Cornhuskers I
again headed I
to Final Four I
By John Atikisscn
Staff Reporter
After mounting two huge rallies Saturday
night, Nebraska’s volleyball team made its
most important comeback of the season — to
the NCAA Final Four.
The Comhuskers stormed back from defi
cits in the first two games and went on to a 15
12,16-14, 10-15, 15-5 victory over Penn State
to win the Midcast Regional and advance to the
Final Four for the third time in five years.
Nebraska will now face Pacific Thursday in
a national semifinal at College Park, Md. The
winner of that match will play for the champi
onship Saturday.
Nebraska coach Terry Pettit, whose team
improved to 32-2, said the win over previously
undefeated Penn State was a great match be
tween two great teams.
“I think maybe that was as good an athletic
event as Nebraska volleyball has put on,” Pettit
said.
The challenge of hitting against Penn State
— Pettit called the Lady Lions “the best defen
sive team in the country” — gave the Huskers
problems early, as they fell behind 12-4 in die
first game.
But then the Huskers broke loose and rallied
in front of a near-capacity crowd of 3,874.
Freshman Nikki Strieker served five consecu
tive points to close the gap to 12-8, and after a
side out, three consecutive Janet Kruse kills
gave Nebraska a 13-12 lead. It’s lead increased
to 14-12, and a Kruse smash off of a Penn Slave
block won the first game and sent the home
fans into a frenzy. Kruse finished the match
with a team-high 19 kills.
“I think we focused point to point rather
than looking at how much we needed to make
up,” said Husker setter Val Novak, who had 48
set assists. “We just wanted to work through
each point.”
Nebraska again needed to rally in the sec
ond game, falling behind by scores of 10-5 and
11-8. But after a lip by Stephanie Thater re
turned the serve to Nebraska, senior Bccki
Bolli served four consecutive points to give the
Huskers a lead they would never lose.
With the second game tied at 14, a hitting
error by Penn State’s JoAnn Elwcll gave the
Huskers a one-point lead. On the next point,
two Nebraska players appeared to trap the ball
near the net. But no call was made, and sopho
more Eileen Shannon pounded down a spike to
give the Huskers a 16-14 second-game win.
Penn State coach Russ Rose disputed the
call.
“The ball came lo a visible rest,” Rose said.
“It was an awfully hard way to lose a game
when you’re on the road in front of a big
crowd.”
If Penn State was shaken by the loss of the
second game, it didn’t show in the third. The
Lady Lions raced to a 5-0 lead and never
looked back, winning 15-10.
But Nebraska put the Lady Lions away in
the fourth game, with Strieker’s serving. After
Penn State cut a Nebraska lead to 6-5, Strieker
finished the match by reeling off nine consecu
tive points on her serve. Leading 14-5, a kill
attempt by Elwell sailed over the baseline and
gave the Huskcrs the victory.
Pettit said he was pleased with the play of
Strieker, who served 25 of Nebraska’s 56 points
without an error.
“I thought she played a very good match all
the way around,” Pettit said. “She’s like every
body else, she’s pretty tough.”
He said that although the Huskcrs played
well offensively, the key to the game was
exceptional play by the defense, which posted
14 more digs than the Lady Lions.
“The challenge was for us to raise the things
we’re good at to exceptional, and I thought
that’s what wc did,” Pettit said. Wc raised our
defense.”
Rose, whose team fell to 44-1 with the loss,
agreed.
“Nebraska’s defense was the reason we lost,”
Rose said. “Tonight, they covered the whole
court better than I’ve ever seen a Nebraska
team do. That’s a tribute to the coaches and the
players that they’re playing the whole game as
well as they arc right now.”
Pettit also took lime to express appreciation
to the Nebraska crowd.
“I want to thank the fans for not just their
support tonight, but for their support through
out the year,” he said. “They certainly did a
good job tonight.”
Despite winning the regional, Novak said,
there still is work lo be done.
“We’re taking it one match at a time,” she
said. “That’s been our outlook and that will be
our outlook.”
Pettit said his team still has something to
prove, especially following Nebraska’s two
Final Four losses in 1986 and 1989, where they
were swept in the championship match both
times.
“Wc haven’t accomplished anything that
several other good Nebraska teams haven’t
done,” Pettit said.
Clockwise from top left:
Nebraska’s Eileen Shannon prepares to bump the ball against
Pittsburgh Friday night.
All-American Janet Kruse slams a kill Saturday night over
Penn State blockers. Noelle Zientara (21) and JoAnne Elwell
Nebraska’s Becky Bolli bumps the ball and Chris Hall moves
in support during Friday night’s game.
Nebraska coach Terry Pettit makes his own call Saturday
night. 1
All-American Val Novak keeps the ball in play while Stepha
nie Thater moves in to back her up Friday night.
Robin Trimarchi/Daily Nebraskan
Dsvld Fahleson/Daily Nebraskan
David Fahleson/Daily Nebraskan
Penn State coach, players
impressed with Nebraska
By Chris Hopfensperger
Senior Reporter
Penn State lias now lost seven games
and one match.
Saturday night was the first time
the Lady Lions lost more than one
game in a match all season, and only
the fifth time they had to play more
than three games to win.
The big difference: This time, they
lost.
Nebraska ended Penn State’s sea
son Saturday night by beating the
previously undefeated Lady Lions 15
12, 16-14, 15-10, 15-5 in front of a
rocking, sold-out NU Coliseum.
After the match, Penn State grappled
with the idea that the drive for the na
tional title was ever.
“I’m disappointed, of course, that
we didn’t play better,” Penn State
■BHHWliwWHHMi
coach Russ Rose said. “I’m not disap
pointed that we made it to the finals of
the regional championship and lost to
a fine Nebraska team.
“They certainly did what they
needed to do against us.”
What the Comhuskcrs did was shut
down the Lady Lions’ offense by
dismantling the machine-like preci
sion of setter Michelle Jaworski.
The Huskers’ ability to serve the
ball short kept Jaworski off the net
and allowed Nebraska to establish an
effective blocking game, Rose said.
Nebraska also played tremendous
defense, Rose said, consistently dig
ging the Lady Lions’ attacks.
“We had an opportunity to win the
match and we didn’t gel the job done,”
he said. “And Uic reason we didn’t get
the job done was because Nebraska
played better defense than we did.”
There was no argument from Penn
State middle blocker JoAnn Elwcll.
“It seemed like every time I went up
and swung at the ball, there was
someone there to dig it,” she said. “It
got very frustrating.”
Penn State was held to 49 kills and
a .092 hitting percentage, while Ne
braska rammed the ball back at the
Lady Lions 64 times.
Rose was disappointed that his team
surrendered the fourth game. The
Huskcrs turned a 6-4 lead into a 15-5
rout, as freshman Nikki Strieker rattled
off nine straight service points.
“Other than the last seven or eight
points of the fourth game, I thought
we were always in the match,” he
said. ‘I was disappointed that we kind
of folded the tent at the end.”
