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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1989)
NU defeats Jayhawks, performs ‘OK’ By Chuck Green Senior Reporter Nebraska’s 51-14 win against Kansas Saturday was the last contest before the Comhuskers’ annual shootout with Oklahoma Saturday, but it was one of the quietest tuneups in a long time. Not dial the 76,232 fans at Memo rial Stadium were quiet. They made plenty of noise throughout the after noon. The Husker offense wasn’t lack ing, either. Nebraska rolled up 608 yards of total offense, 503 of which came on the ground. Nebraska’s de fense held the Jayhawks to 345 yards. But still, there was something missing. “We played OK,’’ said Nebraska quarterback Gerry Gdowski. “Eve rybody knows we could have scored a couple more times. I don’t know if it was our best game of the year, but we played good.” Gdowski played well enough to put himself in position to become only the fourth college quarterback to rush and pass for 1,000 yards in a season. Against Kansas, Gdowski com pleted 4 of 8 passes for 105 yards and three touchdowns, which gave him a total of 1,101 yards passing this sea son. His 75 yards rushing increased his total to 903 this season. He needs 97 yards rushing against Oklahoma Sat urday to accomplish the double 1,000 mark. The three players who have gained 1,000 yards both rushing and passing arc Drake’s Johnny Bright in 1950, Southern Mississippi’s Reggie Col lier in 1981 and Air Force’s Bart Weiss in 1985. I-back Ken Clark climbed to sec ond place on Nebraska’s career rush ing chart with a 177-yard, two-touch down performance. Clark’s touch downs boosted his career total to 29, which puts him in sixth place on Nebraska’s chart. “Ken Clark showed some of the balance he has today,” Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said. “He played a very good game.” Osborne said Nebraska’s intensity level against Kansas wasn’t affected by last week’s 27-21 loss to Colo rado. “To me, you bounce back only if you play poorly, and we haven’t played poorly,” he said. “We played well (against Colorado). This was a game between two so-called big games.” Kansas scored first Saturday, cap ping a 12-play, 78-yard drive with a 6-yard touchdown run by tailback Maurice Douglas with 7:01 left in the first quarter. The Huskcrs answered on their ensuing possession, when Clark took a handoff over the left tackle and scampered 33 yards for the score. The play was set up by a 38-yard run by Clark on the play before. Nebraska added another first quarter touchdown when Gdowski threw an 11-yard strike to wingback Richard Bell, who had beaten his covering defender on the play. Bell said he knew what he wanted before the play began. “When coach called the play, I was determined to get a touchdown,” he said. “It was man-to-man cover age, and I beat my guy. When the pass went up, I thought ‘What if I drop this ball?’” But he didn’t. The extra point by Gregg Barrios gave Nebraska a 14-7 lead with 34 seconds left in the first quarter. Six seconds later, the score in creased to 16-7 when Jayhawk Mau rice Hooks fielded the kickoff at the 3-yard line, ran back into the end zone and downed the ball - for a safety. “He thought he was in the end zone,” Kansas coach Glen Mason said of the play. 4 ‘The officials said he stepped out... whatever. Then he attempted to down it.“ Bell caught his second pass of the day with 1:49 remaining in the sec ond quarter, which was good for a 45 yaid touchdown. The remaining Huskcr touch downs included another 33-yard run by Clark; a 19-yard pass from Gdow ski to split end Jon Bostick; a 1 -yard run by I-back Leodis Flowers; and a 1-yard run by I-back Lamont White. Kansas’ only other score came with 4:34 remaining in the third quar ter, when Jayhawk quarterback Kelly Donohoe scored on a 2-yard run. The play was set up by an 80-yard pass See HUSKERS on 8 NU volleyball coach says passing led to Illinois victory By Darran Fowler Senior Reporter Too little. Too late. Trailing 11-3 in the fifth and de ciding game, the Nebraska volleyball team made a strong surge but fell short in losing to Illinois 15-13,6-15, 15-11,8-15, 15-12 Saturday night at the NU Coliseum. Fourth-ranked Nebraska dropped to 20-3 in front of 3,642 fans, while Illinois, which is-ranked 16th in the NCAA and eighth in the coaches’ poll, upped its record to 22-4. “That’s a good run,’’ Nebraska coach Terry Pettit said about the Comhuskers coming back and tying the score at 11 in the fifth game. “It was a good match and you can’t do anything else than just play well in a good match. r “I’m disappointed with the loss but I thought wc played real hard.” Illinois coach Mike Hebert said it was a good match and that Nebraska made a great comeback. “Nebraska made a huge push and I was impressed,” Hebert said. “I’m still one of your old volleyball fans and like to sec a match played that well. “Thai’s my first reaction. My second reaction is that I’m very, very happy wc won the match.” It was a match where neither team dominated the other, Hebert said. “Obviously the match could have gone cither way,” he said. “I felt both teams played very solid all the way.” The only area not solid for the Huskers was passing, Pettit said. “My feeling is basically it came down to passing and Illinois passed belter than we did and it split our block,” he said. Nebraska finished the match with a .383 hitting percentage, while Illi nois compiled a .376 average. Nebraska was led by sophomore Cris Hall, who posted a career-high 28 kills in hitting .451 and added 17 digs. Senior All-America selection Vir ginia Slahr hit a season-high 21 kills in posting a .514 hitting percentage. She also had a career-high 