Sports
Nebraska alumnae Lori Endicott takes a break from the Cornhuskers’ volleyball practice Monday. Endicott won a bronze
medal with the U.S. National Team in Barcelona and will play in Nebraska’s alumnae game Tuesday.
Olympic bronze
Ex-Husker, now medal winner, returns home for alumnae match
By Jeff Singer
Senior Reporter
Despite winning a bronze -
medal, the 1992 Summer
Olympics were still a golden
experience for former Nebraska
volleyball player Lori Endicotl.
Endicotl and her U.S. National
Volleyball teammates went to
Barcelona, Spain, over the
summer and came home with
bronze medals from the Olympic
Games.
The former Comhusker said
just getting the opportunity to
compete in Spain was a dream
come true.
“It was an incredible experi
ence,” Endicotl said. “It’s a
dream for a lot of athletes and
it’s something to be proud of. It
would have to be the highlight of
a lifetime.”
Cuba won the gold medal in
the Olympics while the Unified
Team came away with the silver,
but Endicoll said she was happy
with a third-place finish.
“The gold or silver would’ve
been more satisfying, but I’m
proud to have won a bronze,”
Endicoll said.
Endicoll, a two-time All
American at Nebraska, relumed
to Lincoln to compete in
tonight’s volleyball match
between the 1992 Huskers and
the Nebraska alumni. The match
begins at 7:30 p.m. at the NU
Coliseum.
Endicoll will also have her
jersey retired in a pre-match
ceremony, as she joins Cathy
Noth and Karen Dahlgrcn as the
only Huskers to have been given
that honor.
“I feel really honored and
proud — it’s something .every
collegian dreams of,” she said.
Awards arc ncnmfamiliar for
Endicoll, as inyiddition TO being
an All-American, she was the Big
Eight’s Player of the Year in
1987 and 1988 as well as being a
three-lime Academic All-Big
Eight selection.
Endicott said her experience at
-44
It was an incredible ex
perience ... it would
have to be the high
light of a lifetime.
—Endicott
former Nil volleyball player
-99 ~
Nebraska helped her excel in
becoming an Olympian.
“1 would not have made it to
the level I am at without Ne
braska,” Endicott said. “The
program is strong and very
powerful and the great coaching
brings out talent.”
Endicott will be playing with
Noth, Dahlgren and other
> Nebraska volleyball greats for the
alumni squad.
She said that although the
alumni had not had a lot of lime to
prepare for the 1992 Nebraska team,'
they should be able to give the
younger Huskers a good match.
“I think we’re going to do
well,” Endicott said. “It might be
frazzled sometimes, but I think
it’ll be fun."
Endicott, 25, lives in San
Diego, the home of the U.S.
National Volleyball team.
She said she planned to
continue playing for the national
squad through the Atlanta
Olympics in four years.
“I’m going to stay with the
national team and hopefully
make it to the 1996 Olympics,”
Endicott said. “It’s good to have
veterans on the team to help
solidify the team.”
Volleyball
team to face
NU alumnae
By Jeff Singer
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska volleyball team may
face one of its toughest foes this year
when it squares off tonight against
some old-timers.
The Cornhuskcrs will lace a team
of Nebraska alumnae to kick off the
1992 season at 7:30 p.m. at the NU
Coliseum.
Nebraska volley ball coach Terry
Pettit said his team would have its
hands full against the squad of former
Husker greats.
“It’s wonderful to go up against
better players, and fundamentally
they’ll be belter than a lot of teams .
we’ll play this year,” Pettit said.
Pettit said the match would be
important for his young team.
Five starters return to the defend
ing Big Eight champion Huskcrs, in
cluding senior middle blocker
Stephanie Thaler, senior outside hit
ter Eileen Shannon, juniors Nikki
Strieker and Laura Luther and sopho
more Kim Tonnigcs.
But the alumnae team is full of
talent as well, with such volleyball
legendsas Val Novak, Virginia Stahr,
Janet Kruse, Karen Dahlgrcn, Cathy
Noth and Lori Endicott.
Endicoll, who won a bron/.c medal
as a member of the 1992 U.S. Olym
pic volleyball team, will be the high
lightof pre-match ceremonies in which
she will have her jersey retired.
