Huskers matched
with tough teams
in court contest
By John Adkisson
Staff Reporter
The No. 1 Nebraska volleyball team
enters this weekend’s FirsTier Invita
tional with the same message to op
ponents - lake your best shot.
The 9-1 Comhuskers, who have
played six top-10 opponents in the
last three weeks, will host No. 12
Brigham Young, Wisconsin and North
Carolina in the tournament, to be played
today and Saturday at the NU Coli
seum.
Nebraska coach Terry Pettit said
he is happy with the way the Huskers
have taken on the tough early season
competition.
“It’s a good start and we’ve devel
oped really well,” Pettit said. “I’m
happy with the progress we’ve made.”
The tournament’s feature match will
be tonight’s 7 p.m. Nebraska-Brigham
Young contest. Pettit sard Brigham
Young, 8-2, is a team that relics heav
ily on solid blocking.
“They’re as good a team as we’ve
faced this year,” Pettit said. “They
put six top-notch players on the court
and they block extremely well.”
Wisconsin is 12-4 and on a 11
match winning streak. The Badgers
lost a four-game match to No. 2 UCLA
earlier this season, winning the first
game 15-9,and then losing 15-12,15
9 and 15-12.
Pettit said that Wisconsin is very
similar to Nebraska.
“They match up with us very well,”
Pettit said. “They are a physical team
and they play good defense.”
Pettit said that North Carolina, 6
4, also has a good team.
“They won the ACC last year and
they’ve won a few matches this year,”
Pettit said. “They’re not as physical
as the other two teams we’ll sec.”
The Huskers will be healthy. So
phomore setter Valeric Vermculen
will play for the first time this season
after silling out with a viral infection,
FirsTier
Invitational
[ATNirCOUSEUM
5:00 p.m. Wisconsin vs.
North Carolina
7:30 p.m. #1 Nebraska vs.
_#12 BYU
10:00 a.m. Nebraska vs.
North Carolina
Noon BYU vs. Wisconsin
5:15 p.m. Nebraska vs.
Wisconsin
7:30 p.m. BYU vs.
North Carolina
*UNL students free with
student ID.
John Bruce/Daily Nebraskan
and junior outside hitter Cris Hall,
though still troubled with back pains,
will play. She has been able to play
through her pain and deliver at cru
cial times.
“She is a very competitive player,”
Pettit said. “She plays her best in the
big matches.”
Also drawing praise from Pettit is
sophomore middle blocker Stephanie
Thaler, who earned All-Tournament
honors at last weekend’s Illinois Invi
tational. Thaler also leads the Big
Eight with a .376 hitting percentage.
“She has played consistently for
us all season,” Pettit said. “So far,
she has gotten better each week.”
Pettit said the keys to Nebraska’s
winning the tournament are ball han
dling and defense.
“If we’re going to play as well as
we can, we need to improve in both of
those areas,” Pettit said.
Pettit said that the Huskers have
rebounded well from last weekend’s
four set loss to Pacific at the Illinois
Invitational.
“I don’t think the players think
any less of themselves because they
lost their first match,” Pettit said.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
students who show their student ID’s
get in free to regular season home
matches.
Struggling Oregon State team
facing stiff odds against NU
By Chris Hopfensperger
Senior Reporter
Last year, Oregon State “tied”
Colorado.
Both the Beavers and the Buffa
loes held Nebraska to 397 yards, its
lowest offensive output until the Fi
esta Bowl.
“We did not move the ball at will
against Oregon Slate,” Nebraska coach
Tom Osborne said.
In fact the Beavers were the best
defensive team with the best schemes
on last year’s non-conference sched
ule despite losing to Nebraska 35-7,
Osborne said.
This year, however, might be a
different story.
So far, Oregon State is 0-4.
“They’re obviously disappointed
in how things have gone this far,”
Osborne said.
The Beavers probably are disap
pointed at the oddsmakers for listing
them as 50-point underdogs to Ne
braska.
Osborne said he can’t remember a
game where Nebraska has been fa
vored by such an enormous margin,
and he wants to forget it now.
“That’s probably the most mis
leading thing to use and the only thing
fans can look at,” he said. “It does
build up expectations.
“I don’t believe anybody should
be favored by that amount.”
Several factors are overlooked when
a point spread is the only considera
tion, Osborne said, crediting the sec
ond half play of Oregon State in its
37-3 loss at Stanford.
Turnovers also have been a prob
lem for the Beavers, who have given
away the ball 14 times.
“They had a tremendous number
of turnovers against UNLV,” Osborne
said. “I think they had six straight
turnovers and that led to their de
struction.
Probable starters
Kevin Strasser SE 5-10 169 So. Chris Garrett TE 6-3 240 Jr.
