Sports
Monday, August 28, 1995 Page 10
Mitch Sherman
Coaches glad
as volleyball
gets attention
At the conclusion of the inaugu
ral State Farm-NACWAA Volley
ball Classic Saturday night at the
NU Coliseum, Don Shaw was a
happy coach.
His Stanford team had just
whipped a Nebraska squad pre
dicted by many to be the only group
standing in the way of a second
consecutive national title for the
Cardinal. \
But the victory, which will so
lidify Stanford’s grasp atop the
nation’s polls, wasn’t the main rea
son Don Shaw was a happy coach.
He was happy because women’s
volleyball is finally beginning to
receive the attention it has long
deserved. Besides the 4,000 fans
jammed into the Coliseum, a na
tional audience watched the tour
nament on ESPN and ESPN2.
“There is a great sport in
women’s volleyball,” Shaw said,
“and it’s happening all over the
country. People need to know that.”
Unfortunately, not enough
people do.
Women’s volleyball does not
exactly command attention around
the Midwest.
This tournament, the First-ever
of its kind, is a step in the right
direction. If the Missouris and
Oklahomas of the world are ex
posed to the level of play evident at
the Coliseum this weekend, there’s
no telling how much the sport could
grow.
One glimpse of Saturday night s
Nebraska-Stanford contest is
enough to hook a fan. It was a battle
in every sense of the word. A battle
that Penn State coach Russ Rose
said might require a sequel this
December in Springfield, Mass.—
site of the 1995 Final Four.
“I hope people understand that
Nebraska is very good,” Rose said
after his Nittany Lions were man
handled by the Huskers on Friday
night. “This is not just a team that
happened to show up. This is a team
that they have been building. It’s
the best chance they have had to
win the national title.”
The whisper circulating around
the Coliseum this weekend was that
this Husker team may be the best
since 1986, when Nebraska lost to
Pacific in the final match of the
NCAA Tournament.
Nebraska coach Terry Pettit
never would confess to that at this
point or any other point in the sea
son. But Saturday night after los
ing, Pettit didn’t seem too dis
traught. In fact, he almost seemed
content that his team had been de
feated in a regular-season match
/or the first time since Nov. 6,1993.
“It’s much easier to teach when
you are not successful, than when
you are successful,” Pettit said.
The NACWAA Classic was a
smashing success. A success for
Nebraska. A success for Stanford.
And a success for volleyball.
Sherman Is a Junior news-editorial
major, a Dally Nebraskan night news
editor, sports reporter and columnist
Jon Waller/DN
The Nebraska football team elected its team captains during Sunday practice. The five Nebraska captains are, from left: Aaron
Graham, Mark Gilman, Christian Peter, Phil Ellis and Tony Veland.
, ! '* \ . j;
'. uskers pick talented captains
By Mike Kluck . A_ «*•
Staff Reporter
All five Nebraska football captains
have paid their dues in the
Comhuskers’ program.
They all redshirted, and they all
struggled to work their way up the
Nebraska depth chart.
They earned the respect of the Ne
braska coaches, became starters, and
Sunday, they each earned the highest
honor bestowed on a Husker by his
teammates.
The five senior captains: Phil Ellis,
linebacker; Mark Gilman, tight end;
Aaron Graham, center; Christian Pe
ter, defensive tackle; and Tony Veland,
free safety; all said they regarded their
jobs as accomplishments for years of
hard work.
“It’s really not something you can
make a goal,” Graham said. “All you
can do is go out every day and demon
strate leadership, hard work, and if
your teammates are willing to listen,
then hopefully you’ll get voted in. I’m
just happy I got selected.”
During Veland ’ s career, he has suf
fered from a broken collarbone and a
ruptured right patellar tendon to limit
“They have proven themselves under fire and are
good representatives, so hopefully they will work
out well. ”
TOM OSBORNE
Nebraska football coach
his playing time.
Veland, a three-year letterman from
Omaha, also has switched from quar
terback to free safety.
