Neliraskan
Friday. April 27,1990
4
NUtennis team looking to Big Eight title
By Paul Domeier
Senior Reporter
Nebraska men’s tennis coach Kerry
McDermott still is marveling that his
team has a chance at the Big Eight
title.
Oklahoma State beat the Corn
huskers, 6-3, on Saturday but Colo
rado upset Kansas, 5-4, the same day.
Nebraska recovered to defeat Okla
homa, 6-3, on Sunday, leaving the
Huskers three points behind the Jay
hawks heading into the Big Eight
tournament. That tournament will be
held Saturday and Sunday in Okla
homa City.
“Oklahoma State was probably
our bad outing, but at least it didn’t
kill us,’’ McDermott said. “Wc don’t
feci like 6-3 was so bad.”
Kansas leads the conference with
39 points, followed by Oklahoma Slate
with 38, Nebraska with 36, Okla
homa with 29, Colorado with 27, Iowa
Stale with 20 and Missouri w ith zero.
“Wc just feel fortunate enough
that we can compete for the No. 1
spot,” McDermott said. “If we were
seven or eight points down we would
have went in with our heads down.”
And the Huskers have the Buffa
loes, with their win over Kansas, to
I_\
thank.
“You don’t get too many chances
like that for someone else to do some
thing for you,’’ McDermott said.
Now the Huskers have to do their
part — win matches. In McDermott’s
compulations, No. 3 singles player
Steve Barley and No. 6 singles player
Joseph Rahmc will be top seeds. Scott
Randolph at No. 4 singles and Mat
thias Mueller and Ken Fcucr at No. 1
doubles will be second seeds, while
Anthony Kotarac at No. 5 singles,
Barley and Randolph at No. 2 doubles
and Kotarac and Dave Moyer at No. 3
doubles will get fourth seeds.
McDermott said Barley (5-1 in the
conference) and Rahmc (6-0), with
their first-round byes, have the best
shot at individual titles. He singled
out Randolph, who won No. 5 singles
titles at Midland (Texas) Junior Col
lege in 1989, as one dark horse.
“Scott Randolph is 5-1, tougher
than nails and probably should have
upset Rafael Rangel in our Kansas
dual,’’ he said.
Randolph’s lone Big Eight loss
was a 7-6.4-6,7-5 defeat at Rangel’s
hands.
Missing from the seed list are
Mueller and Feuer in singles. Last
spring, the two won Big Eight titles at
No. 3 and 4 singles, respectively.
This year both have struggled. Mueller,
ranked 58th in the country, is 3-3 at
No. 1 singles and Fcuer, the squad’s
lone senior, is 2-4 at No. 2.
But McDermott said this could
help Nebraska. Each has a one-in
three chance of drawing Kansas’ player
in his bracket, John Falbo at No. 1 or
Jeff Gross at No. 2, in the first round..
If one was to do that and defeat the
second seed from Kansas, Nebraska
would take a three-point swing and
tie the Jayhawks.
“Ken and Matthias can beat any
one, and they’re better when they’re
seeded highly,” McDermott said.
“They don’t handle the pressure well.”
Looking to 1991, McDermott said
he has signed Joseph Salerno to a
letter of intent. Salerno, a four-time
state singles champion from Omaha
Central, has been piaying at Tyler
(Texas) Junior College.
McDermott said he expects to sign
one more recruit.
NU battling for second with So oners
By Paul Dotneier
Senior Reporter_
The Nebraska women’s tennis
team stayed three points behind
Oklahoma and in third place after
the first round of die Big Eight
tournament Thursday.
The Comhuskers won seven of
nine first-round matches. Rain
forced the singles inside to four
different Oklahoma City, Okla.,
sites, but the players moved back
outside for the first round of doubles.
The second round of doubles were
played late Thursday night.
Oklahoma State went undefeated
in the first round and led with 106
points, clinching the team’s 10th
consecutive title, the cowgirls were
followed by Oklahoma with 78
points, Nebraska with 75, Kansas
with 68, Kansas State with 52,
Colorado with 51, Iowa State with
28 and Missouri with 10.
The Huskers almost are assured
of improving on their 1988 and
1989 fifth-place finishes. The teams
will play second-round singles, final
round doubles and final-round
singles today slat ting at 9 a.m.
Four Nebraska players will be
competing for singles titles. At No.
1 singles, Ildiko Cuba virtually
repeated a victory from Nebraska’s
first conference dual, beating Kansas
Stale’s Marijke Nel in a first-set
tiebreaker (7*5) and a 6-2 second
set. Nancy tyggum, nauiing Dack
spasms, beat Sara Hancock of
Kansas State, 6-4,6-4, at No. 3.
Meghan Quinn downed Iowa
State’s Coonie McGough at No. 5,
6-2,6-2. At No. 6, Tina Coutrelsis
avenged her only Big Eight loss
with a 6-0, 1-6, 6-0 victory over
Oklahoma's Pam Ridglcy.
Huskcrs Ann Flannery and
Rachel Collins will be playing in
the losers’ bracket. Flannery lost,
6-1,6-4, to Helen Schildknecht of
Kansas State at No. 2 and Collins
lost, 6-4, 6-3, to Page Goins of
Kansas.
The three Husker doubles team s
See CALVIN on 7
Guenther s double lifts
Huskers over Creighton
By Darran Fowier
Staff Reporter
Nebraska softball coach Ron
Wolforth saw the brand of softball
Thursday night that could win a Big
Eight tournament championship.