Brad D’Ancona LT 6-3 290 Sr. Tom Punt LT 6-8 285 Sr.
Christian Miller LG 6-4 275 Fr. Jim Wanek LG 6-1 245 Sr.
Tom Nordquist C 6-2 250 Jr. David Edeal C 6-2 260 Sr.
Fletcher Keister RG 6-4 280 So. Will Shields RG 6-2 260 So.
Adam Albaugh RT 6-5 274 Fr. Brian Boerboom RT 6-7 285 Jr.
George Breland TE 6-4 219 Sr. Jon Bostick SE 6-2 185 Jr.
Maurice Wilson FL. 6-8 172 So. Mike Grant QB 6-2 210 Jr.
Matt Booher QB 6-2 196 Sr. Leodis Flowers IB 5-11 200 Jr.
Reggie Pitchford TB 5-10 202 Sr. Omar Soto FB 5-11 220 Jr.
James Jones FB 6-2 244 So. Tyrone Hughes WB 5-9 175 So.
Doua Burke PK 6-3 201 Jr. Gregg Barrios PK 5-8 170 Sr.
Chad de Sully LE 6-4 232 Fr. Travis Hill LB 6-2 225 So.
EseraTuaolo DT 6-3 262 Sr. Joe Sims LT 6-3 280 Sr.
Martin Billings RE 6-4 240 Sr. Pat Engelbert MG 6-2 250 Jr.
Mark Price OLB 6-2 205 So. Kenny Walker RT 6-4 240 Sr.
Tim Slone ILB 6-3 228 Jr. Mike Croel LB 6-3 225 Sr.
Joe Kearney ILB 6-1 229 Sr. Mike Petko LB 6-2 230 Jr.
Todd McKinney OLB 6-3 216 Sr. Pat Tyrance LB 6-2 240 Sr.
Brian Beck SC 5-8 166 Sr. Bruce Pickens CB 5-11 190 Sr.
EarIZackery FS 5-11 201 So. Reggie Cooper SS 6-3 210 Sr.
Dennis Edwards SS 6-2 206 Fr. Tyrone Byrd FS 5-11 165 So.
Brent Huff WC 5-10 167 Jr. Tahaun Lewis CB 5-11 170 Sr.
Tim Kolias P 5-11 170 Fr. Mike Stigge P 6-1 185 So.
“If the situation reverses and they
have a plus three or four turnovers,
then it could get light.”
Osborne said the Cornhuskers are
not counting on the Beavers giving
them the ball.
“You’ve always got to figure that
when you play somebody, you may
not have that factor,” he said. “We’re
hoping that we’ll take good care of
the ball and we’re prepared to play a
team that doesn’t turn it over.”
Nebraska has had a small problem
with turnovers, Osborne said. The
Huskers have had eight this season.
“We have not done a bad job,” he
said. “We’ve got to get that turnover
thing down to one or zero (per game).
John Bruce/Daily Nebraskan
“We’d like to gel into a rhythm
where we’re taking a little better care
of the ball.”
Being such a heavy favorite does
not change the team’s outlook on the
game or allow the players to let up
their intensity, Osborne said.
“Our approach is generally to play
against ourselves,” he said. “We want
to play as well as we can. We usually
have competition for positions, so a
player knows if he goes out and docsn’t
play well there is somebody else who
may be able to play better.
“We use that approach whether
we arc playing Oklahoma or w hether
See HUSKERS on 8
OSU coach: Husker defense, depth
will be obstacles for Saturday’s game
By Paul Domeier
Senior Reporter
The Oregon Stale Beavers could
keep Saturday’s game close, improve
as a team heading into the rest of their
Pac 10 schedule and maybe, just
maybe, pull off an upset.
Or they could gel mashed again.
“We’ll be able to tell after the
game whether indeed we did get
something out of the game,’’ Oregon
State Coach Dave Kragthorpe said.
The Beavers gained from last year’s
game against Nebraska, Kragthorpe
said. The Comhuskers beat the Bea
vers 35-7 on the way to a 4-7-1 rec
ord, but Oregon Slate had 228 yards
compared to Nebraska’s 397.
Now the Beavers are in a situation
similar to 1989.
“At the stage that our team is right
now, we just want to go out and play
well,’’ Kragthorpe said.
That, Kragthorpe said, is some
thing the Beavers have not done yet.
Oregon Stale is 0-4, having lost to
Montana, Kansas, UNLV and Stan
ford by a combined score of 142-50.
Kragthorpe said Oregon State
should be 2-2.
“As far as prcscason predictions
and prognosis, we’re not doing very
well,” he said.
Injuries, particularly to wide re
ceiver Jason Kent, cornerback Brent
Huff and defensive tackle Escra
Tuaolo, have contributed to the rough
start, Kragthorpe said.
