The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, December 06, 1989, Page 8, Image 8

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    Huskers dig early hole, get
buried by Northern Illinois
By Cory Golden
Staff Reporter _
The Nebraska men’s basketball
team broke out its shovels during its
65-56 loss to Northern Illinois Tues
day night at DeKalb, 111.
Nebraska coach Danny Nee said
the Comhuskers were hurt through
out the contest at Chick Evans Field
House because they dug themselves
into a hole. Nebraska hit only seven
of its 18 shots from the free throw
line, while Northern Illinois con
verted 18 of its 21 attempts, including
12 of its last 13.
That performance, while coupled
with a 41.5 percent shooting perform
ance from the floor, sent Nebraska to
its 13th-straight road defeat. The loss
dropped the Huskers’ record to 3-3,
while Northern Illinois improved to
3-2.
Nee said he knew why Nebraska
lost the game.
‘‘I felt we kept digging holes for
ourselves,” he said during his post
game radio show. “Our free-throw
shooting was poor, our execution was
never sharp and our rebounding was
bad. And Northern Illinois played
with more emotion, more enthusi
asm. You have to give them credit -
they outhussled us.
‘We had those snowshoes on
again.”
Nee said Nebraska also hurt itself
by committing a costly turnover
midway through the second half.
With the Huskers leading by a 52-50
margin, center Rich King’s turn
around jumper was negated by a
three-second violation.
Nee said that turnover did in Ne
braska. Northern Illinois outscored
the Huskers 15-4 in the game’s final
four minutes.
“That thing really broke our
back,” Nee said. “We just broke
down after that. I don’t think it was
the right call, but we just never came
back.”
Nebraska was led by King and
guard Clifford Scales, who tallied 12
points each. Donald Whiteside and
Donnell Thomas led Northern Illi
nois with 18 points each
Nebraska’s next game is Saturday,
when the Huskers face Texas Tech.
The game begins at 7:35 p.m. at the
Bob Devancy Sports Center.
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Nebraska’s Val Novak (left) and Carla Baker attempt a block against Oklahoma.
Gophers coach says upcoming game
against NU to be ‘biggest challenge’
By Darran Fowler
Senior Reporter
If the Minnesota volleyball team’s
season was over today, Golden Go
phers coach Stephanie Schleuder
would be satisfied.
But it’s not over as Minnesota,
playing in its first NCAA tourna
ment, is Nebraska’s opponent in Fri
day’s semifinals of the Mideast re
gional at the NU Coliseum.
The Nebraska-Minnesota match
up will begin at 7:30 p.m. It will
follow the Illinois-Ohio State match,
which begins at 5:30 p.m.
Semifinal winners advance to Sat
urday’s finals at 7:30 p.m.
“It’s exciting for us,’’ Schleuder
said about qualifying for the NCAA
tournament. “Everything else now is
kind of gravy for us, but at the same
time we really want to win and we’re
coming and giving it everything
we’ve got.’’,
Minnesota, the region’s No. 5 seed
with a 29-8 record, advanced to the
semifinals w ith a first-round defeat of
Colorado in three games.
“I’m really pleased with the way
we played against Colorado,” Sch
leuder said.
But to beat fourth-ranked Ne
braska will take an even greater ef
fort, she said.
“It will be our biggest challenge
of the season I think,” she said.
Friday’s semifinals will be a night
of rematches. Illinois is winless
against Ohio State in two meetings
this season, while Nebraska was vic
torious over Minnesota in a four
game match played in Minneapolis
Sept. 15.
‘‘Unfortunately our strengths are
similar,” Schleuder said. ‘‘Against
Colorado, we took advantage of their
lack of size at the net which is some
thing we won’t be able to do against
(Nebraska).
When Nebraska defeated the
Golden Gophers it was without senior
middle blocker and All-America se
lection Virginia Stahr, who was nurs
ing a sore shoulder at the time.
‘‘She’s probably still not totally
healthy but Virginia at half speed is
still better than most people in the
country,” Schleuder said. “Their
outside hitlers are really good. We
had a hard time slopping Eileen
(Shannon) and Cris (Hall) when wc
played before.”
