Sports
Tim Pearson
CU volleyball
looks for shot
at Nebraska
Nebraska has played Creighton
twice — in volleyball.
The Cornhuskers swept two
matches from the Lady Jays in
1981, the same year that Creighton
dropped its volleyball program.
Fifteen years later, Creighton de
serves another shot at Nebraska.
For 21 years, Nebraska has
dominated volleyball in the state.
Against in-state teams, the
Cornhuskers are a combined 29-3.
The last time Nebraska playcti an
other team in the state was 1990,
when it defeated the University of
Nebraska at Omaha, a Division-II
team.
But with Creighton in the pic
ture, volleyball can become a ma
jor player on the Nebraska sports
scene.
With spring volleyball ap
proaching, the Huskers can take the
first step by putting Creighton — a
Division-I team — on their sched
ule.
“Obviously the community
would love it because it’s in Ne
braska,” said Husker assistant coach
Cathy Noth.
Noth said playing Creighton
during the spring season was a pos
sibility sometime down the road. A
spring match would benefit both the
teams and the community, and it
could be the start of a healthy in
state rivalry.
That rivalry never got off the
ground in the early ’80s, when
Creighton got rid of its volleyball
program.
“For some reason or another, it
was dropped,” Creighton athletic
director Bruce Rasmussen said. “It
was a mistake. We’re in an area
where volleyball is very strong ”
Creighton added women’s vol
leyball in 1994, hoping to capital
ize on the rising popularity of the
sport. The 10 other schools in the
Missouri Valley Conference all had
volleyball programs, while
Creighton didn’t.
“It seemed to be a sport that
made sense for Creighton Univer
sity,” Rasmussen said.
But the Lady Jay program
wasn’t going to turn into Nebraska
overnight. Creighton and Coach
Ben Guiliano have endured their
fair share of bumps and bruises.
Guiliano, who has a 420-215
record in 16 years of coaching,
hasn’t exactly been playing with a
full deck.
Creighton hasn t had the money
to fully fund a new sport,
Rasmussen said.
“At Creighton, we could not go
from no ftmding and no program
to full funding,” Rasmussen said.
“We started with four scholarships,
and we plan to add two each year.”
Creighton went 5-20 in its first
year, with only four scholarships
available. But this year, the Lady
Jays more than doubled their win
total, going 11-19 and finishing sev
enth in the 11-team MVC. Against
Nebraska’s Big Eight rival Kansas
See PEARSON on 1
Former Husker impresses Angels
By David Wilson
Staff Reporter
Before the 1995 amateur baseball
draft, professional scouts tabbed Darin
Erstad as the best college player in the
country who had the tools needed to
become a future major league star.
And after one short season in the
California Angels farm system, the
former Nebraska left fielder has
backed up the scouts’ hype with big
league numbers.
“He’s very impressive and enthu
siastic,” California manager Marcel
Lachemann said. “The reports I’ve
read on him are outstanding.”
Lachemann said Erstad had done
well enough to cam a spot on the An
gels’ Triple-A team in Edmonton this
spring.
“Our people are very impressed,”
“He’s somebody that we think is going to be a very
good player. It’s a tribute to the job that Coach
Sanders did at the university to get him ready to
play. ”
MARCEL LACHEMANN
California Angels manager
the third-year manager said, “not only
with his physical abilities but the in
tangibles as well.”
Erstad, the draft’s No. 1 pick last
June, first caught the eyes of scouts
during his senior season at Jamestown,
(N.D.) High School.
After hitting .495 with 18 home
runs in 1992, he was selected in the
13th round of the draft by the New
York Mets. But he turned down the
offer in hopes of upping his stock at
Nebraska.
“There weren’t a lot of financial
benefits for me,” Erstad said. “It was
pretty much set in stone that I was
going to come to school.”
At Nebraska, Erstad did more than
play baseball. He was the punter on
the 1994 Nebraska football team that
won the national title.
A month after claiming college
football's biggest prize, Erstad was
back on the baseball field as
Nebraska’s starting left fielder for the
third straight season. He posted a .410
average with 19 home runs his junior
year.
Erstad was named a 1995 first-team
All-American by Collegiate Baseball
and was College Sports Magazine’s
player of the year.
“He’s just done a great job,” Ne
braska coach John Sanders said.
“Darin is a hard-working individual
who is very humble. He definitely
made the right decision.”
