Sports
KSU hopes to improve despite losing record
By Tim Pearson
Staff Reporter
With an eye toward the future,
Kansas State volleyball coach Patti
Hagemeycr is looking for improve
ment from her young team.
'‘Anytime we play it helps,” she
said. “We want to start developing
our young players and get them used
to collegiate volleyball.”
Hagemeyer is looking to further
develop her team when the Wildcats
play host to No. 5 Nebraska Wednes
day in a 7:30 p.m. match in Manhat
tan, Kan.
Kansas State, which has lost eight
straight matches, will not concern
itself with Nebraska’s talent,
Hagemeyer said.
“We’re not too worried or too fo
cused on what Nebraska will do,” she
said. “With our youth, we’re just go
ing to go out and be aggressive.”
After Kansas State finished last in
the Big Eight last season, five fresh
men have seen extensive playing time
this year for the Wildcats. Among
those is selterChi Dau, who has played
every match to rack up 803 set assists.
The Wildcats have a 5-14 record,
with an 0-6 mark in the Big Eight.
“Our record is not indicative of
how much we’ve improved this sea
son,” Hagemeyer said.
The Huskers swept Kansas State
last season in both matches.
Although the Wildcats are winless
against Nebraska in 44 previous
matches between the schools,
Hagcmey er docsn ’ t see that as a stum -
bling block for her team.
“It would be foolish for us to think
about that,” she said. “We have such
a young team that we can’t afford to
think about that.”
Kansas State will be returning home
after two straight road losses.
The Wildcats were swept last Sat
urday by Colorado, and the team also
was defeated by Regis College last
Sunday.
Hagemcyer said she was glad her
team would be playing at home against
the Huskers.
“It’s nice to be at home,” she said.
“Our kids feel comfortable here.”
As for the remainder of the season,
Hagemeyer is looking for her team to
improve.
“It’s only a matter of time before
we start developing as a team,” she
said.
Iowa State s
coach unhappy
with officiating
By Jeff Griesch
Staff Reporter __
Iowa Slate’s football coach re
mained disappointed after the Cy
clones collapsed in the fourth quarter
and lost to the Kansas Jayhawks Sat
urday.
The Cyclones led 47-21 late in the
third quarter before the Jayhawks
scored 29 unanswered points to cap
ture a 50-47 victory.
“For three quarters and two min
utes, we played as perfect a football as
any team I have ever coached,” Jim
Walden said during the Big Eight
coaches’ teleconference on Monday.
The Cyclone offense started ex
ecuting against the Jayhawks for the
first lime this season. Iowa State racked
up 516 yards in total offense against
Kansas, the No.2 defensive unit in the
nation.
Walden installed a new offensive
scheme at the beginning of the sea
son, which changed the Cyclones from
a pro-style passing team to an option
attack.
“It’s not just a couple of old songs
and a couple of new songs, all the
songs are brand new,” Walden said.
“It’s all liming, and against Kansas
we finally clicked.”
Although Walden was pleased with
the performance of his offense, he
was not happy with the officiating.
Walden disagreed with a line
judge’scall after a Kansas fumble that
gave the ball back to Kansas.
“The k id clearly fumbled, even the
Kansas players were walking off the
field,” Walden said. “Three officials
threw their bean bags and one even
signaled it was our ball, and then the
line judge comes in and says no
fumble. He didn’t even see it.”
Walden was also unhappy about
another call on a fumble bv the Iowa
State quarterback Bob Utter. Kansas’
Larry Thiel returned the fumble 37
yards for a touchdown after the Iowa
_ State players thought the play had
Conference Overall
Kansas 2-0 5-1
Nebraska 1-0 4-1
Colorado 1-0-1 5-0-1
Oklahoma 1-0-1 3-2*1
Oklahoma State 1-1 3-3
Kansas State 0-1 3-2
Iowa State 0-2 2-4
Missouri_0-2_1-5
f~. 1
Saturday
Nebraska at Missouri
Iowa State at Oklahoma Stale
Kansas State at Colorado
Oklahoma at Kansas ^
Scott Maurer/DN
been blown dead.
“Our fumble was legitimate and
so was the irs, they j ust got the breaks’
Walden said.
Walden said he was not blaming
the loss entirely on the officials, but
he was disappointed with the Cy
clones’ inability to get the breaks it
needed to win.
“I don’t like blaming officials, but
rriliral rtlavc where. we. have
had lo cal the call when I don’t think
we deserved it,” Walden said. ‘‘I am
just very frustrated right now.”
Kansas coach Glen Mason was
singing a different tune after the
Jayhawks win.
‘That was the most fantastic come
back 1 have ever seen,” Mason said.
“The Republicans are not out of it yet.
If we can comeback against Iowa
State, then Bush can come back from
any kind of deficit that he may have.”
It was also announced Monday
that the kickoff for the Oct. 31 Ne
braska-Colorado game has been set
for 3:00p.m. on ESPN. The game will
be one of three nationally televised
Huskcr contests this season.
DN file photo
Former Nebraska center Rich King, now a member of the Seattle SuperSonics, will be in Omaha
tonight as his team plays the Milwaukee Bucks at the Civic Auditorium.
