;_ _5i_____________.
1
Trevor Parks
NU freshman
experienced
in recovering
All Lisa Avery wants to do is
play volleyball.
But for now, she would settle
for a chance to run on the court
with her Comhusker teammates..
So far in her brief Nebraska
career, Avery has spent every home
match in the stands with recruits,
and she has spent many hours of
practice time standing on the side
lines.
Avery is watching it because
she tore the anterior cruciate liga
ment in her right "knee on April 25
during a regional high school cham
pionship match in WarrensbUrg,
Mo.
This was nearly three months
after Avery, Fiona Nepo, Renee
Saunders and Jaime Krondak
signed letters-of-intent with the
Huskers, and were rated the No. 1
group of freshmen in the nation.
For more than a month she
couldn’t bend her leg at a 90-de
gree angle. Instead of having tom
cartilage scraped out of the inside
of her joint, Avery had it repaired.
And as a result, die was forced to
keep her leg immobilized as much
as possible.
“I’m kind of behind,” she said
after practice earlier this week,'
“but I’m thinking that in a month
or so I will be doing a lot more. I’m
hoping by the end of the season I’ 11
be able to warm up, but it depends
on how much strength I get back.”
But the freshman from Over
land Park, Kan. — not Shawnee
Mission, her listed hometown in
the Husker media guide — hasn’t
lost faith.
Saturday, when no potential
recruits are slated to visit Lincoln,
she said she hoped to suit up and
stand on the sidelines. She said it
would feel a lot better than a hard
Coliseum bench.
Avery said sitting out would be
even tougher if she hadn’t been
through a similar experience two
years earlier.
During her sophomore year of
high school, Avery tore the ACL
in her left knee playing basketball,
but in retrospect, she said, that
may have been a good thing.
“As soon as it happened I said
(the second time), 'Oh my God,
here we go again.’ But I came back
the first time. I’m sure I can do it
again.”
That spirit is pushing Avery to
keep going, and she should be 100
percent healthy for next season.
But in the meantime, does she feel
like part of the team?
“As much as I don’t really in
teract with them in practice and
don’t go on road trips, they are all
supportive.”
However, she said watching
practice had been difficult.
Hopefully, the next time she
says “here we go again,” it will be
because she is back on the volley
ball court.
Parks Is a sealor news-editorial major
and a Dally Nebraska! sealor reporter
aadcotaraalst o
Huskers blast Big 8 rival Buffaloes
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska volleyball team
showed something it hadn’t shown
all year in beating Colorado Wednes
day night at the Coors Event Center
in Boulder, Colo.
lhey showed
thatjhey are a
team that could
rally from behind.
The top-ranked
Cornhuskers, 11
1, defeated the 7
5 Buffaloes 15-6,
15-5, 15-12 in
front of a crowd
nf ? Qftfi
Weston, Allison Weston,
who hit a match-high .444, said
Nebraska’s ability to come from be
hind may have resulted from experi
ence.
“They got excited up 11-5 and
they were thinking they were going
to take the game,” Weston said of the
matches’ third game. “Then I think
our experience took over.”
The Buffaloes started three fresh
man against Nebraska, which starts
three seniors.
With Nebraska leading 4-3 in the
third game, Colorado turned things
around, scoring seven straight points
to take a 10-4 lead. Three of those
points came on service aces by setter
Jennifer Anderson.
After the Buffaloes took an 11-5
.lead, Nebraska stormed back. The
Huskers reeled off the next six points
to tie things up at 11. The comeback
was sparked from a Christy Johnsoa
kill, a Lisa Reitsma ace and a Weston
kill.
The Huskers cut the score to 11-9
when Colorado’s Leah Williams hit a
ball into the net. Johnson added a kill
and Billie Winsett tied the match
with her ninth kill of the night.
After a side out, Colorado’s Rachel
Wacholder knocked down a kill to
give the Buffs a 12-11 lead. But that
would be all for the Buffaloes.
Winsett’s tenth kill of the match
gave Nebraska a side out and with
kills by Reitsma, Stacie Maser,
Winsett and Maser again ended the
match.
Weston said Maser, a redshirt
freshman, helped Nebraska a great
deal in the third game.
In the second game^ Nebraska
trailed 2-0 before scoring 13 straight
points to take a 13-2*lead. Colorado
cut the score to 13-5 before Sarah
Lodge hit a ball out of bounds.
Weston ended the game with her
eighth ofateam-high 11 kills. Reitsma
also added 11 kills for Nebraska,
which as a team, hit .411.
The Huskers started the first game
trailing 4-0 and won after outscoring
Colorado 15-2 the rest of the way.
“I thought for Colorado to be in
the match, we would have to make a
lot of unforced errors,” Husker coach
Terry Pettit said on KLIN’s post
match radio show.
Weston said Nebraska .showed
improvement in many needed areas,
particularly its serving. Colorado -
struggled serving, committing 11 ser
vice errors. Nebraska committed a
season-low three service errors.
