Volleyball Final 4
UCLA sweeps
Pacific, claims
national crown
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) - Top
ranked UCLA won the NCAA Divi
sion I women’s volleyball champion
ship Saturday night, getting 12 kills
apiece from Marissa Hatchett and
Natalie Williams in a three-game
sweep of the University of the Pa
cific.
The Bruins, who last won the title
in 1984, captured the first seven points
of the match and stayed in control
throughout a 15-9, 15-12, 15-7 vic
tory. The UCLA front-line rotation of
Hatchett, Williams and Samantha
Shaver frustrated Pacific throughout
the match, both offensively and de
fensively.
The Bruins notched 16 points with
Traci Broadway serving and Hatchett,
Williams and Shaver on the net. Pa
cific’s Krissy Fifer, who had 21 kills
in the Tigers’ semifinal victory over
Nebraska, had 13 against the Bruins.
UCLA finished 36-1, losing only
to Nebraska on Sept. 6. Pacific (30-7)
was foiled in its bid to capture its third
tide since 1984.
Photos by David Froehlich
TOP: Nebraska’s Janet Kruse
and Stephanie Thater try to block
a Pacific attack. LEFT: Val No
vak watches her set. RIGHT:
Kruse slams a spike.
Hall endures injury
to play in Final Four
By John Adkisson
Staff Roporter
Cris Hall fought through pain only
to see her team suffer the pain of a
loss.
Hall, a junior outside hitter for the
Nebraska volleyball team, played with
a stress fracture in her left foot in the
Comhuskers’ four-game loss to Pa
cific Thursday in the NCAA Final
Four at College Park, Md.
Despite the injury, Hall finished
the match with a team-high 18 kills
and a .278 hitting percentage.
“The only reason I was on the
court was for the three seniors,” Hall
said.
Despite Hall’s efforts for Val Novak,
Becki Bolli and Linda Rarsness, Pacific
won 15-13,11-15,15-9, 15-12.
Hall sustained the injury in last
weekend’s Mideast Regional game
against Pittsburgh, and she said it got
worse the next night in a five-game
Nebraska win over Penn State.
“At first I thought it was a cramp,”
Hall said. “But as I was putting stress
on it, it kept hurting more and more.”
Hall said Nebraska coach Terry
Pettit left the decision of playing in
the Final Four up to her. She said she
never had any doubt.
“I wanted to play regardless,” Hall
said. “Any time a team has worked as
hard as we have all season, I wanted
to be a part of playing in the Final
Four.”
But there were times during the
match, Hall said, when her injury
almost forced her out of the game.
“Ata couple of points in the match,
I just wanted to say, ‘Stop. Is this
really all worth it?”’ Hall said.
Nonetheless, Hall said, the Husk
ers should have beaten Pacific.
“While we were playing it didn’t
seem like Pacific had fire in their
eyes, but neither did we,” Hall said.
“We didn’t lake the opportunities when
Game televised
From Staff Reports
Last weekend’s NCAA vol
leyball Final Four will be tele
vised later this month and in
January.
ESPN will replay Nebraska’s
four-game semifinal loss to
Pacific on Dec. 23 at 2 p.m. The
other semifinal, in which UCLA
swept Louisiana State, will be
shown Dec. 22 at 5 p.m.
The UCLA-Pacific final will
be shown by CBS on Jan. 6.
they were given to us.”
Pettit gave Hall credit.
“Even though she had the stress
fracture, she played well enough at
her position for us to win,” Pettit said.
Novak also praised Hall and fresh
man Nikki Strieker, who played de
spite suffering a death in her family a
week before.
“That takes a lot of guts,” Novak
said. “They have a lot of courage to
get out there and play.”
Novak said the team look Hall’s
injury and the possibility of having to
play without Strieker as an obstacle
the team had to overcome.
“(Husker assistant coach John)
Cook told us that we need to take this
as a challenge,” Novak said. “We
knew that just having one or two
people out wouldn’t devastate us.”
The stress fracture was only the
latest in the series of injuries affect
ing Hall in 1990. Since the beginning
of the season, she has had a strained
back, a sore wrist and a swollen knee.