Noth, in her sixth season as a Ne
braska assistant coach, said tonight
her allegiances would temporarily
change places for a few hours.
“When I’m on the court, I’m on the
court to win,” Noth said. “It’s going to
be a very competitive match, and
we’II give our top players a run for
their money.”
Backup QB
announced
From Staff Reports
Nebraska football coach Tom
Osborne announced after Monday’s
practice that Joel Cornwell would be
the backup quarterback to M ike Grant
in Saturday’s opener against Utah.
“Joel has graded the highest of all
the quarterbacks in the fall practices,”
Osborne said. “Joel just hasn’t made
very many mistakes.”
Osborne said freshman quarterback
Ben Ruiz would probably rcdshirl this
year.
Zach Wiegert, Calvin Jones,
Tyrone Hughes, who all missed
Saturday’s scrimmage, practiced
Monday, Osborne said.
Colorado’s defense may whisk Huskers to Aloha Bowl
Comhuskcrs. Buffaloes. Sooncrs. Jayhawks.
The sports pages will soon be filled with
news of all these creatures as well as Cyclones,
Wildcats, Tigers and Cowboys.
Big Eight Conference football teams will be
kicking off their seasons beginning Saturday.
In Oklahoma’s case, it will be Thursday against
Texas Tech on ESPN.
Sorry Huskcr fans, there will be no redemp
tion for past losses to Colorado this year—the
Buffaloes arc the best in the Big Eight.
But Huskcr fans, take heart. A new agree
ment with the Aloha Bowl ensures the third
place team in the Big Eight a spot in its Christ
mas Day game.
I believe Nebraska will finish third. That
opinion isbased not only on Nebraska’s strengths
and weaknesses, but also on the strengths of the
other teams in the conference.
Here arc my picks for the Big Eight stand
ings:
1. Colorado—The Buffaloes will have one
of the best defenses in the country this year and
defense is what wins games. Greg Biekert and
m
Chad Brown give Colorado the best linebacker
corps in the conference.
The switch to a one-back offense is the
biggest question mark for Colorado, but there is
enough game-breaking speed on this offense to
make up for a lack of consistency.
2. Oklahoma — The Sooners finally got
their passing attack on track in last season’s
Gator Bowl win over Virginia.
JNick
Hytrek
Except for Colorado, no Big Eight team has
proven itself able to consistently defend against
the pass effectively, and Oklahoma will be able
to capitalize on that simple fact.
The big area of concern for the Sooners is
defense, where only threo starters return, but
Oklahoma is Oklahoma. The Sooners always
come up with young, fast, hard-hilling defend
ers lo lake away any speed advantage other
teams may have.
3. Nebraska — The Huskers might have
the best one-two punch at running back in the
country with Derek Brown and Calvin Jones,
but too bad Coach Tom Osborne can’t have
them on the field at the same time.
Quarterback is a big question as is the defen
sive line, where a lack of a big-lime pass rush
will doom Nebraska against Oklahoma.
The whole season will come down to pass
ing — if the Huskers can defend against it and
come up with a dependable passing game of
their own.
4. Kansas — The sleeper of the league. The
Jay hawks play both Oklahoma and Colorado at
home, so a win against either of those twocould
vault Kansas into the top three.
Defense is the key for Kansas. Dana
Stubblefield is the best defensive lineman in the
conference, but the Jayhawks must rebuild
their defensive backfield.
5. Kansas State — The Wildcats now have
a winning attitude, something past teams have
lacked. Kansas State must replace a lot of
players from last season’s 7-4 team, but enough
quality players remain to make Kansas Stale a
good team.
6. Iowa State — Coach Jim Walden is
taking a big step backwards by changing his
pass-oriented offense to an option offense. The
Cyclones do finally have enough scholarship
players to have quality scrimmages, so look for
Iowa Stale to be better prepared than in previ
ous years.
After that, it’s hard to decide between Mis
souri and Oklahoma State—both will be so bad
that nobody is going to pay any attention to
them after the first two or three games.
Don’t worry about hurricane damage to
Miami hotels, Husker fans. Nebraska’s heading
to Honolulu.
Hytrek is a senior news-editorial nutjor and Dally
Nebraskan sports senior reporter,