"ports
The national and local news media found its way to the south stadium Tuesday to hear Tom
Osborne's comments on Saturday’s Colorado game.
Osborne says
Husker injuries
could be worse
By Chris Hopfensperger
Senior Reporter
The Comhuskcrs won’t play the
Buffaloes until Saturday, but Nebraska
coach Tom Osborne already has won
part of Colorado’s respect.
He may run intoa small conflictof
interest when he steps onto the field
Saturday as both the Huskcrs’ coach
and honorary mayor for the day of
Wray, Colo.
His temporary office was an
nounced Tuesday.
Osborne, however, stressed situ
ations closer to home.
Injuries have plagued the Husker
football team since Nate Turner broke
his collar bone during the second day
of fall camp, bul al his weekly press
conference Tuesday Osborne said the
team's health right now is “par for the
course.”
“We’re possibly getting a little bit
belter than we were last week,” he
said.
Several players arc questionable
for Saturday’s game against Colo
rado, but, Osborne said, that is a bless
ing.
“There’s a lot of ‘ifs’ there,” he
said. “But the gtxxi news is that they’re
‘ifs,’ they’re not ‘can’t plays.’”
Fullback Omar Solo, who missed
See OSBORNE on 8
NCAA
Volleyball
Top 20
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2 Nebraska B!m 3
3 Pacific 2
4 Texas KflJ 4
5 Stanford |iy] 5
6 Hawaii ItH 6
7 UC-Santa Jp9|
Barbara RSI 7
8 Penn St. BBl 8
9 San Jose St. M4J 9
tie Wisconsin ytj jo
11 New Mexico IjSj 11
12 Texas Tech. RH12
13 Ohio Sfate gf£j 13
tie Long Beach IIMB
State iBl 1 e
15BYU nZja
16Pepperdine IEEj-15
17 Louisiana St. RE] 17
18 Pittsburg rg&l 19
19 Wyoming illo on
20 Duke
[Previous j
Basketball player
improves skills,
leams to get tough
By Erik Unger
Staff Reporter_
After playing some of Europe’s
best this summer, Nebraska basket
ball player Karen Jennings learned
just how nasty she needs to get.
Jennings, who started as a fresh
man a year ago lor the Comhuskers,
said she was surprised at how physi
cal European-style basketball was after
playing on a Big Eight All-Star team
in Czechoslovakia.
She was able to compare that
experience with playing in the Olym
pic Festival, which she has done the
past two summers.
Jennings said the tournament in
Czechoslovakia was much more
physical than that of the Olympic
Festival, which selects some of the
nation’s top players and divides them
into four teams.
"I realize how physical I have to
be," Jennings said.
Jennings was one of 10 Big Eight
players selected to compete against
the European national and junior
national teams. Husker coach Angela
Beck guided the Big Eight team.
Jennings should be more physical
this season with Beck saying Jen
nings has had the "most remarkable
change in physical make-up of any
See JENNINGS on 8
Jayhawks almost kill Husker win
By Cory Golden
Staff Reporter_
Nebraska’s volleyball team proba
bly will try to forget last night’s 15-9,
10-15, 16-14, 15-9 win over Kansas
in the NU Coliseum.
The No. 2-ranked Comhuskers, 20
2, had to overcome 36 hitting errors
and 21 service errors to beat the un
ranked Jayhawks, 14-11, before a
crowd of 1,636.
Nebraska coach Terry Pettit said
he didn’t know exactly what caused
the team to sputter and struggle through
the match until .425 hitting in the
fourth game snubbed the upset-minded
Jayhawks.
“I think it’s easier to say what went
right when you play well than to try to
identify all the things that went wrong
when you didn’t,” Pettit said.
Credit was due partially, he said,
to Kansas players who played step
for-step with the Huskers, preventing
any extended runs by the home team.
The Jayhawks’ second-game win
marked the first Big Eight Confer
ence team to take a game from top
ranked Nebraska.
“Kansas played really well. They
competed well,” Pettit said. ‘‘I sup
pose we didn’t think they could
compete, that we were waiting to
shift gears, and we never did move to
a higher level.
“I think there were a few people
taking them pretty light.”
Pettit said Kansas, fourth place in
the conference entering Tuesday’s
match, was obviously up after wins
against Oklahoma and Tulsa.
