SfcPORT^ Nebraskan
i iJ Wadnaaday,April 14,1993
Swedish hitter to fill gaps on volleyball team
By Tim Pearson
Staff Reporter___
The Nebraska volleyball team
needed help at the outside hitter posi
tion for next year.
Comhusker coach Terry Pcttitmay
have found the help his team needed
when Maria Hcdbeck of Sollentuna,
Sweden signed a national letter of
intent.
Hcdbeck is a 5-foot-10 outside hit
ter and was the left-side starter on the
Swedish Women’s National Team.
She is a senior at Kudbecksskolan
High School and will graduate this
spring.
Pettit said Hcdbeck’s signing came
at just the right time because of inju
ries to outside hitters Kim Tonniges
and Laura Luther.
Both Luther and Tonniges had re
constructive shoulder surgery after
the end of last season.
“(Hedbeck) docs a lot of things.
She’s a good ball handler and very
strong in ball handling skills," Pettit
said. “We’re very shallow at the out
side hitter position with the gradua
tion of Eileen Shannon and the inju
ries to Tonniges and Luther.”
Pettit said he was hoping that
Hedbeck could play right away next
season.
•
“We had to have a player who
could step in and play,” Pettit said.
“We anticipate her being ready to
play for us next year.”
-44-—
We had to have a player
who could step in and
play. We anticipate
(Hedbeck) being ready
to play for us next year.
-—Pettit
NU volleyball coach
-ft -
Pettit said ihc Swedish National
program was different from the pro
gram in the United States. Hedbcck’s
international experience will help, he
said.
“The Swedish program is much
like the United Slates basketball
team,” he said. “They practice forlwo
or three weeks in intervals. It’s not as
sophisticated or as developed as the
program here in the United Stales.
“But international play at its low
est is higher than college play at its
highest,” Pettit said.
Hedbeck contacted Pettit about a
scholarship, Pettit said. She sent vid
eotapes of several of her matches to
Pettit before he had her evaluated by
some international contacts.
Hedbeck is the third and final re
cruit to sign with the Huskers. She
joins Jennifer McFadden of Dubuque,
Iowa, and Kate Cmich of River For
est, III.
Pettit said it was loo early to tell
how good this recruiting class wouia
be. He said he expected early contri
butions from all three athletes.
“The two with the best shot at
contributing next year are McFaddcn
and Hcdbcck,” he said. “They have
more experience than Crnich docs.
With the graduation of Stephanie
Thaler, Eileen Shannon and Debbie
Brand, Pettit had a few holes to Fill,
and he said he thought those holes
could be filled by the current Huskers
and the three recruits.
“I think we filled (the holes),” he
said. “We had a spring tournament
last weekend, and our team played
very well. Peggy Meyer and Kelly
Aspegrcn have significantly improved
and Allison Weston and Billie W inscu
arc on their way to becoming great
players.”
A A
Huskers lose
two conference
tennis duals
By Chris Hafn
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska women’s tennis team has
had its share of close matches this season,
and the Comhuskcrs dropped another one
this weekend.
The Huskers have had four 5-4 duals
during the season and have lost the last two,
including the one to Iowa State Saturday at
Boulder, Colo.
“We’ve lost a few heartbreakers,” NU
coach Scott Jacobson said.
After the loss to Iowa State, the Huskers
fell 8-1 to Colorado on Sunday.
. Jacobson said his team should have beaten
Iowa State.
“On paper wc’rc a better program than
Iowa State, in my eyes,” Jacobson said.
“You have to give them credit. They just
outplayed us.”
Jacobson said the Colorado dual, while
not as close, might have been closer.
“We had chances — it could have been
close,” he said. “Colorado isa little stronger
program than us at this point, and they were
a little better in the clutch.”
As postseason play approaches, Jacobson
said he hoped his team would get a chance to
avenge some of the close losses, like the one
to Iowa Slate.
“Hopefully we’ll get to play them again
in the Big Eight Tournament,” Jacobson
said.
The Huskers arc on the road this week
end, playing at Oklahoma and at Oklahoma
State. Jacobson said his team would use the
two duals as preparation for the conference
tourney.
“We have nothing to lose,” Jacobson
said. “On paper (Oklahoma and Oklahoma
State) arc expected to win. There is no
reason for us not to play loose.
“We just need to focus on (the two duals)
to prepare for the Big Eight tourney.”
KBeyThnperley/ON
Nebraska’s Ann Flannery returns a shot in a match earlier this year. After
dropping matches to Colorado and Iowa State last weekend, the Huskers
will face Oklahoma and Oklahoma State this weekend.
Rockies suffer from grounds conditions
DENVER (AP) — From the pock-marked
outfield turf to the apparent lack of manpower
to move screens and baiting cages, Colorado
Rockies manager Don Baylor is less than pleased
with the condition of Mile High Stadium.
