Kansas-Missouri shootout to benefit NU
By Jeff Apel
Senior Editor
Even though the Nebraska men's
basketball team isn’t playing, the
Comhuskers will receive a bonus
tonight when top-ranked Kansas faces
No. 2-ranked Missouri.
Nebraska coach Danny Nee said
the game will benefit the entire Big
Eight Conference because it will help
it c ontinue to create an identity for the
conference.
The game, which will be televised
by ESPN (CableVision channel 23),
begins at 6:40 p.m. at Allen Field
House in Lawrence, Kan.
Nee said the game will help Ne
braska’s program by drawing poten
tial recruits’ attention to the Big Eight.
“It’s like a trickle-down effect,”
Nee said. “It gets you basketball
identity.”
Nee said the Big Eight still is bat
tling for identity, despite its increas
ing level of national prominence during
the last decade. Several conference
coaches agreed Monday that the Big
Eight began to reach its current level
in 1980, when Missouri signed Steve
Stipanovich, a 7-foot center who went
on to play for the Indiana Pacers.
“Missouri has done it all along,”
Nee said, “and there has been a
commitment by the other schools in
the Big Eight.
“They went out, sold their pro
grams and had commitments from
quality players.”
Nec said quality players will be in
tonight’s showdown, as Kansas and
Missouri possess individuals who are
among the Big Eight’s best at their
respective positions.
The Tigers look the No. 1-ranking
away from Kansas when they de
feated the Jay hawks 95-87 earlier this
season in Columbia, Mo. Missouri is
led by forward Doug Smith and guard
Anthony Peeler.
Smith scored 44 points during the
Tigers’ 107-85 win against Nebraska
on Saturday while Peeler is averag
ing 18.7 points per game.
Kansas, which reclaimed the top
spot when Missouri lost a 65-56 deci
sion to Kansas State last week in
Manhattan, Kan., is led by guard Kevin
Pritchard. The 6-3 senior has aver
aged 15 points per game this season.
“1 can’t think of any player in the
country I’d rather have playing guard,”
Kansas coach Roy Williams said.
‘‘He’s having a great season. He’s
truly a great youngster to be around. ’ ’
Missouri coach Norm Stewart said
he has been impressed by Pritchard.
He said he also is impressed by the
media attention surrounding this year’s
two Missouri-Kansas games, which
-1
he describes as the biggest regular
season contests he has been involved
in during his 23-ycar coaching career
at Missouri.
Stewart said the only game more
important to the Big Eight in terms of
prestige was the 1988 NCAA Final,
in which Kansas defeated Oklahoma,
83-79.
Stewart said he isn’t letting that
game take anything away from to
night’s contest.
“From my recollection, I can’t
remember two ballclubs playing two
ballgamcs under the* ^ conditions,”
he said.
Stewart said the Missouri-Kansas
game promises to be an exciting one.
Hall strives for technical
as well as physical strength
Cris Hall could easily be mis
taken for a natural, a player who
doesn’t have to work to improve.
The sophomore on the Com
husker volleyball team can make
the most difficult plays look easy.
Her ability, which includes a high
jumper’s spring and a powerful
hitting prowess, has caught the eye
Paul
Domeler
of Terry Liskevych, coach of the
national team.
She is one of four starters at
outside hitter who will return for
the Huskers next Call. AU three
from last season — Hall, Eileen
Shannon and Janet Kruse - come
back along with Linda Bareness,
who started in 1988 but missed
most of this season with k serious
knee injury.
But despite ail of her athletic
ability, the 6-foot-2 Hall wasn’t
bom spiking a volleyball. She didn’t
grow up spiking & volleyball, ei
ther, which makes the respect she
commands in the collegiate ranks
even more astounding.
In two years Hall has changed
herself from a potential volleyball
player to a potential player of the
year. Much of the improvement,
maybe most of the improvement,
came during the off-season.
At the same time she knows that
potential means nothing in the
present, and Val Novak, Virginia
Stahr and Kruse were the Huskcr
All-Americans last year.
Hall and the rest of the Huskers
are fine-tuning for next season, away
from the crowds and the recogni
tion, so that next year they can go
as far or further than their national
runner-up finish last December.
Nebraska coach Terry Pettit said
his self-motivated players are
working as hard now as they would
in September or October.
“Even if nobody came to our
matches, (the players) would still
be competitive,’ ’ he said. “ A11 you
have to do is come to our practices
to see that.’’
Pettit said spring practice meets
three times a week and lasts 11
weeks. The Huskers, he said, con
centrate on individual skills more
than team play, allowing him to
work player* in at positions they
may play in the fall
“It’s like a ship going into dry
dock,” he said.
Two giant beams in the Husker
ship, middle blockers Stahr and
Carla Baker, have used up their
eligibility.
The only returning middle block
ers are Sara Hesch and Stephanie
Thaler, neither of whom played
much in 1989. Hesch missed much
of the season with a shoulder in
jury, and Thater is a freshman.
So Pettit is drawing from his
overabundance of outside hitters
to fill the hole in the middle. He
said Kruse, a first-team All-Amer
ica selection last season, is practic
ing at middle blocker for next year.
Hall, who Pettit said has the
ability to play middle blocker or
any other position, has been going
inside for attacks only — the Long
Beach State influence.
No, that’s not fair to Pettit. He’s
not going to change his offense
because of the loss in the NCAA
finals any more than Tom Osborne
is going to change his offense be
cause of the Fiesta Bowl. A good
coach designs the system accord
ing to the talent, ana Pettit has the
power-hitting volleyball equivalent
of the Oakland A’s.
Hail has the potential to be the
Huskers' Jose Canseco.
"Cris is becoming a dominant
player in several areas: blocking,
attacking, digging, passing, serv
ing,” Pettit said.