“It’s a real bighonor,” Veland said.
“I was at a point where I never knew i f
I was going to play or not, but now I’m
playing, I’m captain and it’s my last
year. So it means a lot to me. I feel like
I’m going out at trie right time.”
The captains said although they
would be considered as leaders of
their team, they didn’t see their roles
changing much.
“I think you’ve got to go in day in
and day out and lead by example,
work hard and be someone the rest of
your teammates can look up to,” Peter
said.
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said
it was too early to determine how this
group of captains compared to former
groups.
“I would think they would be people
you can count on,” Osborne said.
“They have proven themselves under
fire and are good representatives, so
hopefully they will work out well.”
Osborne said the Huskers usually
had two offensive and two defensive
captains, but because the defensive
vote for second place was so close,
they decided to go with five captains.
Graham said there could be an ad
ditional honor to being a captain on
this year’s Nebraska team. 4
“If we win another national cham
pionship and to say I was captain of
the team, that’s something I’m look
ing forward to accomplishing,” Gra
ham said. “It probably would be one
of the greater achievements I could
leave here with, being the captain of a
championship team.”
NOTES:
•No. 21-back Damon Benning left
football practice early with a pulled
hamstring. Nebraska coaQh Tom
Osborne said he did not know if '
Benning’s injury would limit his ac
tion in the Huskers’ season opener
against Oklahoma State Thursday.
•Defensive tackle Christian Peter
was held out of practice with a strained
knee. Osborne said he expected Peter
to return today. SAM linebacker Jay
Foreman (hanfstring) also was held
out.
•Defensive backs TonyVelandand
Eric Stokes returned after missing
Friday’s workout. The Huskers did
not practice Saturday.
•Osborne said Nebraska would not
see any more heavy contact in practice
this week.
•Wingback Jon Vedral has been
placed on scholarship, filling the spog>
opened when Tray Crayton quit the^
team last week.
Huskers blowbig lead, lose match
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska volleyball team
learned a valuable lesson from top
ranked Stanford in the State Farm
NACWAA Volleyball Gassic Cham
pionship Saturday night.
Never get too comfortable with a
lead.
The 2-0 Cardinal came from be
hind in the third and fourth games to
defeat the 1-1 Comhuskers, 8-15,15
II, 15-13,17-15, in front of a crowd
of4,074 at the NU Coliseum.
Trailing two games to one, the
Huskers jumped out to a 7-1 lead and
held a commanding 14-6 advantage in
the fourth game. But the No. 1 Cardi
nal showed why they won the national
championship last season, fighting off
four game points
to win the game
17-15.
Stanford eventu
ally tied the game
at 14 when Ne
braska getter
Christy Johnson
was called for a
double hit viola
tion. Nebraska
was then called for
Pettit a net violation,
and Stanford took a 15-14 lead.
Allison Weston, who had 20 kills
and six service errors, said Nebraska
was lackadaisical after getting the 14
6 lead in the fourth game.
“We weren’t aggressive or asser
tive enough at the end of the match
when it counted, and they were,”
Weston said. “In certain plays we
didn’t make the aggressive play.”
The Huskers were led bv Lisa
Reitsma, who had a game-high 24
kills and a .408 hitting'percentage.
The Huskers tied the game at 15 on
a Jen McFadden block. Stanford took
a 16-15 lead when McFadden was
called for reaching over the net, and
the Cardinal eventually won the match
when Nebraska was called for another
net violation.
Coach Terry Pettit said the Cardi
nal kept their composure, and the
Huskers didn’t at the end of game
four.
“We made poor decisions in the
last six or seven plays,” Pettit said.
“You only learn that situation when *
you fail. And then you figure it out.
And then you come back, and you’re
successful.”
Stanford’s Cary Wendell, who had
17 kills and was named the
tournament’s most valuable player,
said Stanford never gave up in the
fourth game.
See STANFORD on 12