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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 9, 1995)
Sports Thursday, November 9, 1995 Page 7 Trevor Parks Reitsma gives NU an attack to be feared If the Nebraska volleyball team is playing a big match, it must be time for the Lisa Reitsma show. In the Comhuskers’ five matches against current top 15 teams, the sophomore has shown that she can play with the best competition in the country. Against No. 4 Stanford, Reitsma had 24 kills. Against No. 6 Texas, she had 19 kills. Against No. 9 Penn State, she had 11 kills. Against No. 12 Pacific, she had 13 kills and Tuesday against No. 13 Notre Dame, she had 21 kills for an aver age of 17.6 a match. Against everyone else, Reitsma has 185 kills in 18 matches. An av erage of just over 10 a match. Reitsma said she had seen a lot of improvement over last season. “I ’ve come a long way from last year,” Reitsma said. “I wasn’t con sistent at all, and this year I’ve been trying to do my best. I think it’s coming along.” Reitsma has been consistently good — as Notre Dame found out Tuesday. Fighting Irish coach Debbie Brown said Reitsma was a domi nating factor in the match. “There is not a defense that can stop her, because she hits the ball everywhere,” Brown said. “She’s very difficult to defend. With her height and her jumping ability, it makes it tough to defend her with the block, because she hits over the block.” When Reitsma did that Tuesday night, Notre Dame’s Lindsay Treadwell didn’t have time to put her hands together to dig the ball. Last season, the Huskers had to depend on Allison Weston to get the job done. In the final two matches of the season, Weston had 37 kills and 35 kills. Weston was the pri mary weapon. But with Reitsma on the prowl, Weston no longer has to shoulder the pressure of carrying the team. Weston has affectionately been called “The Big Dog” by Coach Terry Pettit. With Reitsma’s emer gence this year, she might as well be known as “Big Dog Jr.” Pettit said Reitsma was a player like Weston, who has improved throughout her entire career. “Lisa isn’t a first-year starter anymore,” Pettit said. “She’s played enough ... We’re a pretty veteran team at this point.” Calling a sophomore part of a veteran team is a far cry from what Pettit said after the Stanford match, when he said Reitsma was “still a babe.” “What’s happening with her is that she’s played well all year, and now she’s developing confidence,” Pettit said. “When other people see that, other people on the team start to play hard and start to play bet ter.” And if Reitsma and the rest of the team stay confident, who knows how far they can go. Parks is a senior news-editorial maj or and a Daily Nebraskan senior reporter and columnist NU men, women collect signatures Belcher follows Lue to Lincoln By Mitch Sherman Senior Editor It’s not exactly Florida or South ern California, but the Mexico, Mo., pipeline is alive and well. Wednesday morning at 11:30 a.m., Segado “Cookie” Belcher signed a lctter-of-intent with the Nebraska bas ketball team, becoming the second native of the small Missouri town to sign with the Comhuskers in the past seven months. Wednesday was the first day of the fall signing period, which runs until Nov. 15. Belcher, a 6-foot-3, 190-pound shooting guard, joins Mexico native Tyronn Lue, who made his first start in a Nebraska uniform Wednesday night. Lue, a true freshman point guard, scored nine points in the Husk crs’ 113-68 win over Reebok Spalding Americas. “It’s a good feeling to get it over See MEN on 8 Beck nabs three of state’s best By Gregg Madsen Staff Reporter A trio of Nebraska high school bas ketball standouts have decided to con tinue playing in their home state for Coach Angela Beck’s Cornhuskers. Brooke Schwartz of Gering and Charlie Rogers of South Sioux City signed letters-of-intent Wednesday, and Cambridge standout Nicole Kubik will sign later today. Schwartz, a 5-foot-ll guard who led Gering last year by averaging 26.4 points, 8.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds per game, said the decision to come to Nebraska was an easy one. “She wasn’t interested in any oth ers,’’ Gering coach Don Jacobs said.. “She figured why waste time looking at them if she wanted to go to Ne braska all along.’’ Beck said Schwartz, who was an all-state selection each of the past two seasons, would be able to make an See WOMEN on 8 Travis Heying/DN True freshman point guard Tyronn Lue leads Nebraska up the court during the Huskers 113-68 win over Spalding Americas Wednesday night. Lue scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds in 19 minutes. NU blends old, new in exhibition win By Derek Samson Senior Reporter For a team that lost only one se nior from a year ago, the Nebraska basketball team had plenty of unfamil iar faces when it opened its exhibition season Wednesday night. The Comhuskers defeated Reebok Spalding Americas 113-68 before a crowd of 7,199 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. _ Overshadowing _ the outcome of Spalding 68 the game was the Americas debuts of Tyronn - Lue, a 6-foot freshman from Mexico, Mo., Bernard Gamer, a junior from Many, La., and Venson Hamilton, freshman center from Forest City, N.C. Seniors Tom Wald, 19 points, and Erick Strickland, 15 points, led Ne braska, but Hamilton, who played at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia during high school, led all scorers in the first half with 12 points and