NBA brings Husker home
By Derek Samson
Staff Reporter__
Tonight, Rich King will be playing
in Nebraska one more time.
King, a lormer Nebraska basket
ball player and a reserve center for the
Seattle SuperSonics, will be in Omaha
as his team takes on the Milwaukee
Bucks in a prescason NBA game.
The matchup at the Omaha Civic
Auditorium will notonly feature King,
an Omaha Burke graduate, but also
former Creighton University standout
Benoit Benjamin.
Although King is excited to return
to his home state, he said he would
rather play at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center in Lincoln.
“The funny thing is that when I
first saw the schedule, we had exhibi
tion games in both Lincoln and
Omaha,” King said. “The only reason
I would raiher play in Lincoln is be
cause I played so many games al
Devaney and it would be like playing
in college again.
“I’m excited about it,” he said.
“When I was drafted by Seattle, I
thought I might not ever get to play in
Nebraska again.”
King said the Seattle organization
tried to give all of its players a chance
to play in front of home crowds.
“The Sonics make an effort for all
their players to get to play back home,”
King said. “Last year we played at
Oregon State because of Gary Payton.”
As a backup to Benjamin, King
played little, and he said sitting the
bench may have hampered his devel
opment.
“I didn’t get to play much last year
and I think if I would have been
drafted by a team that I could have
stepped in and played, it would have
been better for me,” he said.
Tonight’s game will be the first
NBA game in Nebraska since the
Detroit Pistons played the Los Ange
les Clippers at the Dcvaney Center in
1990.
Dario Savaresa of Sports Produc
tions, Inc., the game’s organizer, said
the NBA’s return to Nebraska would
probably depend on the support it is
given.
“If it goes over well in Omaha, we
will try to do it again,” Savaresa said.
“We have worked with Lincoln in the
past — and that went well — so we’ll
sec.”
Savaresa said plenty of good seats
were still available. Grocery chain
HyVee is offering S2 discount cou
pons for the 7:30 p.m. game.
Lincoln welcomes tour, gymnasts to showcase talents
Tt’c oKsMif fun iaiiw
There, amid the chalk dust and
discarded athletic tape in the
gymnastics room in Mabel Lee
Hall, Shannon Miller stretched with
the help of her coach, Steve Nunno.
Only a few feel away, Unified
Team members and Olympic cham
pions Tatiana Gutsu and Svetlana
Boguinskaia sat in the middle of a
circle of little girls. The two could
barely keep up with the autograph
requests.
Members of the Nebraska women’s
gymnastics team stretched after fin
ishing their workouts, but they kept
looking over their shoulders — look
ing at three of the top athletes in their
sport. On the platform above the floor,
more little girls pecked through the
rails, their eyes wide open and their
mouths open even wider. They were
seeing their idols, and it wasn’t on a
tape-delayed broadcast of the Olym
pics from Barcelona.
No, this was live. This was in Lin
coln. It was a dream come true.
For gymnastics fans, tonight is
likely to be one they will never forget.
At 7:30p.m. at Pershing Auditorium,
some of the world’s best gymnasts
will demonstrate their talents. Lin
coln is only one of the many stops on
this tour of international champions.
The list of achievements of those
performing goes on and on.
Miller captured the hearts of many
in the United States by winning five
Olympic medals, including a silver in
the all-around.
Gutsu won the all-around gold,
and joined Boguinskaia on the gold
medal-winning Unified Team.
There’s Vitali Sherbo of the men’s
Unified Team. He won six golds in
Barcelona. Trent Dimas, a former
Nebraska gymnast, who won a gold in
the high bar, will perform.
But tonight, there will be no judges.
The only perfect 10s awarded will be
from the people in the stands. The
only method of scoring will be the
loudness of the audience’s applause.
Tonight isn’t about gold, silver or
bronze medals. It isn’t about us vs.
them.
It’s a chance for the gymnasts to
kick back, forget about competition
and just strut their stuff, maybe even
show off a little.
Ask the gymnasts about their ex
periences on the tour and their smiles
light up the room like no florescent
light ever could.
“I think it’s a lot of fun. I like doing
it,” Miller said after taking a brief
break from her workout.
But one must remember these gym
nasts are professionals, always on the
lookout for any lip that could help
them improve. In that sense, this tour
has been a seminar.
“I’m picking up a lot just from
being around the girls on the Unified
Team,” Miller said.
And Gutsu immediately perks up
when she thinks about her decision to
JV/III II IV IUUI .
“I ’m very excited that I have, espe
cially when you work with the Ameri
can gymnasts,” Gulsu said.
After giving interviews, Gutsu,
Miller and Boguinskaia sat together
on a mat. On their faces were smiles.
They didn’t have to worry about go
ing out and doing their best the next
night. Hitting the perfect routine won’t
be important. The pressure is off and
the only important thing is that they
have fun and put on a good show.
Tonight there will be no losers.
Everyone wins on this tour.
But the biggest winners won’t be
out on the floor. They will be in the
stands.
It’s the spectator who wins big in
shows like this.
Hytrek is a senior news-editorial major
and a Daily Nebraskan senior sports reporter.