The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, November 07, 1995, Page 7, Image 7
Sports Tuesday, November 7, 1995 Page 7 Derek Samson Virginia win may dampen Husker hopes When the polls came out Sun day, I felt even more confident about the prediction I made after Virginia upset Florida State 33-28 Thursday night. The only team hurt worse than Nebraska by the upset was Florida State. Nebraska gained most or the Seminoles’ first-place votes to take a commanding lead, but Ohio State jumped into second. The only other undefeated team left is Florida, the team Ohio State leapfrogged — and the team Comhusker fans now must pledge as their second-favorite team. If Florida beats Florida State Nov. 25, and then beats its oppo nent in the Southeastern Confer ence Championship game, then the national champion will be the win ner of the Florida-Nebraska game in the Fiesta Bowl. But if Florida State beats Florida, it’s bad news for the Huskers. Nebraska, if it beats Kansas and Oklahoma, needs to beat an unde feated team in the Fiesta Bowl to gain an overwhelming number of votes to Finish ahead of Ohio State. Ifthe Huskers beat Notre Dame, Tennessee or even Northwestern in the Fiesta Bowl, it will be looked at as equally difficult as Ohio State’s probable win over Southern Cali fornia in the Rose Bowl. But an undefeated Florida in the Fiesta Bowl would be a team that had beaten Auburn, Tennessee, Florida State and the SEC West Champion (probably Arkansas). If Nebraska can beat a team l ike that, then Ohio State can give former Penn State quarterback Kerry Collins a call and ask him the most effective ways to continually whine on national television. And Ohio State will be left with the same results—a No. 2 ranking. Penn State had no way to back its cries last year, and — if the Huskers would beat Florida in the Fiesta—the Buckeyes would be in the same boat sailing away on tears. But the voters already have be gun to show support to get Ohio State in position for at least a split. All they need is something to back them up—like Nebraska beating a questionable opponent in the Fiesta Bowl. Nebraska needed either Florida or Florida State. Because of Thurs day night’s contest, it may get nei ther. So if this whole thing plays out the wrong way for the Huskers,just look back to Nov. 2. How much did you pray that Florida State would not get in on the last play of the game? How many people did you give high fives to when Warrick Dunn was stopped inches short of the goal line? Now, how many people would you complain to if Nebraska had to split, or worse, lose the national title after a Fiesta Bowl win? ✓ But it was still great to see Florida State lose. Samson is a senior news-editorial major and a Dally Nebraskan senior sports reporter and columnist. NU fired up for No. 13 Notre Dame By Mitch Sherman Senior Editor The Nebraska volleyball team may not know how to react if it loses a game during tonight’s 7:30 match against 13th ranked Notre Dame at the NU Coliseum. Seventy-three days ago, the Comhuskerslosta game. Since then, they have won 60 straight. The Fighting Irish, 22-5, present No. 1 Nebraska with perhaps its big gest obstacle since a four-game loss to Stanford on Aug. 25 in the season’s second match. “Notre Dame is a solid team,” Husker coach Terry Pettit said. “Their strength is on their left side and in their outside hitters. They are one of the top programs in the country. We sched uled this match so we would have a tough match in November.” Actually, Nebraska was supposed to have three tough matches in No vember. Saturday, the 21 -1 Huskers visited Austin, Texas, home of sev enth-ranked Texas. Nebraska pounded the Longhorns 15-4, 15-13, 15-4. “We were all really pumped to play,” said sophomore outside hitter Lisa Reitsma, who was Nebraksa’s most potent offensive weapon against Texas with 19 kills and a .485 hitting percentage. “I think it just brought out the best in us.” Sunday afternoon at the Coliseum, No. 3 Florida will provide the Husk ers with another NCAA Tournament style match. The 27-0 Gators—along with second-ranked Hawaii—are the only undefeated Division I teams. “We are playing better competi tion,” Reitsma said, “so we are going to be playing better. We are still get better and we are improving every game.” Nebraska last played Notre Dame on Dec. 5, 1993, a second-round NCAA Tournament match won in three games by the Irish in South Bend, Ind. The Huskers lost in four games to Notre Dame earlier that same season in the Notre Dame Invitational, but Nebraska has won each of the other three matches between the two teams. Notre Dame, which practiced at the Coliseum on Monday night, will be familiar with its surroundings. The Irish, 33-4 a year ago, lost to Penn State in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament Mideast Regional at the Coliseum last December. The next day, Penn State ended Nebraska’s sea son. “Notre Dame has a team very simi lar to what they had (in 1993),” Pettit said. “It’s a very good ball handling team.” Notre Dame sophomore Carey May is the nation’s seventh-leading setter, averaging 13.55 set assists a game. She is one of only 13 setters in the country averaging more set assists a game than Husker All-American Christy Johnson. “The better the teams we play, the longer we have to play at a high level,” Pettit said. “One of our goals will be to not let them get into the match.” Jon Waller/DN Nebraska center Pyra Aarden participates in a passing drill with UNL sophomore Robert Bell, who practices with a team against the Huskers. Women’s basketball