“When you’re struggling like we
arc, you need to be at 1(H) percent to
have a chance,” he said.
On defense, the Beavers were going
to rely on Lombardi Trophy candi
date Tuaolo - hard to pronounce,
hard to block and hard to find for the
first four games. Kragthorpc said
Tuaolo, the leading tackier in last
year’s contest, has been kept out most
of this season and will sec limited
action this weekend.
Kragthorpc said he has seen films
of all of Nebraska’s games.
“(The Huskers arc) always tough,
and this may be one of their better
teams,” he said. “It starts with their
defense. It’s just awesome. There’s
no other way to put it.”
The development of a young
Nebraska offense into a unit averag
ing 43 points a game is an example of
the Huskers’ depth, Kragthorpc said.
Nebraska leads the series 8-2,
having won the last three meetings.
Oregon State’s two victories came in
1947 and 1948.
At the end of the 1948 season, the
Beavers played in the Pineapple Bowl.
Oregon State’s most recent bowl game
was the 1965 Rose Bowl. The pro
gram had five winning seasons after
that, and arc now on a 19-year streak
of losing records. The team’s four
wins in 1988 and 1989 were the most
since 1971.
“The most important thing is that
this program has been losing a long
time,” Kragthorpc said, “so our
confidence level isn’t where it is
supposed to be.”
__r\ _
Nebraska Oregon St.
(3-0-0) (0-4-0)
-\r
September 29, 1:30 p.m. Memorial Stadium
Nebraska leads: 8-2-0_
Last meeting: 1989 records:
1989 Nebraska 10-2-0
Nebraska, 35-7 Oregon St. 4-7-1
Nebraska 13 Baylor 0
Nebraska 60 Northern Illinois 14
t Nebraska 56 Minnesota 0
Oregon St. 15 Montana 22
Oregon St. 12 Kansas 38
Oregon St. 20 UNLV 45
Oregon St. 3 Stanford_37_
Western Michigan at Iowa St.
New Mexico at Kansas St.
Washington at Colorado
Kansas at Oklahoma
_ Arizona St. at Missouri _
Injuries strike NU runners;
team to run minus top two
By Cory Golden
Staff Reporter
Because of injuries and illness,
both the men’s and women’s cross
country teams will be competing
without key runners on Saturday.
Because of a bacterial infec
tion, sophomore Katie Fletcher, the
women’s team captain, was held
out of two tune-up meets ~ the
Woody Grccno-Nebraska and
Doanc Invnationals. Coach Jay
Dirkscn had planned for her to re
turn for Saturday’s Mountain West
Invitational in Missoula, Mont.
Dirkscn said unless she made a
miraculous one-hour recovery, that
he was 99-pcrcent sure Fletcher
would not make the trip because of
a low hemoglobin count and a fever.
If Fletcher cannot make the trip,
sophomore Angie Lippold, the
team’s No. 8 runner, will lake her
place in the Huskcrs’ lop seven.
Flctcchcr isn’t the only runner
to sit out this meet.
Junior Kelly O’Donnel is re
covering from a hip injury and is
not 10()-percent healthy. For the
men, freshman David Iteffa, who
finished second ai Doane, is still
being nagged by a groin injury.
Fran tenBensel, the women’s
No. 2 runner, will also be missing
when the starter’s gun sounds. In
stead, tenBensel, who led the
women's team in their first two
meets by placing first, will be at
her sister’s wedding.
The result is a test for the women.
“If we can do well without two
of our top three runners, Fran and
Katie,” Dirkscn said, “I'll know
we have a good team.
“Whether or not we’ll win. . .
well, I doubt it.”
The field in the b,(XX) meters
race is a good one, he said, but no
rankings have been released for the
NCAA women.
The young, 22nd-ranked men’s
team, trailing it captain, All-Ameri
can Joe Kirby, will look to gain
experience against the likes of No.
bOregonand No. 20 Weaver State,
Dirkscn said. u
“I really don’t know what we
have on the men’s side,” he said.
“I think both teams are ready to
run and could run fairly well. I
hope we do.”
Schwarzenegger to speak
From Staff Reports
The Office of Campus Recreation
has distributed about 4,(XX) passes for
today’s speech by Arnold Sch
warzenegger.
Schwarzenegger will begin speak
ing at 3 p.m. in the NU Coliseum.
Doors open at 2 p.m.
Schwarzenegger is visiting Ne
braska today as chairman of the Presi
dent’s Council on Physical Fitness.
Nebraska is the last stop on a swing
of six states. This is the first trip as he
starts to fulfill his pledge to visit all
50 states and check out local fitness
programs.
Before coming to campus Sch
warzenegger will go to a luncheon
with Gov. Kay Orr and will go to a
public school in Lincoln.