SouthernCal,UCLA reign over Huskers
By Jeff Singer
Senior Reporter
This weekend’s Pacific 10-Big
Eight Challenge was a contradiction
in terms.
UCLA and Southern California
went 4-0 against the Big Eight’s rep
resentatives from Nebraska and Colo
rado, and they didn’t get much of a
fight in any of the matches played in
Los Angeles.
No. 1 UCLA beat the Comhuskcrs
Saturday night 15-11, 15-6,15-7, af
ter Nebraska lost in four games to the
No. 10 Women of Troy 5-l§, 15-4,
15-5, 16-14 on Friday.
The Huskcrs’ loss to Southern
California ended Nebraska’s 16-malch
winning streak, while Saturday’s loss
dropped the Huskers’ overall record
to 18-4 and gave Nebraska its first
two-match losing streak of the sea
son.
The Huskers lost momentum fol
lowing a game one win against the
Women of Troy, and Nebraska’s fu
tility" carried over to 'Saturday" ~
Nebraska coach Terry Pettit said
the Huskers should have beaten South
ern California and left Los Angeles
with at least a split.
“That was a more disappointing
match. With the personnel matchup,
it was a match we should’ve won,”
Pettit said.
Nebraska outside hitter Allison
Weston agreed.
“If we were playing our game,
there’s no question we would’ve beat
them,” Weston said. “We came out in
the first game and really played well
i—"mm
- it
The issue was the
three matches we
played the week be
“ fore. I think it took a tot
out of the team.
—Pettit
NU volleyball coach
-ff "
and I thought we were going to take
the whole thing, but the second and
third games we really gave to them.”
Against UCLA, Nebraska only
threatened the Bruins’ perfect 25-0
record once, as the Huskers had an 8
6 lead halfway through the match’s
opening game.
But UCLA rallied to win gamcone
by four points and went on to sweep
the Huskers.
Pettit said it was easy to see why
Nebraska wasn’t able to stay with the
Bruins. ,
“They were more cohsTsIchl than
we were and they played at a higher
level than we did,” Pettit said.
UCLA won its second match over
the Huskers in as many years. The
Bruins beat Nebraska 12-15, 15-10,
15-10, 17-15 last year in Lincoln.
UCLA added to its undefeated sea
son with a near-perfect performance
against Nebraska.
The Bruins hit .319 as a team,
while holding the Huskers to a sea
son-low hitting percentage of .151.
The Challenge’s most valuable
player, UCLA outside hitter Elaine
Youngs, was 11 -for-19 in the Bruin
victory over Nebraska for a .368. hit
ting percentage.
Husker middle blocker Stephanie
Thaler was the lone Nebraska player
to be named to the Challenge’s all
~~ lourTiamentteam ~
The senior registered 14 blocks in
both matches during the weekend.
, Pettit said fatigue might have been
Nebraska’s biggest problem in the
two matches.
The Huskcrs played five ranked
teams in eight days (Nebraska beat
Texas Tech, Texas and Colorado last
week), and those matches probably
took their toll on the Huskcrs, Pettit
said.
“The issue was the three matches
we played the week before,” he said.
“I think it look a lot out of the team.”
Wrestlers
start season
with a bang
From Staff Reports
The Nebraska wrestling team
opened its season this weekend with a
strong showing at the Cowboy Open
in Laramie, Wyo.
ThcCornhuskcrswon 11 individual
titles at the meet, six in the 2()-and
under division and five in the open
division.
Corey Olson, the defending na
tional runner-up at 177 pounds, opened
his season with four victories. Olson
pinned all of his opponents in the first
round cn route to being named the
outstanding wrestler of the meet.
Other individual winners for Ne
braska included Mike Eirman at 142,
MattLindlandat 158,Tommy Robbins
at 167 and Rulon Gardner at heavy
weight.
Gardner, who also pinned all of his
opponents, won the award for most
falls in the least amount of time.
Six Huskers—Darin Gicse at 118,
Kevin Klein at 134, Justin Ware at
142, Jason Kraft at 158, Tom Manzclla
at 177 and Tolly Thompson at heavy
weight — won in the 20-and-undcr
division.
Comhuskcr coach Tim Neumann
said he was happy with the way the
team performed.
“Our guys showed that they arc
capable of raising their level of per
formance when they need to,”
Neumann said. “We still have a ton of
work to do.”
Neumann said he was especially
pleased with the progress of his young
wrestlers.
“We had six freshman in the finals
and they all won,” Neumann said.
“They really wrestled tough and look
like the best freshmen crew we’ve had
here.”
* Robin Trimarchi/DN
Sophomore Carrie Kerns swims in the 100-meter butterfly during the Cornhuskers’ dual with South Dakota Saturday at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center.
