Tennis duo livens up courts—verbally
uy jen amger
Staff Reporter
When it conies to the Nebraska
men’s tennis team, it’s easy to see
why certain players start on a team
that plays in one of the top college
tennis conferences in the nation.
In doubles, the No. 1 pair of Jo
seph Rahme and Karl Falkland were
top junior players in their native
countries of South Africa and Swe
den, respectively, before coming to
compete in the United States.
Mike Garcia and Andy Davis make
up the No. 2 tandem. Both are two of
the top freshmen starling in the Big
Eight and were recruited to play on
the college level.
The final duo at No. 3 doubles
consists of Troy Bray and Jay Segrist
—and well, they both have fun on the
court.
That’s about all that could be said
before the season about the Com
huskers’ No. 3 twosome. Both walked
on at Nebraska knowing they didn’t
have much of a chance of getting
playing time. -
But because Matthias Mueller and
Anthony Kotarac, two of Nebraska’s
top singles and doubles players, de
cided to use their redshirt seasons this
year, Bray and Segrist have gotten
their chance in the spotlight.
“We re just a couple of scrubbcd
up walk-ons getting a chance to play,”
Bray said.
But what makes these scrubs en
tertaining to watch is not how they
play on the court, but what they say.
The duo’s verbal exploits have led
to a reputation of one of the most
confident doubles squads, not only in
the conference, but throughout the
country.
For example:
•South Bend, Ind. — At the Tom
Fallon Invitational last fall, the pair
was starting in one of its first matches
after spending the previous two years
on the bench. This didn’t stop Bray
and Segrist from letting an opponent
know what they thought about his
questionable calls.
After repeated calls that the Husker
duo didn ’t approve of, their opponent
thought he’d console the Nebraska
players.
“I wouldn’t cheat you guys,” the
opponent said.
“You’d cheat your own mother,”
Bray replied.
•Wichita, Kan. — In a dual with
Wichita State last month, Bray wa3
concluding his match at No. 5 singles
after Scgrist had just won at No. 6
singles.
Segrist’s opponent decided to har
ass Bray. Bray turned to him on the
court and said, “I don’t know what
you’re mouthing about, since my boy
just kicked your ass.”
Later, one of the Shockers who
was playing the twosome at doubles
said the two were “enthusiastic, bor
dering on obnoxious.” Bray added
that “I just felt sorry for the guy
because I’d already beat him in
singles.”
• Irvine, Calif. — The Huskers
were wrapping up play in the UC
Irvinc Team Tournament against
Brown University, when some Bear
-u
Anytime I get the
chance to make com
ments on the court, I
do it. If anyone gives
us any attitude on the
court, we’re going to
get them.
Bray,
NU men's tennis player
W V
players showed disapproval of the
pair’s talking on the court.
One of the Brown players chas
tised the Huskers, and Bray replied,
“Who are you, my daddy?”
After the Bear player said he was,
Bray said, “I don’t think so, because
my mother’s got better taste than that.”
Bray said these are just examples
of how the tandem refuses to be in
timidated on the court.
“Anytime I get the chance to make
comments on the court, I do it,” Bray
said. “If anyone gives us any attitude
on the court, we’re going to get them."
The self-proclaimed “cock-dad
dys,” — named because of their cocky
attitude on the court—are just trying
to have fun on the court, Segrist said.
“Our comments that come out when
we’re talking smack is just the way
we are,” Segrist said. “We don’t pur
posely try to pul on a show out there,
but it just happens.”
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Shaun Sartin/DN
Nebraska tennis player Troy Bray (right) competes in a doubles match against Colorado
Saturday afternoon. Bray and doubles partner Jay Segrist have gained confidence through their
talk on the court.
Coach says game to keep team
in shape for weekend series
By Nick Hytrek
Senior Editor
The Nebraska baseball team will
have a chance to steady itself for the
weekend when it faces Washburn
University today.
The 4 p.m. contest at Buck Bcltzer
Field will enable the Comhuskers to
stay sharp for this weekend’s series
against Oklahoma State, Coach John
Sanders said.
“We want to make sure we gel as
much preparation as we can to get in
good shape for Friday,” Sanders said.
“We just want to doeverything well.”
The 21-11 Huskers are coming off
-44
We need to be pre
pared to play well. We
need to play with a lot
of enthusiasm and
play sharp.
Sanders,
NU baseball coach
-ft -
a 9-2 win over Wayne Stale Monday.
Sanders said he saw some good things
from his team in that game.
“On defense we played errorlessly,”
he said. “We want to continue that.
All-Time: This will be the eighth meeting between the two
teams. Nebraska leads 7-0.
Last season: The two teams played twice, Nebraska winning
11-5 both times in Lincoln. The first meeting was the season
opener and Mike Za|eski picked up the win. Jeff Nollette was
the winning pitcher in the second meeting.
This season: Washburn was 10-18 entering action yesterday
and was in last place in the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic
Association standings.
We need to continue to pitch aggres
sively.
“The main thing is to stabilize all
areas.”
Washburn, a Division II school,
was 10-18 going into a doubleheader
Tuesday. Last season the Huskers had
two 11-5 wins over the Ichabods.
Despile playing Washburn twice
last year, Sanders said he didn't know
a lot about this season’s team.
“I know they’re well-coached and
they’ll come up here like any other
non-Division 1 learn and iry to make a
mark,” he said.
“We need to be prepared to play
well. We need to play with a lot of
enthusiasm and play sharp.”
Today’s game will be the second
for the Huskers without Marc Sagmoen,
the Huskers’ leading batter at .446.
The junior center fielder broke his
wrist while making a diving catch in
last Sunday’s game against Evansville.
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NU softball team plots
attack on Wichita State
By Susie Arth
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska softball team will
be on the attack Wednesday when
it faces Wichita Stale.
The two teams will play a dou
blcheadcr at the NU Softball
Complex beginning at 5 p.m.
Coach Ron Wolforth said his
team must return to an aggressive
style of play to turn the season
around.
“In the past, we always went
down swinging and we always at
tacked until the last out of the game,”
Wolforth said. “We need to get
back to that style of game against
Wichita State.
Wolforth said he planned to be
aggressive on offense by stealing,
calling hit and runs, and maybe
even squeezing.
But Wolforth said it was espe
cially important for his team to
start being more aggressive defen
sively.
“Withoutconsistently excellent
pitching, a team must become
scrappy and resourceful on defense,”
he said. “To this point, we haven’t
done that.’’
Wolforth said he planned to start
freshman pitcher Lisa Shandy
against the Shockers.
4
Although Shandy picked up three
losses last weekend in the Big Eight
Round-Robin at Stillwater, Okla.,
Wolforth said she probably pitched
her most consistent games of the
season.
Wolforth said the matchup with
Wichita State was interesting be
cause the two teams were similar
in that both have good hitting and
sub-par pitching.
Both Nebraska and Wichita State,
he said, have lost key players and
have had a difficult time recover
ing.
“Now we both just hope to fin
ish strong,” he said. “We both want
to go into our conference play on
the upswing."
Wolforth said he thought the
way to get a strong finish out of his
team was to forget about its 8-19
record.
It is dangerous, he said, for his
players to focus on the record be
cause they start to fear mistakes
rather than play aggressively. He
said his players needed to start
thinking in a different way.
“We need to go up to the plate to
get a hit rather than to not get out,”
he said. “We need to start pitching
to get an out instead of pitching not
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