NelSfaskan
Tuesday, November 21,1989
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Coach calls tournament location a plus
»y uarran rowier
Senior Reporter
It may not be home but it’s the next
best thing.
The Nebraska volleyball team can
claim the Omaha Civic Auditorium,
the site of the Big Eight tournament,
as its second home this weekend.
Comhusker assistant volleyball
coach John Cook said having the
tournament in Omaha “most defi
nitely” is to the Huskcrs’ advantage.
Not so much because the location
is more beneficial to Husker fans, but
because at this point of the season the
less time a team spends on the road
the better, he said.
“Last year in Salina (Kan.), we
still had more people than any of the
other schools,” he said. “I think
having it in Omaha will be an advan
tage because it is so close and the city
of Omaha is so excited about having
it.
“Any time you save on travel
time, missing classes and things like
that it’s a real big advantage.”
Nebraska, which is the No. 1 seed,
and No. 4 seed Iowa State open the
tournament at 6 p.m. Friday. That
match will be followed by an 8 p.m.
contest between No. 2 seed Colorado
and No. 3 seed Oklahoma.
The championship match will be
at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Another advantage to playing in
Omaha is that Husker players also
have the chance to spend Thanksgiv
ing with family and friends, some
thing not possible in the past.
The Huskers leave for Omaha
Thursday night and will practice Fri
day at 8 a.m.
“We gel Thanksgiving Day off,”
senior middle blocker Virginia Stahr
said. “The coaches gave us a break
this year.”
But not too long of a break.
“We’re at the point of the season
where we’re not even thinking ol
taking a break,” Stahr said. “Other
times, in the past, we would be think
ing that the season’s almost over. We
don’t want that. We’re real focused
right now.”
Nebraska and Colorado met in lasl
year’s conference final, which th(
Huskers won in four games.
Stahr expects another NU-CU title
match-up this year.
“That would be my guess,” she
said. “I would be real surprised if it
wasn’t.
“I’ll tell you what, though. They
can beat us if we don’t play well and
we know that.”
This year, Nebraska claimed its
14th-straight regular-season confer
ence championship in finishing 12-0
in the Big Eight. The Huskers have
won the tournament 12 of the 13
years its been held, losing to Okla
homa in 1987.
“We’re excited we went through
the Big Eight undefeated. That’s
important. That was one of our
goals,” S«ahr said. “Last year we
didn’t do that.”
“We have a lot of pride in winning
both the Big Eight conference and
tournament. We also need to end up
No. 1 going into rcgionals.”
The winner of the conference tour
nament receives an automatic bid
into the NCAA’s 32-lcam touma
: mcnl. Nebraska currently is the top
ranked team in the Midcast Regional,
and probably will receive an at-large
bid if it loses.
Because of the automatic bid,
Colorado will have a lot of motiva
tion to win the conference tourna
ment, Cook said.
“Nebraska has everything to lose
and the other teams have a whole lot
to gain,’’ he said. “Other teams can
just cut loose.
“Colorado should be the most
motivated because they’re real close
to getting in the NCAA. If we beat
ISU, I think we’ll be playing in the
finals against Colorado.’’
Colorado suffered losses to Texas
and Colorado State over the week
end, but Cook expects the Lady Buffs
to be ready.
“I know the players on that team
and they’re competitors and they’ll
fight,” he said. “If that’s who we
play in the finals, they’ll play as hard
as they can play with the type of kids
they got. I mean they’ll battle.”
“I think they play their best
matches against Nebraska. There are
a lot of individual rivals on both
teams and that brings out the best in
the competition.”
Notes:
• Reserved tournament tickets are
$6 per day. A tournament pass, good
for both days, is $10. General admis
sion tickets are $4.
Tickets are on sale at Civic Audi
torium.
• The Nebraska sports informa
tion office announced that if the NU
Coliseum is chosen as a site for a
NCAA first-round volleyball match,
tickets for that match will go on sale
Nov. 27.
Tournament sites will be an
nounced at 7 p.m Nov. 26
If Nebraska is selected to play at
home, tickets will go on sale at the
South Stadium ticket office at 9 a.m.
A total of 2,5(X) will be available, and
will cost $5 for adults and S3 for
children.
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln
students who present their student ID
cards will not be admitted for free.
The match, between Nebraska and
another team from the Mideast Re
gion,would be played at 2 p m. Dec.
2 .
Nebraska basketball players to hunt
Kangaroos during Thanksgiving break
By Cory Golden
Staff Reporter
While normal hunters in the state
will be looking for pheasant or quail,
the Nebraska men’s
basketball team will
set its sights on gun
ning down kanga
roos.
The Comhuskers
will open their regu
lar season Saturday
against the Univer
sity of Missouri
Kansas City Kanga- Nee
roos. The game begins at 7:35 p.m. at
the Bob Dcvancy Sports Center.
Nebraska coach Danny Nee said
his team is ready to forego Thanks
giving turkey for a Kangaroo shoot.
“This will be a really long week,”
he said. “We’re all anxious to start
playing.’’
Nee said he doesn’t know what to
expect from Missouri-Kansas City.
The Kangaroos opened their season
by posting a 109-73 exhibition vic
tory against Windsor, Canada.
“They’vegotalotof young talent
and Lee Hunt’s a good coach,’’ Nee
said. “He used to be an assistant at
UCLA.
“But, other than that, we don’t
know a lot about them because we
haven’t played them.”
The Kangaroos return five letter
men, including three starters, from
last year’s 9-18 team. Two of those
returning starters, center David
Robinson and guard Frank Mulak,
combined for 55 points in the win
against Windsor.
