Sports
Confidence runs high in NU-CU fight
Ijskers hunting
r redemption
Jeremy Fitzpatrick
Raportar -.
he third time wasn’t a charm for
Nebraska volleyball team against
Drado Saturday, but the
lhuskers will get a chance at re
ption tonight.
Tter Nebraska lost to the Buffa
five days ago in the teams’ third
ting of the year, the two will meet
n in the first round of the NCAA
mamcnt.
lame time for the Mideast Re
al match is 7 p.m. at the NU
seum.
lusker All-American Stephanie
er'missed Saturday’s match with
inkle injury she suffered in
nups before the team’s semifinal
:h against Oklahoma,
tebraska coach Terry Pettit said
earn was looking forv^tro to fac
he Buffaloes again.
"1 think going in it was either them
>r Ohio State, we were going to play
)nc or another,” he said. “I think our
cids — our team — wanted to play
Colorado, simply because we were
jpset with our performance Satur
Jay.”
Nebraska lost to the Buffaloes with
out Thaler. But Pettit, who described
IIIV1 3UUU3IUI lAJIIlglll .MIItULIl dMIUUUl
I ful, said the Comhuskers could beat
Colorado without their All-American
middle blocker.'
“The difference is that Saturday
we had no preparationhe said. “Los
ing a player is never something you
look forward to, but when you lose her
is the critical issue.”
The Comhuskers spent the week
preparing to face the Buffaloes with
out Thater, Pettit said, and will be
ready for tonight’s match if she doesn’t
play.
Pettit said that without Thaler, the
Comhuskers would need strong per
formances from senior Eileen Shan
non and juniors Nikki Strieker and
Laura Luther.
“It needs to come from three or
four people,” he said. “Certainly our
setter does — Nikki needs to play a
stronger match.
“I think Shannon and Luther need
to play stronger. That doesn’t mean
more kills — it just means be orga
nized more, raise their level of play.”
As the third-seeded team in the
tournament, the Huskers have home
court advantage against sixth-seeded
Colorado. Pettit said playing in the
Coliseum instead of on the road would
benefit his team.
“I think the fans will be pretty
assertive on Thursday night,” he said.
“If Nebraska starts to make a run,
some of the opposing players have not
played in that kind of a situation — in
a tight match where the crowd really
starts to have an impact.”
Nebraska sophomore Kim
Tonniges said she was looking for
ward to playing the Buffaloes again.
See HUSKERS on 18
Buffaloes looking
for repeat win
By Tim Pearson
Staff Reporter
After beating Nebraska last Satur
day, Colorado volleyball coach Brad
Saindon said the win would “help
them tremendously in their seed” for
the NCAA tournament.
Some help.
Coming off their first-ever win
against Nebraska, the Buffaloes drew
a match against the Comhuskers in
the first round of the Midcast Re
gional, to be played at 7 p.m. tonight
at the NU Coliseum.
“I was disappointed (with the pair
ings),” Saindon said. “We were hop
ing to go play somewhere else.
Even though Colorado has never
uvaiui a^iva in liiicwiii, lie ddiu
the pairing was not all bad for his
team.
“The good news is that we’re fa
miliar with Nebraska,” he said. “We
know what it takes to beat them.”
But at the same lime, Saindon said
the rematch gave the Huskers a chance
to pay his team back for defeating
them last week.
“The players for Nebraska have
got to be excited to gel a chance at
redemption,” he said. “My players
don’t even get a week to enjoy the
win.’’
The Buffaloes lost to the Huskers
twice during the regular season be
fore defeating them in four games in
the Big Eight Tournament final.
Saindon said he was happy with his
team’s play last Saturday night, and
he hoped they could duplicate the
effort tonight.
“We played hard on Saturday,” he
said. “I’m not so sure that we’ll be
able to play better than we did Satur
day night.”
Saindon said he didn’t know how
much the win against Nebraska would
influence the tournament selection
committee.
“IHiHn’itnnu/u/hal ” hf*.
Kiley Timperley/DN
Colorado’s Staci Wolfe attempts a kill past Nebraska’s Laura Luther last Saturday. The
Buffaloes and Comhuskers will meet in a first-round NCAA tournament match tonight at 7 p.m.