19 digs. Freshman Eileen Shannon tallied 20 kills, while sophomore Janet Kruse totaled 19. “I thought Cris Hall hit real well,” Pettit said. “My feeling is that we hit fairly well. That wasn’t the problem. Our problem was our block ing. Senior middle blocker Carla Baker, who hit .500 in posting a sea son-high 17 kills, said it was a tough loss. Baker also contributed 15 digs to tie a season high. *‘I thought we were going to win for sure,” she said. ‘‘Being at home with the crowd I thought we were ready to take it. They definitely played really well. They were pretty much on target all the time and they just kept plugging away and coming at us. ‘‘I’m very disappointed because we’ve lost to them so many times.” Nebraska and Illinois also arc in competition to stage the NCAA postseason tournament on their re spective home floors. The Fighting mini’s victory might mean that com petition will be staged in Champaign, -- 111. But regardless of where the Mid west regional play is staged, Pettit said he expects a rematch. “I feel either way we’re going to have to beat this team again,” he said. “Hopefully next time we’ll be a little more prepared.” Illinois is in a tight race with Ohio State and Minnesota in the Big Ten conference, where the regular-season champion receives an automatic bid in the NCAA tournament. Hebert said his team has a long way to go before regionals. “We’re in a real tough race,” he said. ‘ ‘For us to play Nebraska again we’re going to have to weave our- i selves through some very lough I matches. But I would love to play them again.” Women swimmers begin the season with two dual wins By Jeff Apel Senior Editor The Nebraska women’s swim ming team used some strong vocal support to cruise past Minnesota and Colorado State. Nebraska coach Ray Huppert said his team used support from the Com husker men’s swimming squad to subdue the Golden Gophers and Rams. The Nebraska men comprised a portion of a crowd that Huppert estimated at 150. The Huskers took advantage of that crowd support, as they defeated Minnesota 9545 and Colorado State 9149 Saturday at the Bob Devancy Sports Center. Minnesota defeated Colorado State 76-64 to finish sec ond. Huppert praised the support shown by the Nebraska men. “Our entire men’s team made so much noise, it was phenomenal,” Huppert said. “They were doing the wave, and they were screaming and hollering. They were definitely there.” Nebiasita’s Carole Johnson was also there, as she overcame upper respiratory sickness to win the 100 and 200-yard backstrokes. “She’s just a fighter,” Huppert said. Huppert also praised the perform ances of Melanie Winner and Kristen NeucnfeldL Winner won the 100 butterfly and the 200 freestyle. Neucnfcldl won the 200 breaststroke, and teamed with Johnson, Jcncll Garcia and Mindy Matheny to form Nebraska’s winning 400 medley re lay team. Huppert said he was happy with the performance of his entire team. See CRUISEon8 Basketball team defeats Brisbane in tight game By Cory Golden Suff Reporter The Nebraska men’s basketball | team learned some lessons outside I the classroom during its exhibition | game against Bnwane Friday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Nebraska basketball coach | Danny Nee said he was pleased with his team’s 76*74 victory be cause it gave the Comhuskers cru i c tal experience in a tight situation. The victory was not sewn up until forward R ichard van Poelgeest hit two free throws with ;0t remain ing. Nee said playing in a tight game I is fetter than staging a blowout. Brisbane, a member of the Austra lian National Basketball League, dropped its last two games against Kansas and Kansas Slate by a 1 combined 80 points. ”1 think it’s better to play a game like this and win a close one I than win by 30 points,” Nee said. I ‘ ‘I think we got a lot of experience tonight in game conditions.” | The contest was tight from the I start, as the lead changed hands 25 times in the first half. Brisbane used a six-foot jump shot by center Greg Spurting to take a 42-41 lead at halftime. , The Bullets then used pressure and a tough boards game to take a 74-71 lead with 2:00 remaining. But Nebraska used free throws by juniors Clifford Scales and Rich King to tie the game with :56 left, and van Poelgeest was fouled with :01 left. The senior forward, who had returned to the game Piter get ting stitches above his eye earlier in the night, then sank his free throws to ice the win. Brisbane coach Brian Kerle said the loss did not alter his impres sions of his squad. He said hew as pleased with the performance of nis team, which is made up of five Americans and eight native Aus tralians. *T was just pleased with our guys, considering this was only then third game together as a team,” Kerle aid. * 'For a bunch of guys that never played together before, they played pretty well.” Nee said he wasn’t as pleased with Nebraska’s defense or its 27 for-75 shooting. He said first-game jitters were responsible because more than half of the Huskers were playing their first game at the center. "They all seemed pretty tight,” Nee said. “They looked like they had snow shoes on the first half - they weien’l running the floor well at all.” King was the game’s top re bounder with 12. Van Poelgeest was the Huskers’ leading scorer with IS points, while Scales and sophomore forward Carl Hayes contributed 13 and 10 points re spectively. The Bullets were led by former Northeastern University star Andre la Fleur with 20 points, while Spurting had 18, Paul Rees 12 and Derek Rucker 11. Nee said Nebraska will use the game as a learning experience. * ‘We’ll just go back now, look at the tapes and improve on every thing we can,” Nee said. 0 * .—-■" ii. ■■