NU swimmers splash past Coyotes
Men, women still
i unbeaten on year
By Juliet Yenglin
r Staff Reporter
The Nebraska men’sand women’s
5 swimming and diving learns contin
ued their early wave of victories Sat
; urday, each winning duals against
South Dakota at the Bob Dcvancy
Sports Center.
r The men powered their way to a
187-160 victory and the women posted
i a 124-69 win over the Coyotes at the
; Comhuskers’ first home meet of the
season.
* After last weekend’s victories
. against Colorado State and Wyoming,
e both Nebraska teams improved to 3
1 0.
Cal Bent/., coach of the men’s and
a ■ mm ■ m m ^mmm. mm mi m mm a
women s teams, saitHie was pleased
with the performances against the
Coyotes and that the meet served as a
good indicator for future competi
tions.
“Although it wasn’t a big emo
tional meet,” Bent/, said, “we wanted
to do the best we could.”
The teams’ rigorous training sched
ule combined with the competition
has already paid off, Bent/ said, as the
teams continue to pull together in
pursuit of improvement.
Jonathan Kerr, a junior All-Ameri
can from Edinburgh, Scotland, said
he saw the meet—as well as his own
performance — as one of many steps
toward reaching both team and indi
vidual goals.
“It’s just another big piece in the
puzzle, part of a plan,” Kerr said, “and
the team deserves respect and recog
nition for its accomplishments.
• fciai ■ « mam mm mm
“1 don’t want to let the team down,”
Kerr said.
And this weekend he didn’t.
Having set a personal goal to place
in the lop eight at the NCA A Champi
onships in March, Kerr is well on his
way. He posted the meet’s fastest
time in the 400-yard individual med
ley (4:03.43 in an exhibition swim)
and placed third in the 100 breast
stroke (1:00.05) against South Da
kota.
Other first-place finishes for Ne
braska included one by freshman
Melanie Dodd in the 50 freestyle
(23.88) and 100 freestyle (51.74),
freshman Chris Ford in the 100 back
stroke (51.52), sophomore Allen
Kelsey in the 100 butterfly (50.75 —
exhibition), and freshman Justin
Finney in the 200 butterfly (1:53.14
— exhibition).
Breastsirokcrs Carrie Kerns and
Lcanc Maruk’s first- and second-place
finishes in the 1 (X) breaststroke, along
with a good showing in the 100 butter
fly by both Kelly Christensen and
Anja Margetic, also contributed to
Nebraska’s success, Bentz said.
Once again, both the men and
women divers took victories on both
the 1 - and 3-mctcr boards. Jul ie Grim
mer, Jennifer Hamcly and Katie Sav
age posted top scores for the women,
while Malt Easlin grabbed both top
spots for the men.
Bentz said the teams will next be
challenged duringThanksgiving
weekend, when they will compete in
Minneapolis at the Gopher Invita
tional.
“We have a good week to put in
some tough training before we go,”
Bentz said. “Minnesota should be a
real challenge.”
Cross country teams
perform well in Iowa
By Tony West
Staff Reporter
One Comhuskcr athletic program
traveled to Ames, Iowa, and came
back with nothing but smiles this
weekend.
The Nebraska men’sand women’s
cross country teams traveled to the
District V meet and wound up sending
the women’s team on to nationals
next week.
“I am most surprised with the out
come of this meet,” Nebraska coach
Jay Dirkscn said. “I guess that’s why
you have athletic contests.”
The women’s team qualified for
the National meet to be held at
Bloomington, Ind., on Nov. 23. They
won the meet with a total of 66 points,
beating second-place Kansas State.
The women were led by Fran ten
Bensel’s championship performance
, of 17:49 in a relatively close women’s
'race.
“Fran handled things really well,”
Dirkscn said. “She was only looking
for at least a third-place finish, but
things were easy for her.”
Junior Theresa Sidling was the
next Nebraska finisher, running fourth
with a time of 17:56.
The men, who finished seventh as
a team, sent one runner to nationals,
junior David Iteffa.
Iteffa finished second, running 11
seconds behind Wichita State’s
Mornay Annandala, who ran the
course in 30:51.
“Dave ran a great race,” Dirksen
said. “Dave was just trying to be in the
top three, so we arc pleased with the
outcome.”
Dirksen said he was pleased with
the performance of sophomore Renier
Henning who ran a time of 32:01 and
placed 14th.
“Renier Henning was a pleasant
surprise at this meet,” Dirksen said.
“He didn’t even run a couple of years
of crosscountry in high school before
college.”
Overall, Dirksen said each team
ran well.
“Both teams ran intelligently,”
Dirksen said.
“Both teams ran the best meet of
the year,” he said. “No question about