Minnesota defeated Illinois - one
of three teams to beat Nebraska —
twice this season.
Schleuder said the Golden Go
phers were successful over Illinois
because of an effective serve that
neutralized the Fighting Illini’s
power game. That game is supplied
by middle blockers Nancy Brookhart
and Laura Bush.
“I thought one of the significant
reasons for our victories over Illinois
was that we were able to take
Brookhart and Bush out of the match
with our serve,’ ’ she said.
Sharon Oestcrling leads Minne
sota with 110 service aces, followed
by Chris Schaefer with 66. As a team
the Golden Gophers have 398 aces.
“She’s (Oesterling) a very consis
tent server,” Schleuder said. “She
has more aces than service errors.
Minnesota has compiled a .244
hitting percentage in averaging 14.99
kills per game.
“I think we’re a pretty solid
team,” Schleuder said. “Wc don’t
have any stars but we’ve been fairly
balanced most of the season.
Coach: Mental edge to be nonexistent
By Darran Fowler
Senior Reporter
Neither Ohio Slate nor Illinois will
have a psychological advantage Fri
day when the two teams meet for the
third time this year in a semifinal
MideasiRcgional volleyball match at
the NU Coliseum.
Illinois coach Mike Hebert said a
mental edge will be nonexistent, even
though Ohio State held the upper
hand in the two previous meetings by
recording a pair of five-game wins.
“I don’t think that will play a role
at all,” Hebert said. ‘‘At this time of
the season it usually comes down to
defense and passing... who executes
the best.”
Because both teams compete in
the Big Ten Conference and are
familiar with one another, Hebert
said his team will take the same ap
proach as before.
‘‘It really won’t be any different
other than we hope we have the
chance to win,” he said.
Ohio State will have a chance to
beat Illinois at 5:30 p.m. A 7:30 p.m.
match which pits Nebraska, the re
gion’s top seed, and No. 5 seed Min
nesota will follow. Semifinal winners
advance to Saturday’s finals, which
begin at 7:30 p.m.
The winner of Saturday's compe
tition will advance lo the Final Four
in Honolulu.
Illinois, the region’s No. 3 seed,
has reached the Final Four the last
two seasons while Ohio State, the No.
2 seed, is geuing its first taste of
NCAA postseason play this year.
Both teams come into the match
off three-game wins in first-round
regional play. Illinois beat Penn
State, while Ohio Stale eliminated
Iowa.
Hebert said fans don't have to
worry about the Buckeyes’ postsea
son inexperience. He said that when
the two teams met in their second
match, Ohio State marched onto the
mini’s home floor and defeated them
with the Big Ten championship at
stake.
“Ohio State beat us in Kenny
Gym in front of a sold-out crowd. If
they can do that I don’t think anyone
has to worry about their experience, ’ ’
he said. “I don’t think they’ll be
bothered by the pressure.’’
Illinois, one of the three teams to
beat fourth-ranked Nebraska this
season, is 26-7 with five of its losses
against conference teams. The other
two losses were to second-ranked
UCLA.
The Illini’s five-game victory
over Nebraska was in the Coliseum.
“Our players like to play there,“
he said. “It reminds us of Kenny
Gym in that it's an older building and
the fans arc real close to the court. '*
In addition to being beaten by
Ohio Slate, which is 27-6, the Illini
were defeated by Minnesota twice,
and split a pair of matches with Iowa.
Illinois closed out the regular sea
son losing three of its last four
matches, including setbacks at Iowa
and at Minnesota on the same day.
Three days later, the Illini traveled to
Stockton, Calif., where they suffered
their second defeat to UCLA, but
came back the following day to beat
defending national champion Texas,
which beat Nebraska this season, in
three games.
Hebert said he doesn’t put much
emphasis on losing.
“We played poorly," he said,
“but those things arc going to hap
pen. ”
Illinois is led offensively by junior
middle blocker Laura Bush, who has
417 kills in posting a .368 hitting
percentage. She averages 3.53 kills
per game. Along with junior setter
Barb Winsett, she leads the team in
service aces with 46. Winsett aver
ages 13.28 set assists a game.
As a team, the Illini are hitting
.308 in averaging 16.44 kills a game.