Sports
NU volleyball aims to maintain upswing
By John Adkisson
Staff Reporter
It’s amazihg what playing well
can do.
• Just look at the 12-3 Nebraska
volleyball team, which is now riding
a five-match winning streak after a
Sunday thrashing of No. 15 Illinois.
According to Comhusker Coach
Terry Pettit, good play from his team
is making everything, including prac
tices, more fun.
“We had a real good practice to
day,” Pettit said Monday. “Every
body was eager to come in and prac
tice, and it’s fun to work. We’re defi
nitely on an upswing.”
The Huskers, at 3-0 and first place
in the Big Eight, will try and continue
that upswing tonight when they play
9-5 (2-1) Iowa State in a 7 p.m. match
at the Physical Education Building in
Ames, Iowa.
Pettit said better fundamentals are
the reason for his team’s improved
play and the winning streak.
“We’re communicating better and
our movements are stronger,” Pettit
said.
Another reason for Nebraska’s
success is the increased confidence of
setter Nikki Strieker, who racked up
35 set assists in the win over Illinois.
“We’ve worked extra with both
Nikki and Christy Johnson in prac
tice,” Pettit said. “And I think now
it’s starting to pay off.”
In Iowa Slate, Nebraska will see a
team that is coming off of a heart
breaking defeat. Saturday against
Kansas, the Cyclones and Jayhawks
split the first four games before Kan
sas pulled out a 17-15 win in the fifth.
Cyclone Coach Vicki Mealer said
her team is looking forward to play
ing Nebraska, but added that the
Comhuskers’ reputation may hurt her
See CYCLONES on 8
Kiley Timperley/DN
Nebraska’s Nikki Strieker (No. 12) and Stephanie Thater go for the block earlier this season against UCLA. The two will help lead
the Comhuskers into action against Iowa State tonight in Ames, Iowa.
Redshirt freshman
enjoying starting spot
By Todd Cooper
Senior Reporter
Comhusker offensive tackle Rob
Zatechka didn’t have time to get
nervous for his first collegiate start
against Arizona State Sept. 28.
“You really -
don’t have too
much time to
get all worked
up about it,’’
Zatechka said.
“You have so
many things to
worry about— -
technique, run- Zatechka
ning the plays right.
,TAnd, besides, I didn’t find out
until the night before."
But the redshirt freshman wasn’t
all that surprised when Husker
offensive line coach Milt Tenopir
told him he’d start against then
No. 24 Arizona State. Nebraska
won the game 18-9.
“It was between Lance Lund
berg and I," Zatechka said. “Either
one of us could have started. We
were just in the right place at the
right time.”
Nebraska’s coaches decided to
move Erik Wiegert from left tackle
to left guard, where Wiegert started
most of last year.
The coaches gave the nod to the
6-foot-5,305-pound Zatechka, who
said he hadn’t played in a “pres
sure situation since high school.”
“I was anxious to get out and see
how well I could do against top
notch competition,” Zatechka said.
“That was definitely the fastest game
1 had ever been in.
“I just had to adjust to keeping '
up with everything.”
Zatechka said he kept pace fairly
well.
“Game situations are almost
overwhelming,” Zatechka said. “My
performance was nothing to scream
about. But I was a young guy in a
pretty big situation.”
Although starting as a freshman
is a rarity at Nebraska, Zatechka
said he didn’t dwell on that “honor.”
“It felt good to start,” Zatechka
said. “But I couldn’t think about it.
It doesn’t matter what age you are,
the coaches expect you to get the
job done.”
But when the season began,
Zatechka said, he didn’t expect to
be starting.
“I thought I’d basically be a
reserve this year,” Zatechka said.
“I thought I’d see a decent amount
of playing time, but only if we
were really ahead or really far
behind.”
Zatechka said he prefers his new
role.
"I’m not sure if I’ll start from
now on,” Zatechka said. “I’m one
of only two left tackles so I should
see a decent amount of playing
time."
Zatechka said that and his 4.0
grade-point average could lead to
some post-season honors, like
Academic All-Big Eight.
“If I see enough playing time,
I’d like to achieve that,” Zatechka
said. “It would be great to be in that
position.