"1 don’t want to say anything that
would detract from their effort,” he
said. “Bui that’s precisely it— they
gave more effort than we did.”
Kris Klcinschmidt led Kansas with
12 kills. Teammate Adrian Powell
finished with 10, as the Jayhawks hit
.130 for the match.
Pettit complimented the Jayhawk
defense and said the Nebraska errors
shouldn’t overshadow the effort.
Still, with just seven team blocks
that left 29 hitting errors where the
ball hit the nctor ground oulof bounds
on long hits or shanked spikes to
either side.
Nebraska lied a school record for i
attacks in a four-game match with
200, while hilling .240 — 55 points
under the team’s season average.
Five Huskers finished with double
digits in the kill column. Eileen Shan
non and Cris Hall finished with 13
apiece. Stephanie Thaler totaled 15
kills, Janet Kruse, 18, and Linda
Barsness, 14. Kruse, Barsness and
Nikki Strieker (nine kills) had season
highs.
Some Huskers did play well, but
Pettit refused to name names.
“There were individuals that did
good things,” he said, “but I’d rather
not comment on them because it’s not
as important as how the team plays —
ultimately that’s what you have to
look at.”
Entering this weekend’s Run/a
Invitational, the Huskers will have to
put the disappointing performance
behind them, Pettit said.
“We’ll have to go on. We won’t
dwell on it very much,” he said. “We
have two practices left and we’ll still
just be focusing on our side of the
net.”
Shaun Sartin/Daily Nebraskan
Nebraska’s Eileen Shannon puts one by Kansas’ Adrian
Powell at the NU Coliseum Thursday. The Cornhuskers won
15-9,10-15,16-14,15-9.
Buff tears will trickle if prayer is answered
Lord, it’s lime you and I had an
other talk.
This Saturday, the Comhuskers are
putting a national championship on
the line when they play Colorado.
David
Moyer
Now, I know you have given the team
good fortune for many years, and that
is greatly appreciated. But I want
more than good fortune.
Maybe I’m being greedy, but for
too many years now I’ve seen losses
to Oklahoma teams and bowl teams
tarnish otherwise great seasons. Now
it’s lime you give the team and fans
what we all want again — the Na
lional Championship!
And il all starts with a win against
the Buffaloes. So please, I’m beg
ging, let the Huskers win. I’m a nerv
ous wreck.
I know I’ve made deals with you
before, and haven’t really stuck to
them.
Like when I said I would never
drink again if you would just let me
survive my hangover. Or when I said
1 would study more if you would just
let me pass that astronomy final.
This time, though, I’m just asking
for a favor, not a deal. I mean seri
ously, this year we could have our
best team since 1983, but no one will
give us credit.
CBS analyst Mike Francesca says
we don’t deserve to be ranked high
because we haven’t played any good
teams, even though the ones we have
defeated keep beating those ranked in
the Top 25.
OK, so the teams we beat weren’t
powerhouses, but they also weren’t
horrible. We jusl crushed them. Plain
and simple.
Francesca says we have spent too
much time crying about the polls this
year, and we should stop. At the same
lime he says Colorado still has a chance
to win the national championship.
Right, Mike.
So make this the second part of the
lavor: Make Mike Francesca sweat,
make his chair real uncomfortable
when the score becomes final and
make him admit he made a mistake. I
don’t want to listen to him say, “I told
you so.” It would ruin my day.
This is my last year at Nebraska,
and I’m sure there arc many other
seniors who want to be able to tell
their kids and grandkids we won a
national championship while we were
in college.
II you could just grant me these
lavors, it would make my coping
with this year a little easier.
So, lo show I’m being earnest, for
the rest of this week before I go to
bed I’ll kneel down and say this little
prayer:
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
Let ‘cm beat the Buffs and make
them weep,
And from McCartney’s mouth not
a peep,
About a slick field or filth-down
leap.
Every weekend I’ll go lar and
fast,
To morning church and evening
mass.
If you make Lcodis run and Mickey
pass,
Like they’ve never done in the
past.
But most of al I, Lord, let the H usk -
ers kick some “butt”.
Moyer is a senior speech communica
tions major and a Daily Nebraskan sports
reporter and columnist.