-20 teams this season, but those teams, save Nebraska, have sputtered afterwards. And of the teams they’ve played, only the Huskers belong in the top 10, and even they shouldn’t be in the top five. Sorry, guys, but it’s true. The point is, Nebraska could have lost now, or lost a heartbreaker to Notre Dame, ending the hope for yet another No. 1 ranking. Now, Husker fans everywhere can be treated to seeing the Buffs trashed by a team that’s at least twice as good. If Notre Dame doesn’t double Colorado’s score, I’ll be surprised. Nebraska, on the other hand, has to beat Kansas and Oklahoma, and will be rewarded with a bowl trip to a fun place. New Orleans, Tempe, Dallas or Orlando. All much friend lier places than Miami. If the Huskers are invited to the Sugar Bowl, they probably would be facing an undefeated Alabama team. What fun! It’s been a while since Nebraska has crushed the Crimson Tide. A Florida Citrus Bowl berth would entail a date with the Atlantic Coast Conference champion, proba bly Virginia. Another rout. Florida State would be the likely candidate for a Sunkist-Fiesla Bowl game with the Huskers, which could spell trouble. And a trip to the Cotton Bowl would involve Nebraska pounding on a Southwest Conference patsy, like Texas or Arkansas. Have fun in Miami, Colorado. You’ve earned it, and I wish you the best. But before you talk national championships, you’ll have to learn what college football tradition is all about. Notre Dame’s players will teach you the first lesson. Green is a senior news-editorial major, co-editor of First Down Magazine and a Daily Nebraskan sports senior reporter. %