And with the tournament a week
away, it couldn’t come at a better
time. The title winner receives an
automatic berth into NCAA regional
play.
Wolforth said the 27-17 Com
huskers displayed solid defense and
pitching in a come from-behind 2-1
victory over rival Creighton at the
NU Softbail Complex. Rain cancelled
a second game.
Those two facets of the game arc
what win conference titles according
to Wolforth, not the high-scoring,
slugfcsts like the Huskers showed in
the 8-5, 10-3 sweeping of Wichita
State on Tuesday.
“You don’t win the Big Eight
Conference by scoring a lot of runs,”
he said. “I’ve been around five years,
and I’ve never seen an 11-3 ball game.
It’s always been 1 -0,2-0. That sort of
thing.”
Creighton dumped the Huskers 7
0, 1-0 just over a week ago, but this
time Nebraska won thanks to a clutch
double by Misti Gucmher in the sixth
inning.
With twooutand the score knotted
at one, Guenther, hitting in place of
teammate Marie Bowie, tagged a shot
to the left field fence scoring Kris
Vucurcvic from second base.
Guenther came into the contest
hitting a shaky .192 w ith four doubles,
two triples, a pair of homers and 14
RBI. Wolforth said Guenther is one
of finest hitters he has coached in his
tenure at Nebraska, but her numbers
at the plate so far this season were
below his expectations of 25-35 RBI
and 5-7 home runs. That may have
put some additional pressure on the
sophomore from Omaha, he said.
Guenther admitted she was nerv
ous the entire lime at the plate. She
said she tried to calm herself by just
concentrating on scoring the run.
“I had trouble with (Creighton
pitcher Kelly) Brookharl when we
played in Omaha,” she said.
‘‘Creighton’s a really big rivalry, and
I wanted to get a hit. I just w anted to
get the job done.”
Could scoring the winning run be
what gets her over the hump?
‘‘It’s a stepping stone,” she said.
‘‘It helps me out. It makes me think
I’m not on the bottom, I’m still up
there. I just need to keep working,
keep building and getting better.”
Creighton owned the first lour
innings, jumping in the lead in the
second inning on a solo homer by
freshman Tcir Wilbur against Husker
pitcher Stephanie Skcgas.
See NU on 7
Nebraska's Kris Vucurevic, facing, is congratulated by teammates after scoring the winning
run against Creighton last night. Nebraska won the game 2-1. A second game was rained out.
Barring injury, Lakers predicted to continue ’80 dynasty
This lime of year is very exciting
for sports nuts all over the country.
The baseball season is underway,
the National Hockey League playoffs
are in the second round, and, most
Nick
Hytrek
importantly, the National Basketball
Association playoffs begin this week.
When choosing which sporting
event to watch this weekend, it is a
very easy choice. Take the NBA over
basebali and hockey.
This has been a very interesting
season in the NBA, as the Western
Conference has become powerful. The
Los Angeles Lakers still arc the
dominant team, but now there are
four other teams that have a legiti
mate shot at making it to the NBA
Finals.
The Utah Jazz and the Phoenix
Suns weren’t surprises; they were
supposed to have good teams. But
who expected the Portland Trailblaz
ers and the San Antonio Spurs to have
the kind of years they did?
San Antonio set the record for the
biggest turnaround by a team in one
season. Portland pushed the Lakers
all season and the Pacific Division
wasn’t secured by Los Angeles until
only a few games were left in the
season.
The Eastern Conference was, as
usual, ugly. It mostly resembled foot
ball in shorts.
The Detroit Pistons strengthened
their reputation for being a bunch of
trash-talking goons. The Pistons con
sider a victory as a game in which
they pile up more fines for fighting
than the other team.
Not to be outdone, the Philadel
phia ’76crs clouded an otherwise
successful season by sinking to the
same level as Detroit. Philadelphia
won its first division title in years, but
established itself as another team that
will either beat you or beat you up.
The whole season came to a cli
max when Detroit and Philadelphia
met in the final week to establish just
who the baddest team was. Philadel
phia won the game but the brawl that
occurred was more of a draw. Unfor
tunately, the fight was stopped before
both teams killed each other.
Michael Jordan continued to amaze
fans, and the Chicago Bulls improved
to the point where they had the sec
ond-best record in the conference.
The Indiana Pacers and New York
Knicks began the season hoi, but cooled
oft and are now just average heading
into the playoffs.
Larry Bird returned to make the
Boston Celtics respectable again this
year, proving that the Celtics depend
on him to win ball games.
This year’s playoffs should only
hold one surprise: Chicago will beat
Detroit in the Eastern Conference finals
to make its first trip to the finals in
team history.
Why? The Bulls have figured out
what it takes to win the big game, and
Jordan is no longer the only threat on
the team.
The Western Conference will be
much more exciting, as most of the
series will last seven games. Either
Utah or Phoenix will be gone after the
first round since they play each other.
W —
Portland and San Antonio will have
the most exciting scries when they
meet in the second round, and it s a
tossup who will win there.
One thing’s for certain: The Lak
ers will beat whoever gets in their
way. After last year’s loss in the fi
nals, they have that hungry look hack
and want to prove that they can win it
all without Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
It all narrows down to L A. and
Chicago in the finals, and it appears
to be a foregone conclusion as to w ho
is going to win -- the Lakers arc lar
too deep and talented for anyone to
beat them. .
Barring injury, Los Angeles will
add another championship banner to
its rafters and continue the dynasty oi
the ’80s into a new decade.
Hytrek is a sophomore news-editorial m*)"'
and a Daily Vbraskan sports reporter and
columnist.