“It was much better tonight,”
Weston said. “They should be used to
this altitude, but I guess they struggled
with it.”
Travis Heying/DN
Nebraska linebacker Jon Hesse fights through a block by Pacific’s Bryan Chiu during
Nebraska’s 49-7 win over the Tigers Saturday . Hesse is fourth on the team with 17 tackles
this year.
Linebacker waits his turn
oy i revor rams
Senior Reporter ~
- For Nebraska linebacker Jon
Hesse, everything finally came
together during a scrimmage be
fore the 1995 Orange Bowl.
Hesse, who is listed third on the
depth chart at both MIKE line
backer and left outside linebacker,
said he realized what he was sup
* to do at the middle line
spot during workouts last
December.
“One day it just happens, and it
becomes a situation where every
thing just works,” Hesse said. “It
just all the sudden kind of switched
on, and I felt good again on the
football field.”
That feeling has continued in
1995. After four games, Hesse is
tied for fourth on the team with 17
tackles. Eight of those have been
unassisted. Hesse also hastwo tack
les behind the line of scrimmage.
The difficulty in playing the
MIKE position, Hesse said; was
that he had to do a lot 'of things
before the ball was snapped, and
he had to still be ready once the
. play began.
In Hesse’s previous two sea
sons as a Comhusker, he recorded
13 tackles in limited playing time,
mostly on special teams. Now
"One day it just happens, and it becomes a
situation where everything just works. It just
all the sudden kind of switched on, and I felt
good again on the football field.”
JON HESSE
, * '• ' . \ - - .
Nebraska linebacker
given a chance, Hesse said he was
trying to make the most of it.
The 6-foot-4,235-pound junior
said he wasn’t disappointed that he
was playing behind seniors Doug
Colman and Phil Ellis at MIKE
linebacker.
“Nebraska has a lot of great
players, and you often have to get
in the back of the line and wait
your turn,” Hesse said. “That turn
comes earlier for some players than
it does for others.
“Linebacker is a position at
Nebraska where there always
seems to be a lot of players and it’s
kind of unfortunate for me because
I’m in the back of the line.”
Hesse, who graduated from Lin
coln Southeast in 1992, said play
ing a backup role most of his Ne
braska career had been difficult.
“It’s hard when you are not
playing,” Hesse- said. “But it’s
something that’s been worth it to
me.
Next year, Colman and Ellis
will be gone, and Hesse may get a
chance to start. But for now, he
said he was only concerned with
this season, not what could happen
in 1996.
Just getting the chance for addi- *
tional playing time has helped
Hesse’s progress, he said.
“Anytime you start playing
again, that makes you feel good
because we all \york real hard for
what we get.”
Even though Hesse is happy to
be on the field, at times even this
season has been difficult, too, he
said.
“Even this year has been kind
of a struggle because I would like
to play more, but sometimes in life
you have to wait your turn, and
that’s what I’m doing right now.”
Huskers
sign with
Huskies
By Mike Kluck
Staff Reporter '
The Nebraska athletic department
announced Tuesday that contracts
have been signed for the Comhusker
football team to play a two-game
series with Washington during the
1997-98 season.
Nebraska will travel to Seattle to
face the Huskies on Sept. 20, 1997,
and then Washington will play in
Lincoln on Sept. 26, 1998.
Because of a scheduling conflict
with Missouri, Washington was able
to schedule the home-and-home se
ries against Nebraska, Washington
Athletic Director Barbara Hedges said
through the Washington Sports In
formation Department.
‘The University ot Missouri
wanted out of its 1997 and 1998
contract because of some future
scheduling they were working on,”
Hedges said. “We agreed, provided
they would work with us to schedule
another attractive opponent. As a re
sult, we were able to work out an
arrangement with Nebraska.”
Washington’s agreement to play
the Huskers completed Nebraska’s
1997 nonconference schedule. Ne
braska also will play both Arkansas
State and Northern Illinois at home.
Nebraska lost to Washington 36
21 in Lincoln in 1991, the Huskers’
last loss at Memorial Stadium. Wash
ington went on to win a share of the
national title with Miami (Fla.) that
season.
In 1992, Nebraska again lost to
Washington, 29-14 in Seattle. That ■
loss put Nebraska’s overall record
against Washington at 1-3-1.
Next year, when Nebraska begins
Big 12 play, its nonconference sched
ule will be shortened to three games
in order to accommodate for an eight
game conference season.
NOTES:
• I-back Damon Benning and spl it
end Brendan Holbein, both of whom
missed practice Tuesday because of
sprained ankles, practiced Wednes
day and should be ready to play Sat
urday, Coach Tom Osborne said.
Osborne said defensive tackle
Larry Townsend (knee strain) prac
ticed, but he still remained doubtful
for Saturday’s game.
No. 1 MIKE linebacker Phil Ellis
sprained a foot during practice.
. Osborne said the severity of his in
jury was not immediately clear.