finished with 14. In all, six players who did not play for the Huskers last season scored in the victory. Nebraska coach Danny Nee said he was pleased to see the fresh faces play well. “I was pleased for a lot of the new people,” Nee said. “A kid like Venson Hamilton, who is going to see a lot of action this year, in his first excursion on the floor, was good. I thought Lue was the same way. He was pretty solid. “That’s what this game is about, experimenting, getting people playing time and seeing how they will handle certain game situations.” Nebraska didn’t waste any time early, using a 17-1 run midway through the first half to jump out to a 42-11 lead. Hamilton made his pres ence known during the run — scoring seven points in a three-minute stretch. By halftime, 11 Huskers had scored to give Nebraska a commanding 65 28 lead. Hamilton led Nebraska at the half with 12 points. “He (Hamilton) can do a lot of things,” Nee said. “He’s got long arms so he can get rebounds in a crowd. He blocks shots. He does a nice job.” Nebraska picked up where it left off in the second half as Chris Sallee and Strickland combined for the Huskers’ first 10 points. “I was really pleased with Chris,” Nee said. “He’s been showing that all week in practice. He’s been very rug ged around the basket. He’s been play ing physical. He’s going to really help us in December.” Spalding’s only bright spot was forward Ray Reed, who scored 35 points on a 13-of-29 shooting perfor mance. Former Husker Melvin Brooks scored two points on l-of-7 shooting for Spalding. Nee said he was disappointed in the poor level of competition, but he said it was still nice for the Huskers to play against someone other than themselves. “I just didn’t get the team that I thought could challenge us,” Nee said. “We needed a game bad. I just wish it was better competition. We needed a game because we were tired of beat ing on each other. ” Continued progress earns Treu playing time By Mike Kluck Staff Reporter It didn’t matter that Nebraska assistant football coach Dan Young never saw Lincoln Pius graduate Adam Treu’s 17-foot basketball shot at the buzzer. By the time Treu let the shot go, which fell short and enabled Lexington to hold on for a 53-52 regu lar season upset win, Young had seen enough of Treu’s footwork to realize Treu would be an asset to the Cornhusker football program. This season. Young’s prognosis has paid off as the 6-foot-6,295-pound junior offensive tackle has alternated playing time with starters Chris Dishman and Eric Anderson. Treu has helped to lead the nation’s top rushing attack to a 9-0 record and a No. 1 ranking. Treu may see more playing time Saturday when Nebraska takes on No. 10 Kansas because of an ankle injury to Anderson. Treu’s basketball coach at Lincoln Pius, Tom Sieb, said Treu planned to accept a basketball or baseball scholarship before Nebraska started look ing at him for football. Many Division II colleges were interested in Treu’s basketball ability. Sieb said football coaches became interested in Treu, “once he started getting the press in basket ball.” “He didn’t think about football until Nebraska showed interest in him,” Sieb said. “He never would have gone anywhere else to play football.” “If I start, I start. It was just unfortunate it had to happen like that. ” ADAM TREU Nil offensive tackle DuringTreu’s first season, he played defense on the scout team. And he didn’t enjoy it. The disappointment Treu experienced on the playing field also affected his grades in the class room. Treu’s problems were great enough that Tenopir said he worried that Treu might not finish his career at Nebraska. “I really thought two and a half years ago Adam was going to have a hard time playing here,” Tenopir said. “His work habits weren’t as focused as they needed to be. He was messing around in the class room a little bit, didn’t have his head in that. He has turned it around.” Treu’s turnaround started last spring when he started working out with former Nebraska tight end Matt Shaw. Shaw was also a walk-on from Lincoln, and although he played for three seasons, he never caught a pass. “He (Shaw) had a long road here,” Treu said. “He just kept telling me 'Keep plugging away, you’ll get your chance. Look at me.”’ Even though Shaw has graduated and is attend ing medical school in Omaha, Treu said he contin ued to work out and lift with the same intensity he had last year. The dedication has enabled Treu to drop his body fat from 18 to 12.6 percent. It also has benefited him on the playing field. This season, he moved up to No. 2 on the depth chart. The night before the Huskers’ season-opener against Oklahoma State, Young told Treu, Ander son and Dishman that the trio would alternate at tackle. Entering fall camp, Treu said he didn’t expect to be playing as much as he has this season. And while he would never want to see a teammate get hurt, Treu said he would jump at the chance to start Sat urday. “It’s too bad what happened to Eric,” Treu said. “It doesn’t add any extra pressure to me. If I start, I start. I’m not going to think I earned it. It was just unfortunate it had to happen like that.” NOTE: • Coach Tom Osborne said quarterback Tommie Frazier, who has been bothered by a sore right leg, moved well on Wednesday. Fullback Brian Schuster jan at full speed after missing practice Monday, and wingback Clester Johnson, who was ill on Tues day, returned to the practice field on Wednesday. Anderson also returned to practice.