That’s about all there is, folks,
except for the mental aspect of the
game. Hall has shown her mental
toughness just by getting to this
position. When she came out of
Chanute (Kan.) High School she
was known for her state track titles,
not her volleyball skills.
She spent most of her freshman
season on the bench, playing in
less than half of the Huskers’ games.
When she did play, her main job
was to attack.
It wasn’t until the summer that
Hall showed she could be a force in
volleyball. She and fellow Huskers
Kruse and Val Novak played in the
Olympic Festival, and Hall went
on to play in the World University
Games.
And at the U.S. Olympic Festi
val Hall attracted the attention of
Liskevych, who called Hall as fine
an athletic talent as he has seen in
collegiate volleybalL
At the start of Nebraska’s sea
son Hail broke down physically,
partly due to the wear and tear of a
full summer. Fighting back pain
See HALL on 8
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1—^ WWtam Lmmftbity N*«M»»fcan
Nebraska’s Cris Hall executes a dig at the NU Coliseum.
Olson’s confidence,
unique style pays
dividends in season
By McGraw Milhaven
Staff Reporter
Nebraska’s Corey Olson admits
he is not a normal college wrestler.
Olson said his wrestling style is
unique because he uses
his entire body. He
adopted his style, which
places an equal empha
sis on the upper and
lower body, while
competing in Greco-1
Roman wrestling. Olson
1 am not your normal college
wrestler,” Olson said. “1 use my upper
body and throw people to the ground,
much like in Greco-Roman.”
Olson said he acquired this style as
a youngster when he competed in
standard and Greco- Rom an wrestling
in his hometown of Hayfield, Minn.
His style has paid dividends this sea
son, as he is the lOth-ranked 177
pounder in the country with a 25-9
record.
He leads Nebraska in pins with 13,
a feat which has earned him the nick
name of the “fallguy.”
Olson credits his success to confi
dence. He said he entered the season
unsure if he was ready to compete on
the collegiate level after spending
last year as a redshirt, but changed his
mind when he recorded a sixth-place
finish at the Las Vegas Invitational
earlier this season.
“When I finished sixth in Las
Vegas, I started to gel confidence in
myself and started to set high goals
for myself,” Olson said.
Olson said he also credits his suc
cess to his childhood, when he began
wrestling family members as a kin
dergartener.
“My father, brother and myself
would wrestle all the time,” he said.
“I learned a lot from them.”
Olson said his first taste for com
petitive wrestling occurred in grade
school when he joined a club wres
tling team. That decision proved to be
See OLSON on 8
Men’s gymnastics team solidifies national title contention
By Jeff Apel
Senior Editor
A hungry Nebraska men’s gym
nastics team chomped up a pair of
titles last weekend and solidified its
position in the national champion
ship race.
Nebraska coach Francis Allen said
the Cornhuskers showed they are the
best team in the country by dominat
ing the Cal State-Fullerton and UCLA
Invitationals. He said Nebraska will
win this year’s national champion
ship if the Huskers continue to im
prove on the performances they de
liver.
The Huskers claimed the team title
at the Fullerton invitational on Thurs
day in Fullerton, Calif., by scoring
280.80 points. New Mexico finished
second with 270.75, followed by Cal
State-Fullerton with 270.05, Illinois,
the defending national champions, with
262.15 and San Jose Stale with 261.05.
Nebraska then followed up on that
performance Saturday by scoring a
season-high 283.075 points at the
UCLA invitational in Los Angeles.
UCLA finished second with 279.2
points, followed by Minnesota (278.8),
— A * ■
said.
Allen said the only chance of
Nebraska not winning the NCAA
championship this season is if one of
a few teams — including UCLA or
Minnesota - “max out” with excel
lent performances against the Husk
I'm not saying we canft be beaten. But for
someone to beat us, they*re going to have to
perform awfully well.
Allen
men ’s gymnastics coach
m a
New Mexico (273.075) Arizona Slate
(271.5) and Illinois (269.95).
Allen said he is sure Nebraska’s
performance left a lot of teams won
dering if the 15-0 Huskers could be
beaten.
“It’s a nice position to be in,” he
--—. w 9 —
ers.
"I’m not saying we can’t be
beaten,” Allen said. “But for some
one to beat us, they’re going to have
to perform awfully well.”
Allen said the Huskers aren’t
worried about being tabbed as the
cam to beat.
“We’ve been in this position for
Lhe last 11 years,” he said. “The only
thing we need to do is keep it in
perspective. We can’t blow it out of
proportion.”
Allen said seniors Patrick Kirksey,
Bob Steller and Mark Warburton, and
freshman Trent Dimas kept things in
perspective last weekend, as they led
Nebraska to its titles.
Kirksey, the defending NCAA all
around champion, won the pommel
horse, and finished second in the floor
exercise and parallel bars at the UCLA
invitational to win the all-around
competition with a 57.475 score.
Warburton won the all-around title
at the Fullerton Invitational, and Stel
ter finished second. Dimas captured
his first event title at the same meet
by winning the horizontal bar.
Allen said he is impressed by Dimas.
“Dimas is continually making a
name for himself, he said, every
one I know that sees him is talking
about him.
‘ ‘ Before, they had just heard about
him, but they hadn’t seen him.”
Allen said the Huskers need to
work hard this week in preparation
for its meet against Houston Baptist.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
students who present their student
ID cards will be admitted free. The
meet will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday at
the Bob Devancy Sports Center.
Allen said he would like to see an
abundance of fans at the meet be
cause it will mark the last time that
Kirksey, Stelter and Warburton will
compete at home. He said the trio of
seniors is the best group of upper
classmen that Nebraska has ever had.
. * ‘This is the best senior class in the
United States,” Allen said. “It’s
definitely the best class we’ve ever
had.” .