optimistic By Gregg Madsen Staff Reporter “ The final Big Eight women’s basketball trophy will be a heavily coveted piece of hardware this year, and Coach Angela Beck’s Nebraska team is ready to go out in style by dethroning the three-time defend ing champion Colorado Buffaloes. Beck and the Huskers are opti mistic, to say the least, about this season ’ s prospects. Nebraska opens its exhibition season tonight at 7 with a game against Athletes in Action at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. “It’s still too early to look at rankings,” senior center Pyra Aarden said. “But every team in the conference has the potential to do great things. Anyone who puts out the effort can compete in this league. “I want my senior year to be the best one yet. This will be the last Big Eight ring anyone will get to wear.” The Huskers definitely have the tools to improve. All five starters return from last year’s 13-14 team. Beck said that Aarden would be counted on much more this year. “We really want to establish Pyra inside this year,” Beck said. “Last year we relied on our guards to take too many shots.” Feeding the ball into the 6-foot 4 Aarden will be the job of sopho more guard Anna DeForge and se nior guard Kate Galligan. Last season, DeForge combined with Galligan to average 23.1 points a game. Junior college transfer LaToya Doage is expected to provide the Huskers with the true point guard they lacked last season. The dominant feeling at the con ference media day held Oct. 30 in Kansas City, however, was that Colorado would be the team to beat. The preseason coaches poll lists the Buffaloes as No. 1, followed by Kansas, Oklahoma State, Okla homa, Nebraska, Kansas State, See BASKETBALL on 8 Phillips’performance shows absence By Trevor Parks Senior Reporter With 10:13 remaining in the first quarter, Lawrence Phillips appeared in a game at Memorial Stadium for the first time since Nov. 5,1994. Phillips, who was reinstated to the Nebraska football team Oct. 24, re turned to the playing field to a warm reception from the 75,505 fans at Memorial Stadium. “I was trying to block it out be cause I didn’t know what to expect,” Phillips said. “I was blocking out as I went into the game, but I didn’t notice what happened.” Once play began against Iowa State Saturday, Phillips said he pictured himself taking the ball in from the Iowa State 25-yard line to the end zone, but that didn’t happen. His first carry was only for 2 yards. But Phillips said his main goal now was to use his 12-carry, 68-yard, one touchdown performance to see where he was after not playing in a game since Sept. 9 at Michigan State. “I just wanted to see how my con ditioning was and how I moved on the field; there is a big difference from the game than in practice,” Phillips said. “In practice I felt pretty good, but it was nowhere near that today. “I felt tired after a few carries, and I wasn’t in the same shape that I was before I was suspended.” • Coach Tom Osborne said Phillips looked like a player who hadn’t played in five or six weeks. “Hopefully he’ll return to some where near where he was before,” Osborne said. “He was a great back, about as good as we’ve ever had here, and you just can’t take that much time off and not have it affect you.” Running backs coach Frank Solich agreed and said this would be a good measuring stick to see where Phillips was after nis long absence. “I thought it was a good working day for him,” Solich said. “He got enough carries to where we can start to feel where he is at and where we feel he should be to get in great playing shape again.” Phillips showed exactly where he was in the third quarter. ~ See PHILLIPS on 8 Fraziers soreness not a clot From Staff Reports As a precautionary measure, Ne braska quarterback Tommie Frazier visited Dr. Decpak Gangahar Mon day to make sure the soreness in Frazier’s leg wasn’t a recurrence of blood clots that sidelined the Heisman Trophy candidate last season. Comhusker coach Tom Osborne said Gangahar, who treated Frazier last season, reported that the soreness in Frazier’s leg was muscular and not intravenous. Osborne said Frazier would be fine, even though he sat out Monday’s practice. “He doesn’t even know when it happened,” Osborne said. “It might have been while he was running. Half our injuries (the players) don’t even know when it happened. They wake up Sunday morning after a game, and all of a sudden something they didn’t know about is hurting.” Other Huskers who missed prac tice because of injury included offen sive lineman Eric Anderson, fullback Brian Schuster, free safety Tony Veland and left cornerback Leslie Dennis. Coaches to meet as football foes for first time By Derek Samson Senior Reporter Kansas State coach Bill Snyder and Iowa State coach Dan McCarney stood on the same sidelines for 10 years with the Iowa Hawkeyes. On Saturday, the two will stand on opposite sidelines as head coaches against each other for the first time. But McCarney wouldn’t mind switching positions with Snyder. “(Kansas State) is a fantastic model of how everyone would want to turn a program around,” McCarney said in the Big Eight coaches teleconference Monday. “A lot of things are similar as far as what I’m going into and what he’s went through. We’re not even close to where we want to be some day, but we’re trying.” Snyder was Iowa coach Hayden Fry’s offensive coordinator from 1979 to 1988, while McCarney coached the offensive line from 1977 to 1978 and the defensive line from 1979 to 1989. McCarney, who admitted he was surprised it took Snyder as long as it SeeTELECON on 8