Nee declined to name a starting
lineup for the Missouri-Kansas City
contest. He said Nebraska will have a
flexible lineup, depending on the
situation.
Nee said opponents’ defense will
determine who starts at guard. He
said sophomore Chris Crcsswcll will
start when Nebraska needs a sharp
shooting guard who serves as a /.one
buster, while Keith Moody’s quick
ness could be used against a pressure
defense.
Nee said Clifford Scales will be
switched between point and off
guard with Crcsswcll, and senior Ray
Richardson could move from small
forward if the Huskers need more
^ a -a
height.
“We want to use our versatility,”
Nee said. ‘‘We plan on utilizing all
our personnel. Starting is more im
portant to the players than a coach.”
In addition to depth, Nee said
Nebraska’s other true strength is put
ting points on the board.
‘ ‘We have the ability to be a good
offensive ball club,” he said. “ I think
that we have a lot of versatility there
as well. We have a lot of guys who
can do a lot of different things.”
After reviewing tapes of his
team’s play during its 104-90 exhibi
tion win against the Athletes in Ac
tion, Nee said the Huskers’ defense is
their primary concern.
“We have to work on transition
defense,” Nee said. “Athletes in
Action got too many easy baskets.
We have to work on our individual
defense on and off the ball, too.”
Nee said Nebraska’s primary goal
against Missouri-Kansas City is to
record a victory.
“We want to win - that’s the main
objective,” Nee said. “We have to
find a way to win.”
McDermott says he will stay at jn u
until Big Eights are won or longer
By Paul Domeier
Staff Reporter
Nebraska men’s tennis coach
Kerry McDermott said some Florida
schools sent out feelers to him this
summer about leaving Nebraska.
But McDermott said he isn’t done
at Nebraska.
“When I got this job, I said I
wanted to win a Big Eight champion
ship,’’ he said. "I probably won’t
leave ‘til I win a Big Eight title.’’
Even then, he said, he would likely
stay with the Comhuskers.
“I like Nebraska too much to
leave,’’ McDermott said. “I like the
change of seasons.’’
McDermott, a Grand Island na
tive, is a former Nebraska No. 1
singles player. He became an assis
tant to Coach Jim Poricr for one year,
then look control of his alma mater in
the fall of 1981.
Since he became coach, his teams
have improved to a bcst-cvcr second
place finish in the Big Eight in 1989,
and Husker player Steven Jung fin
ished second in the NCAA singles
tournament last spring.
Jung returned to Lincoln last
weekend, and dropped an exhibition
match to Matthias Mueller. Mueller
is Nebraska’s No. 1 singles player.
McDermott said Jung’s perform
ance and the nine individual Big
Eight titles his players have won arc
nice, but he is looking for more.
‘ ‘ I want the team to continue to do
well and not just have a couple of
players doing well,” he said.
Some members of McDermott’s
team will play at the Drake Invita
tional, an optional singles tourna
ment, that begins Wednesday. The
tournament concludes Sunday.
The Huskers who will compete
include Scott Randolph, Karl
Falkland, Joseph Rahmc, David
Moyer and Andy Auch Moedy. The
five Nebraska players will face a
variety of competition, as anyone is
allowed to compete.
This meet is the last action the
Huskers will sec as a team until Feb
ruary 24, when the team plays
Creighton. Until then, the squad has
three months of practice, which
McDermott said should help his team
improve.
‘‘The boring stuff you do — the
drills, the patterns — is what makes
you a better player through repeti
tion,” he said.
The schedule remains so constant,
he said, that when Jung went to prac
• * * »
lice Friday, he correctly predicted the
agenda.
McDermott credited assistant
coach Scott Jacobson for his help
with training the players.
“Scott is my drill sergeant in prac
tice,” McDermott said. “He’s better
than I am at teaching technique. I
think I’m better at the mental as
pect.”
And McDermott handles the re
cruiting, the biggest part of any suc
cessful collegiate program in any
sport.
From California, he recruited Ste
ven and Stuart Jung. From Europe he
recruited Robert Sjoholm and
Mueller. From New York he re
cruited Ken Fcucr.
“These guys arc starting to have a
lot of success nationally,” McDer
mott said.
McDermott said as the program
advances, the team gets proven tennis
players instead of untrained athletes.
Then he and Jacobson can polish
instead of teach.
“We can take guys like Matthias
Mueller and Ken Feucr and push
them Turther,” McDermott said.
“The top-20 programs arc only
working with naturally talented
kids.”
'. 1/Zhul:. 4«l:. ..
Al Schaben/Daily Nebraskan
Nebraska’s Keith Moody leaps into the air while trying to defend
against Athletes in Action’s Rod Foster.
|ln
Husker wrestler wins weight class
Nebraska’s Jason Kelber de
feated Chris Bollin in the finals
of the 126-pound weight class to
highlight the Comhusker wres
tling team’s participation in the
Sl Louis Open,
Kelber won his decision
against Bollin in overtime.
In addition to Kelber, the other
top Nebraska finishers were Dave
Droegemueller, Paul Herrera,
Scott Chcnowcth and Joe
Malccek. Herrera finished second
in the 150-pound weight class
after dropping an U-3 decision to
Oklahoma State’s Todd Chesbro,
while Droegemueller, Che
nowelh and Malecek all finished
fourth.
I Gymnasts to compete in Colorado
I The Nebraska men’s gymnas
tics team will not have rrfuch time
to enjoy its Thanksgiving break
ahis week, as it will travel to Colo
rado Springs, Colo., to compete in
the Rocky Mountain Open on
Saturday.