NCAA Tournament Mideast Regional
Colorado at Nebraska
First-round match: 7 p.m. Thursday, NU Coliseum I
Nebraska (21-5) _
OH Eileen Shannon 6-0 Sr.
OH Laura Luther 6-0 Jr.
OH Allison Weston 6-0 Fr.
MB Billie Winsett 5-11 Fr.
MB KimTonniges 5-11 So.
S Nikki Strieker 5-10 Jr.
Colorado (22-8)
SH Staci Wolfe 5-10 So.!
SH Karrie Downey 5-10 So.
SH Michele Kohler 5-7 Sr.
QH Heather Sweeney 5-11 Fr.
QH Janine Zumerchik 6-2 So.
S Nicole Vraneeh 5-8 Jr.
Scott Maurer/DN
said. “I wasn’t sure what kind of im
Eacl the win over Nebraska would
ave.”
Playing in Lincoln will also ben
efit Nebraska, Saindon said.
“Pm sure that the fans are going to
be looking for some revenge,” he
said. “The fans in Lincoln are closer
to the floor and have a greater impact
on the match.”
The fact that Colorado has now
beaten Nebraska will help his team,
Saindon said.
“It’s a lot like the four minute
mile,” he said. “Once someone broke
the four-minute barrier, it happened
with more regularity.
“Now that we’ve beaten Nebraska
for the first lime, hopefully it will
happen with more regularity.”
Thater injury comeback could salvage NU NCAA title
Willis Kecd, Kirk Cnbson and
Stephanie Thaler.
What do those three individuals
have in common? Nothing yet, but
after tonight that could change.
Thatcr, the Nebraska volleyball
team’s All-American middle blocker,
was hobbled with an ankle injury
prior to last weekend’s Big Eight vol
leyball tournament.
And without Thaler playing, the
Comhuskcrs lost in the conference
tournament for the first time in five
years and for only the second time
ever, as Colorado registered the upset
in Omaha.
Nebraska will get its shot at re
venge against the Buffaloes in the
first round of the NCAA Tournament
tonight at the NU Coliseum. But the
question is whether the Huskers will
be without l pater, arguably the
nation’s top player.
A comeback for Thaler tonight
against the Buffaloes would be on the
same level for college volleyball as
Reed was to the National Basketball
Association and Gibson was for Ma
jor League Baseball.
Reed had a knee injury that he
suffered in the 1970 NBA Finals, but
came back to compete when it looked
like his New York Knicks couldn’t
possibly win without him. That in
spired New York to a championship
title over the Los Angeles Lakers.
In 1988, Gibson was in such bad
shape that he couldn’t even swing a
bat without experiencing excruciat
ing pain throughout his body.
But as the Los Angeles Dodgers’
MVP hobbled up to the plate in Game
Jeff
Singer
jj _
One of the 1988 World Scries, he
proceeded to hit the most dramatic
home run in baseball history to propel
the Dodgers past the Oakland Athlet
ics.
This year, its Thaler’s turn to sec if
she can return from injury to lead her
team in the NCA AToumamcnt. While
it’s questionable if the6-foot-2 senior
from Union, Mo., will be able to play
tonight, there’s no questions as to how
important it is for the Huskers to have
her in the lineup.
Without Thaler, the 21-5 Huskers
are as vulnerable as a wingless pheas
ant in the middle of hunting season.
If Thatcr docs play tonight, her
abilities and leadership should lead to
a result similar to the last time Ne
braska and Colorado squared off in
Lincoln—a Husker pounding in three
games.
The feeling around volleyball
circles is that the 22-8 Buffaloes should
be proud of their win over Nebraska
and consequent Big Eight tournament
championship, but without Thatcr
playing, the Colorado victory was
tainted.
True, the Huskers arc a balanced
team, but without the heart and soul of
the team in Thaler, Nebraska goes
from a great team setting its sights on
the Final Four to a good team wonder
ing if it can get through the first round
of the NCAA tourney.
Because of this. Thaler’s desire to
compete is as high as ever.
“I really want to play,” Thaler said.
“I’m going to do whatever I can to get
in there.”
The question is will she be in there?
The answer, as wcl I as the hopes of
Husker players and fans alike, will
come at 7 p.m.
Sinner is a senior news-editorial and po
litical science major and a Daily Nebraskan
sports senior reporter.
