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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 1992)
SPORTS Buffs pound NU in Big 8 Tournament Thater’s absence hurts Huskers in title matchup By John Adkisson Senior Editor OMAHA — With ihcir corner stone missing, the Nebraska Comhuskcrs’ reign over Big Eight volleyball opponents finally crumbled Saturday night. Colorado beat the Huskers for the first time in 16 tries by pounding Nebraska in the finals of the Big Eight Tournament 16-14,15-11,9-15,15-8 at Civic Auditorium. Playing without All-American middle blocker Stephanie Thater, the Huskers were oulmuscled by a pow erful Buffalo hitting attack that con sistently took advantage of Thater’s absence in the middle. As a result, Colorado claimed the conference’s automatic spot in the NCAA Tournament and forced Ne braska into an at-large bid in the 32 tcam tourney. The Buffs also became the first conference team to beat Nebraska since Oklahoma won a match from the Huskers in 1988. Thater, who sat out both of Nebraska’s matches in the tourna ment, sprained her left ankle in warmups prior to the Huskers’ win over Oklahoma on Friday night. • Huskcr coach Terry Pettit gave credit to Colorado, although he said Thaler’s injury hurt his team. “Colorado may have beat us if (Thater) was on thccourt,’’Pettit.said. “1 thought we played hard and well. I never like to lose, but I’m never dis appointed losing to a good team.” The two teams battled in a classic first game that lasted a little more than 45 minutes and included six service rotations. The Buffs raced to a 9-4 lead before Nebraska came back to tic the game at 10. With the game lied again at 14, Colorado was able to win on a kill by senior hitter Michelle Kohler and an Kiley Timpertey/DN Nebraska middle blocker Billie Winsett (left) and outside hitter Eileen Shannon block Colorado’s Janine Zumerchik in the finals , of the Big Eight Tournament in Omaha Saturday. acc by jump-server Staci Wolfe. Pettit said that in the firsl game, his team was adjusting to nol having Thater. “1 thought we spent the first game getting organized,” Pettit said. “I wasn’t real concerned with whether or not we lost the firsl game, as long as we were playing better.” Nebraska outside hitter Laura Luther said it was easier adjusting to Thatcr’s absence against Colorado than it was the night before against Oklahoma. “We seemed a lot more confident,” Luther said. “The night before helped us adjust.” Colorado again jumped out early in the second game, taking leads of 5 1,10-6 and 14-8. The Huskers tried to rally by scoring three unanswered points, but outside hitter Allison Weston was called for a net violation on game point, and the Buff aloes took a 2-0 game advantage. At that point, Buffalo setter Nicole Vrancsh said, the Huskers became unnerved. “There was definitely something missing,” Vranesh said. “1 looked across the net, and I noticed that they didn’t have anywhere to look.” Nebraska did rebound in the third game, sprinting away from an 8-8 tie See TOURNAMENT on 10 Comhuskers to face CU in first-round NCAA match By Jeff Singer Senior Reporter _ _ Familiarity won’t be a problem for the Nebraska volleyball team in this year’s NCAA Tournament. The Big-Eight champion Cornhuskers will battle conference tournament champ Colorado Thurs day at 7:30 p.m. at the NU Coliseum. Nebraska, which lost to the Buffa loes in the finals of the Big Eight tournament over the weekend, earned an 11th straight trip to the NCAA playoffs and the third seed in the Midcasl Regional. The 22-8 Buffa loes received the sixth seed in the region. The 21-5 Huskcrs beat Colorado twice in the regular season, but lost in four games to the Buffaloes on Satur day without Huskcr All-American Stephanie Thatcr, who saloul with an ankle injury. Stanford, which had a 26-2 record this season, earned the Midcast’s lop seed, while Big 10 champion Illinois is No. 2. Other teams in the region include No. 4 Penn State, No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 7 Ohio State and No. 8 Pittsburgh. Other No. 1 regional seeds arc 29 0 UCLA in the West, 31-1 Florida in the South and 27-2 Long Beach State inthc Northwest. Nebraska assistant volleyball coach Cathy Noth said she was pleased with the Huskers’ bracket. “It couldn’t be a belter draw for us,” Noth said. “We don’t know any team better than Colorado.” Fellow assistant coach Brian Begor agreed. “It will be exciting to play Colo rado again,” Begor said. “Both teams know each other so well, it wouldn’t matter if we played them tomorrow.” NU gymnasts win Colorado meet From Staff Reports The Nebraska men’s gymnastics team kicked off its season on Satur day by winning the Rocky Mountain Open in Colorado Springs, Colo. The Cornhuskcrs won the team title, earning 276.K total points and easily outdistancing second-place Brigham Young (274.1). Big Eight rival Oklahoma(272.6) finished third. Nebraska sophomore Richard Grace won the all-around with a total of 108.8. Grace tied for second in the vaulland finished third on the parallel bars. Husker freshman Jason Christie, making his debut, finished second in the all-around with a score of K)7.0 and captured the individual title on the parallel bars. Junior Dennis Harrison won the individual title on the pommel horse with a score of 9.7. Harrison also finished fourth in the all-around. Chandler shines in Nebraska win By Jeff Singer Senior Reporter Derrick Chandler struck oil Satur day night. The senior center scored 24 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead the Nebraska men’s basketball team to a 126-96 win over Marathon Oil at the Bob Dcvancy Sports Center. The win enabled the No. 25 Comhuskcrs to end their exhibition season with a 2-0 record in front of 10,172 fans. Nebraska beat the Cuban National team 114-76 two weeks ago in its exhibition opener. Chandler was one of seven Husk ers to score in double figures, as Ne braska prepared for its regular-season debut Friday against Colgate in the Amcritas Classic. Chandler led the Huskcrs in scor ing in both exhibition games, but he said he didn’t know if that trend would continue when the season began. “I don't sec myself as a scorer; I concentrate more on rebounding and defense than on scoring,” Chandler said. “I just try to gel a double-double (10 points and 10 rebounds) — that’s my objective for the season.” Chandler didn’t get his first points until 16 minutes had elapsed in the first half, but his tip-in at that point gave the Huskcrs a 40-27 lead, and Nebraska cruised from there. Chandler scored 10 points in the first half, but he said his lack of pro duction in the game’s first 16 minutes inspired him for the rest of the evening. • I “Coach said if you want lobe a pro, these arc the limes you’ve got to suck it up,” Chandler said. “I wanted them to know I was out there.” Freshman guard Andre Woolridgc made his first start and scored 11 points from the shooting guard posi tion. Woolridgc got the start over Jaron Boone, who startedin Nebraska’s win over the Cuban National Team. Woolridgc said starling and coming off the bench were two separate roles that he could get used to. “It feels a little bit different than in the last game — I was a little more pumped up," Woolridgc said. “I started all four years in high school, but it was different not starting in the first game.” He said whatever the starting lineup was during the regular season, he would have to help the team by what ever means necessary. “Jaron Boone is a great two guard and Erick Strickland can also fill the position, so if I don’t start, I’m going to have lo adjust and come off the bench,” Woolridgc said. Forward Eric Piatkowski had 18 points, while Strickland added 17. Nebraska coach Danny Nee said he was happy with the entire team’s effort against Marathon Oil. “I was pleased with it — I can’t think of anyone who didn’t do some thing good tonight,” Nee said. “I thought the effort and altitude were really good; if I had to grade it, I’d give it a B or B+.”