"We’re fighting not to look like an expan
sion team,’’ Baylor said Monday, shaking his
head at what he regards as bush-league accom
modations in certain areas of the stadium op
eration.
"This has been a minor-league ballpark in
the past,” Baylor said. "Guys at the big-league
level want the field a certain way.
"Guys have complained about the batter’s
box. The bascpalhs from second to third are not
real good. Guys have been slipping. It’s not
dangerous, it’s iusl not a real good infield. It
doesn’t have clay under all of it the way it
should.
-44
Instead of worrying about
managing, I have to go out
there ana be the
groundskeeper.
-Baylor
-ft -
“It’s all kinds of things. Instead of worrying
about managing, I have to go out there and be
the groundskeeper.”
When the Rockies arc ready to take infield
practice before games, Baylor said, he and his
coaches have to drag screens and nets into place
because there are no members of the grounds
crew in evidence.
“Coaches shouldn * t have to do that,” he said.
“We say we’re going to take infield at a certain
lime, and no one’s around.’’
While they were in spring training in Tuc
son, Ariz., the Rockies were aware of some of
the potential problems at Mile High. The team
reportedly otTcrcd the city $38,000 to re-sod
right field but was told the city didn’t have the
manpower to do the job.
Gary Jones, stadium manager, said the un
even condition of the turf is not unusual for this
time of year. He said grounds crews simply did
not have enough sunny days prior to the home
opener to gel the grass growing properly.
Dirt around the batter's box and the first
base line has been dug up and repaired, appar
ently to the Rockies’ satisfaction.
But the club is growing impatient.
“I expected these things to be done when we
got here,’’Baylor said, “so they’re already be
hind schedule.’’
Cooper
Continued from Page 7
Allen has always expected his gymnasts to
be good. He has always expected tnem to back
up his words, no mailer how brash.
And he has expected that since the Fab Four
fust set foot on campus.
“If I'm not going to go out and blast teams,
I don’teven want to be there,” Allen said during
the Fab Four’s freshman year. “This group will
compete with the best. And they will win.’’
On Friday, his prediction will come true.
Cooper is a Junior news-editorial major, the Daily
Nebraskan wire editor and a columnist.
Men s tennis
team defeats
Cyclones, falls
to Colorado
By Beau Finley
Staff Reporter
As the Nebraska men’s tennis team enters
the home stretch. Coach Kerry McDermott is
hoping for a little more than just good show
ings.
But that’s just what the Comhuskers got this
weekend.
The Huskers lost 5*2 to Big Eight leader
Colorado in Boulder Sunday after defeating
Iowa State 5-2 the previous day.
MeDermou said although his team looked
good, the effort simply wasn’t enough.
“It was a close match,” MeDermou said. ”1
thought we could get the doubles point and
played well enough to win. But they played
exceptionally well in doubles.... They rose to
the occasion when it mattered.”
After losing the first point of the match, the
Huskerscloscd the gap with victories by Matthias
Mueller and Jan Andersen.
But the Buffaloes, who arc lied with Kansas
atop the Big Eight standings, slammed the door
on the Huskers with a pair of three-set victories
over Karl Falkland and Andy Davis.
McDermott said the team did not step up its
performance against Colorado after disman
tling Iowa Slate.
“You can’t afford mental lapses against a
team like Colorado,” MeDermou said. You’ll
end up walk i ng of f the court think ing, ‘ I just lost
6-3,6-3.’”
Playing too conservatively may have cost
the Huskers in the match, MeDermou said.
“They need the attitude that something needs
to happen,” MeDermou raid. “When you play
a Kansas or a Colorado, you have to gamble a.
bit.”
1 The Huskers, now 10-5, losltoihc Jayhawks
a week ago in a close match in Lincoln.
McDermott said he was concerned about the
unaggressi vc play of his learn over the last two
weeks.
UI don't feel like the guys arc taking the
initiative to put pressure on their opponents,”
McDermott said.
The lack of intensity, McDermott said, may
place the Huskers in a difficult position to win
the Big Eight Tournament and cam a trip to the
NCAA Championships.
In addition, McDermott said the two losses
placed the Huskers in a must-win situation
against their next opponents, Oklahoma and
Oklahoma State.
A loss to either would place Nebraska in the
same bracket with Colorado in the Big Eight
tourney April 23-23. McDermott said the team
did not want that position.
But the team realizes the situation it is in,
McDermott said.
“Oklahoma State is going to be a dogfight,”
■ McDermott said. “They know ilgets hard when
you lose a dual.”
The Huskers will travel to Stillwater, Okla.,
to play the Cowboys on Saturday and then
conclude the regular season by facing Okla
homa Sunday in Norman.