Men’s tennis team wins one,
loses one during weekend play
By Jeff Singer
Staff Reporter
After pounding one Missouri Val
ley Conference opponent on Friday,
the Nebraska men’s tennis team got a
taste of its own medicine on Saturday
from another MVC foe as the Com
huskers split their weekend matches.
Nebraska opened the weekend with
a 7-2 beating of Southwest Missouri
State Friday at Kansas City, Mo., but
the tables were turned on the Huskcrs
Saturday when they were beaten 9-0
by Drake in Des Moines, Iowa.
In Friday’s matches, Nebraska
earned straight-set wins at four singles
spots to earn the victory.
No. 1 player JospphRahmc won 6
4,3-3; as did No. 2 Karl Falkland 7-6,
2-0; No. 4 Andy Davis 6-2,6-2; and
No. 5 Troy Bray 6-3, 6-1.
Bray said he thought the Huskcrs’
margin of victory over the Southwest
Missouri Stale Bearcats was the most
surprising.
“I thought we played well,” Bray
said. "I didn’t expect for us to beat
them that badly, but everybody was
pumped up and everything was just
clicking."
Rahmc was beating his opponent
in the second set when his Bearcat
counterpart retired from the match
because of a hip injury. Rahme said
his opponent’s injury was more men
tal than physical.
T beat him in the Husker Invite
and he wasn't even coming close to
breaking my serve,” Rahme said. “I
-44
If we play against Kan
sas, Oklahoma, Okla
homa State and Colo
rado like we did
against Drake, we’re
going to get shelled.
— McDermott
NU Tennis coach
--ft -
think he knew I was dominating the
match and that he didn’t have a chance,
so he thought he’d better pack it in.”
Other Nebraska wins on Friday
came from No. 6 singles player Jay
Scagrist 1 -6,7-6,6-4 and at two of the
three doubles positions. The Husk
ers’ No. 1 doubles pair ol Rahme and
Falkland won 6-4,4-6,6-4 as did the
No. 2 tandem of Davis and Mike
Garcia by scores of 6-3, 6-3.
As for Saturday’s matches, the
highlights were minimal for the Husk
crs as they were dominated by the
Bulldogs.
Bray said it was easy to tell why
the Huskers had troubles against Drake.
“Drake was just another level above
us,” Bray said. “(Drake) had more
experienced players and we were a
lot younger than them; I’m not ashamed
in saying they’re belter tennis players
than we are.”
Nebraska Coach Kerry McDermott
said the weekend had its positives and
negatives.
“We played well against South
west Missouri and beat them by more
than I thought we would,” McDer
mott said. “Drake was just a better
team than us and it was a big disap
pointment to not gel any points.”
The Huskers must play more like
they did against the Bearcats than
they did against Drake if Nebraska is
to be successful in Big Eight play,
McDermott said.
“If we play against Kansas, Okla
homa, Oklahoma State and Colorado
like we did against Drake, we’re going
to get shelled,” McDermott said.
The Huskers will try to improve on
their 2-1 record this weekend when
they travel to San Diego to compete
against southern California schools.
Nebraska’s Joseph Rahme concentrates on the ball as he returns
it to Creighton’s Tom Lilly in a match earlier this season. The
Cornhusker men’s tennis team beat Southwest Missouri State 7
2, but fell to Drake 9-0._
'Time keeps on slippin staa McKee/DN
Shawn Collains, Sue Hesch and Meggan Yedsena await the final seconds during the semifinal game Sunday against Colorado
in the women’s Bio Eight Tournament. Nebraska lost the game -
Changes not always so obvious in Big Eight
The more things change, the more
they stay the same.
A phrase most of us have undoubt
edly heard many times before, but
really never associated it with any
thing but Nebraska football.
In fact most things in Nebraska
seldom change.
It’s cold in the winter, hot in the
summer and it snows every March
alter a week of spring-like weather.
The only thing that has changed
around here is that the above saying
can now be applied to Big Eight bas
ketball.
Recently, the Big Eight moved
into national prominence as one of,
the tougher basketball conferences in
»Nick
Hytrek
the country. A big change for those of
us who grew up in the Midwest and
had to suffer through season after
season of watching those quick teams
from ihc Easl run circles around Ihc
big, slow learns of ihc Big Eight.
That gradually began to change
within the past three years and the
conference began getting the national
attention it deserves. That attention
has continued through this year, but
the only thing that has changed is the
year at the lop of the calendar.
Upon close observation, there arc
a lot of similarities between this year
and last year. Here arc some of the
more glaring ones. Don’t look for a
lot of them to change by next year.
— Nebraska still doesn’t get the
respect it deserves.
Last year, the Comhuskers were
picked to finish last in the Big Eight
— a gross oversight on the parrof
those who make the pre season pre
dictions. Nebraska responded with its
best season in school history and its
second-cvcr trip to the NCAA Tour
nament.
— Nebraska will play Oklahoma
Friday in the first round of the Big
Eight Tournament.
This will be the third year in a row
See HYTREK on 8
NU softball
coach upbeat
despite loss
By Jason Bruhn
Staff Reporter _
The Nebraska women’s softball
team relumed Monday from the Texas
A&M Aggie Invitational wilh a 2-7
record, yet Coach Ron Wolforth
remained positive.
“It’s going to sound strange to be
2-7 and still be optimistic, but I’m
very optimistic about our season,”
Wolforth said. “I was disappointed
about the way we competed early in
the tournament; everything that could
go wrong did go wrong.”
The Comhuskers began the tour
nament wilh a 0-5 start, but rebounded
to win two of their last three games.
“We were seriously in every single
game right up to the end. Wilh some
breaks we could have come back 9
0,” he said. “We’re capable of beat
ing some really good teams.”
The Huskers’ play was not consis
tent throughout the tournament,
Wolforth said.
tarty in the tournament we hit
well but pitched and played defense
very poorly. But those are things that
can be fixed,” Wolforth said. “I thought
that we were a little suspect on de
fense and that bore out to be true.
“It brought out some weaknesses,”
he said.
Wolforth said the Huskers had
lacked intensity in practice at limes,
and he said he hoped their experience
at the Aggie Invitational would change
that.
“These kids have a kind of casual
altitude sometimes,” he said. “There’s
nothing like a 2-7 weekend to take the
casual right out of you.
“If it lakes a 2-7 to really bring it to
the forefront, then this 2-7 may very
well be the best thing that could have
happened,” he said. “My attitude has
been, 'Don’t tell me, show me.’”
The record would not hurl the team
unless it became a habit, Wolforth
said.
“Bob Dcvancy told me once that
you can leam from wins and losses,
so you might as well win,” he said.
The Huskers have several big games
coming up, including a scries in Omaha
against Creighton.
See SOFTBALL on 8