Hall, who will go to the hospital
today to check the extent of the frac
ture, said she hopes next year brings
her better health.
“That’s a goal,” she said.
Passing
Continued from Page 9
Mike Grant, Mickey Joseph’s back
up through most of the season, com
pleted 6 of 11 passes for 43 yards and
one interception. Tom Haase, who
threw both touchdown passes, was 11
of 17 for 130 yards. Keithen McCant
was 7 of 10 for 94 yards.
“(The quarterbacks) all played
pretty well,” Osbomc said. “Grant
had the one interception. Each guy
had a bad play or two.”
Osborne said the offensive line,
which was questioned early and late
in the season, controlled the line of
scrimmage.
“When you’re controlling the line
of scrimmage, the quarterbacks look
good,” he said. “When you’re not
iwpytiffiirrrnw'wiwwt riirm rf-u n-r-r -
controlling the line, Joe Montana
doesn’t look very good.”
On the first drive of the game,
Mike Grant led the No. 1 offense 65
yards downficld in 11 plays against
the top defense. Omar Soto’s 21 -yard
touchdown run capped the drive.
Haase relieved Grant at quarter
back in the middle of the next series
after the offense was stymied by a
clipping call at midfield. Haase’s first
play, on second-and-20, was a 25
yard completion to Lance Lewis for a
first down.
Scott Baldwin finished the drive
six plays later with a one-yard touch
down dive.
Osborne said he hoped the defen
sive players were having problems
with Nebraska’s schemes after con
centrating on what Georgia Tech will
throw at them in the Citrus Bowl.
“I saw some good hits. I heard
some good hits,” he said. “I thought
some guys played well, but you can’t
feci real solid about some of the things
that happened.”
Baldwin, who led the offensive
ground game, gained 63 yards on
seven attempts. In all, the offense
rushed for 310 yards.
Robert Glantz, the fourth-string
fullback, was the second leading rusher.
Glantz, who gained 15 yards on three
attempts during the season, had 57
yards on six carries Saturday.
Osborne said he was pleased with
Glantz’s effort.
“He really ran well,’’Osborne said.
“He came out here wanting to play.
That’s something you see in a deal
like this: Who wants to plav. We’re
looking for the guys who want to. The
guys who arc just finishing it out, we
aren * t too anx ious to put in the game.”
Several injured players missed the
scrimmage. Comerback Tahaun Lewis,
tight end Chris Garrett, split end Jon
Bostick, tight end William Washing
ton, safety Will Thomas and defen
sive tackle Brian Brown all watched
from the sidelines.
Osborne said no one was seriously
injured during the scrimmage, but a
few players were forced to leave early
after getting hurt.
Matt Penland (knee), Tom Punt
(shoulder), David White (shoulder)
and Brown (hit on the head) were
held out for part of the scrimmage.
Reserve quarterback Matt McMillan
sprained his shoulder.
Nebraska will not practice again
until Thursday because of finals. The
team will leave for Orlando, Fla.,
Dec. 23.
Scoring summary: Omar Soto 21 -yard run
(Gregg Barrios Kick).
Baldwin 1-yard run (Barrios kick).
Brad Devall 8-yard pass from Haase
(Barrios kick).
Barrios 28-yard F-G
Daryl Leise G^yard pass from Haase
(Byron Bennett kick).
Rushing: Baldwin 7-63; Glantz 6-57; Soto
5-52; Leodis Flowers 10-50; Derek Brown 5
36; George Achda 6-34; Tim Johnk 1-19;
GrantS11;LanceLewis 1-2; Nate Turner 1
1; McCant 6-(-7); Haase 4-1-8).
Passing: Haase 11-17-0 130; McCant 7
10-0 94; Grant 6-11-1 43.
Rscsivlng: Baldwin 4-19; Achola 3-29;
Devall 3-18; Johnny Mitchell 2-44; Mike
Vedral 2-28; Tom Werner 2-27; Tyrone
Hughes 2-25; Leise 2-23; Turner 2-19;
Lewis 1-23; Brown 1-1.
Interceptions: Mike Anderson 1-5.