“But for now I’m just trying to
take care of what will help this
team win. That’s the only pressure
I feel." >
Fan chooses best baseball players
Now that the regular season has
ended for major league baseball, the
whole focus has changed for baseball
fans.
Fans are no longer watching indi
vidual races in the divisions. Fans
will now choose to analyze the strengths
and weaknesses of Toronto, Minne
sota, Pittsburgh and Atlanta.
I for one choose not to get in
volved in these debates until the World
Series begins, and even then that isn’t
very interesting. It’s a lot of wasted
effort to analyze four teams and much
easier to just wait until the field is cut
in half.
Also, every TV sports program
and newspaper puts out an overwhelm
ing amount of information on the
matchups, leaving little for fans to
ponder. Fans have been force-fed all
of this.information so that the views
aren’t really their own. What people
are really doing is just regurgitating
the ramblings of some so-called ex
pert.
The real debate at this time of the
year, however, is not who’s going to
win the playoffs or the World Series.
I prefer to discuss the Most Valuable
Player awards.
This is the race that is much more
intriguing since the choices aren’t
limited to just four.
I think it very unfortunate that
many times players are selected as
league MVP on the basis of statistics
alone.
SuTe, stats have a place when de
termining who the MVP should be.
Statistics indicate what kind of per
formance the player had during the
season, but I don’t think some people
have ever contemplated what the wolds
“Most Valuable Player” really mean.
Valuable is the key word here.
How instrumental was the player
to his team’s success? And by suc
cess, I don’t mean winning the pen
nant.
You must consider how big of a
role a player had in maybe keeping
his team from ending up 30 games out
of first place and finishing 40 games
under .500.
This is more important than some
one who hits 50 home runs for the
team that wins the pennant because
mainly, one assumes that a pennant
winner has talent across the lineup
and that one player isn’t so vital in
that team’s success.
Pitchers don’t count either.
A really good year for a pitcher
usually means winning 20 to 25 games.
But an outstanding year from an eve
ryday player means that this player
will probably win at least 30 or 40
games with clutch hits or outstanding
defense day in and day out. With a
pitcher, this happens only every fourth
or fifth day.
So that leaves us with the question
of who should be the MVPs this sea
son.
Let me provide my input into that
debate.
First, for the American League.
It’s hard to ignore the 44 homers
by Detroit’s Cecil Fielder and
Oakland’s Jose Canseco. Also, one
must consider the fact that they were
also the top two in the league in runs
batted in.
But both played for teams that
could overcome a lapse in these two
players’ performances.
In Detroit, there are players such
as Mickey Tcttlcton and Rob Deer
who both capable of picking up the
slack should Fielder have an off year.
In Oakland, there is enough talent
on the team to make up for a poor year
by Canseco. It was proved last year
when Canseco sat out the first half of
the season. The A’s still were in first
place at that time however, proving
that they could win without him.
Cal Ripken Jr. in Baltimore also
merits serious consideration. He can
do it all.
Ripken rarely makes an error, can
hit for both power and average, and
he hasn’t missed a game in years. He
is unquestionably the leader of the
Orioles.
What hurts Ripken is that he is
expected to put out those numbers
every year, and since he is so steady,
he doesn’t have the eye-catching season
to win the MVP. Voters tend to over
look the steady player and opt for the
man with the unusually large stats.
In my view, Ripken deserves the
award, but not this season. Runner-up
honors to Cal.
For MVP, I’ll go out on a limb and
give it to Paul Molitor of the Milwau
kee Brewers.
Molitor quietly put together an
impressive season ior a team that
really has no other All-Stars besides
Robin Yount, who suffered through a
bad year.
Molitor hit .325, led the league in
runs and hits and tied for the lead in
triples. If Molitor hadn’t had this type
of year, the Brewers wouldn’t have
finished in fourth place in the AL
East. Without him, you would have
seen Milwaukee right above Cleve
land in the final standings.
In the National League, I think the
race is much closer.
Tony Gwynn of San Diego comes
to mind, but like Ripken, he produced
what everyone has come to expect of
him.
SetT MVP on 8
Nick
Hytrek