After two months of contract ne
gotiations, Erstad signed a $1,575
million signing bonus. It was the sec
See ERSTAD on 11
. Scott Bruhn/DN
Junior Wrestler Ryan Tobin, who is currently the fourth rated wrestler in the nation at 190
pounds, hopes that a hard summer of training will help to bring him a national championship.
Wrestler
expecting
NCAA title
By Antone Oseka
Staff Reporter
Ryan Tobin dreams of being on top.
On top of the pedestal at the na
tional tournament, that is. Tobin is
Nebraska’s top 190-pounder and rated
fourth in the nation with a 26-7 record.
“I haven’t set my goal anything
short of that (the national champion
ship),” he said. “I feel I can do it.”
Tobin doesn’t just feel he can do it,
he expects to do it. He said his confi
dence has improved this year.
“I expect myself to win,” he said.
“I believe in myself.”
That jump in confidence comes
from the work Tobin did over the sum
mer. He, 177-pounder Erik Josephson
and heavyweight Tolly Thompson
worked out every day. That work has
resulted in an 87-11 combined record.
All three are ranked in the top 10 in
their weight classes.
“I had an opportunity to wrestle in
Italy and train with the world team last
summer. That was a great experience
for me,” Tobin said.
The experience should help the jun
ior from Brandon, S.D., improve on
his finish from last season.
See TOBIN on 11
Gymnast
honored
this week
From Staff Reports _
Nebraska gymnast Jim Koziol was
named the Mountain Pacific Sports
Federation athlete of the week
Wednesday.
Koziol, a sophomore from Omaha,
led the fourth-ranked Comhuskers to
a five-point win over No. 2 New
Mexico Sunday night at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center.
He tied a career best in the pom
mel horse, placing first in the dual
meet with a 9.7. He also established
career bests in the rings with a 9.65
and the floor exercise with a 9.35.
Koziol now is the fifth- in the nation,
averaging a 56.225 in the all-around.
He is the second straight Husker
gymnast to win the award in the nine
_ member conference. Nebraska junior
I \Ryan McEwen won a week ago.
Diver reaching great heights
By Vince D’Adamo
Staff Reporter
For somebody who isn’t even
listed in the 1996 Nebraska Swim
ming and Diving Media Guide,
Travis Niemeyer has made more
than his share of appearances in the
Cornhusker record book.
In Nebraska’s dual meet victory
over Iowa State on Jan. 20,
Niemeyer set a Husker record on
the 3-meter board with 348.75
points. A week earlier against Mis
souri, he established a school dual
meet record in the 1-meter event
with a score of344.70. Niemeyer’s
scores have earned him a spot at the
NCAA Diving Qualifying Meet in
Fayetteville, Ark., March 15-16.
“He’s a brave soul,” Nebraska
diving coach Jim Hocking said. “At
the Big Eight meet he said to me,
'This is my house and I’ve got the
key.’”
Last week, Niemeyer placed first
in the Big Eight Championships in
Oklahoma City, Okla. He racked up
547.55 points, helping the Ne
braska men edge Kansas for the
team title.
“I think the meet brought out the
best in everyone on our team,”
Niemeyer said. “We were pumping
each other up and high fiving.”
Niemeyer was named the Big
Eight swimmer of the month for
January. In his first dual meet of the
year, Niemeyer led the way in the
3-meter dive with 323.450 points.
He took second in the 1-meter event
with a score of 278.150.
A long road has led Niemeyer
to Lincoln. His diving career began
at Southern Illinois in 1991. After
two seasons, Niemeyer returned
home to Seattle for the next 2 1/2
years before hopping aboard the
Huskers’ ship in January.
Hocking said Niemeyer was a
welcome addition.
“He’s been around the block,”
Hocking said. “He’s a very mature
and focused individual.”
The Huskers have four other
standout divers, Danny Bergman,
Kevin Gregory, Eric Cook, and
Darren Thombrugh. Niemeyer said
the competition helped him to im
prove.
“It makes you step up,”
Niemeyer said. “I think you need
to have competition to get better.”
The U.S. Olympic Trials begin
on March 4 in Indianapolis.
Niemeyer said he had not decided
if he would compete.
Niemeyer said Hocking, who is
in his seventh season at Nebraska,
had been a big help in the few
months the two had worked to
gether.
“I think he’s one of the best
coaches in the country,” Niemeyer
said. “He’s always screaming and
cheering for you. It’s good to see
that. It pumps you up.”
Niemeyer’s leadership, Hocking
said, has given the Huskers a shot
in the arm.
“He’s vocal when he has to be,”
Hocking said. “He’s a good com
municator. He has trained hard, and
I’m happy for him.”
