Doubles team gives boost to Nebraska By Vince D’Adamo Staff Reporter The Nebraska doubles tandem of Adrian Maizey and Dinko Verzi has provided a glimmer of light in a dis appointing season for the Comhusker tennis team. Both Maizey and Verzi have per formed like seasoned veterans. The 6-13 Huskers have struggled as a team this year, but many of their de feats have been by narrow margins. Maizey and Verzi, however, have not been to blame for Nebraska’s struggles. The duo has a chance to qualify for the NCAA Championships, May 24 June 1 in Athens, Ga. “The team comes first over any in dividual titles,” Coach Kerry McDermott said. “But if that happens, it’s a feather in their cap.” McDermott has tried several doubles combinations throughout the season. The Maizey and Verzi combi nation, playing at the top spot, often has found success. Verzi, from Hamm, Germany, is one of five freshmen on the Husker roster. Maizey, a junior, is from Waterkloof, Pretoria, South Africa. “I wish I would have paired them together sooner,” McDermott said. “They communicate really well. Dinko’s got a big serve, and he vol leys real well. Adrian’s able to move a lot, and he’s got a good top spin lob.” They extended their unblemished Big Eight record with wins over Okla homa and Oklahoma State on Satur day and Sunday in Lincoln. Maizey has battled back from a slight elbow injury. He said a trip to the NCAA Championships would be bittersweet. Maizey and Andy Davis, last year’s top singles player, barely missed quali fying for the NCAA Championships. “This is the best team that I ’vc been on, but our record does not show it,” Maizey said. “Every team we’ve played, we’ve been in the match. Go ing to nationals would bring some thing out of the season.” Verzi agreed with his teammate. “Our team record is not good,” Verzi said. “If we go to nationals, we would have individual success and it would help for confidence next year.” The key to success, Maizey said, is the duo’s teamwork on the court. “We don’t let anyone dictate to us,” he said. “We carry each other so well. They know we’re not going to give them anything. We’re not going to give them the easy volley.” Players return to practice field From Staff Reports Cornerbacks Michael Booker, Mike Fullman and Jerome Peterson returned to football practice Monday at Memorial Stadium. Also returning to practice was Will linebacker Ryan Tcrwilliger and I backs Damon Benning and James Sims. Osborne said Benning and Sims probably would play in Saturday’s spring game. Fullback Brian Schuster was held out Monday with a sore hamstring and is questionable for Saturday. Bartlett, Huskers aim for Super Six By Gregg Madsen Staff Reporter It would be an understatement to say that Nebraska gymnast Shelly Bartlett has a busy schedule. Her typical week involves vol Ijams unteer work at the Red Cross and for her so rority house and meetings with the Ex ecutive Educa tion Board and the Mortar Board. But she took time out this weekend to place sec ond in the all-around at the NCAA Midwest Regional in Salt Lake City, tying the school record with a 39.375. Bartlett helped the Comhuskers to their second-highest team score in school history, a 195.3. Nebraska finished in third place behind Ari zona (195.75) and 1995 national champion Utah (196.675). With that score, the Huskers earned the eighth seed in the NCAA Championships, April 25-27 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. A junior from Spokane, Wash., Bartlett finished fourth in the floor exercise (9.925) and eighth in the balance beam (9.8). Bartlett was recently named to the 1996 academic All-Big Eight team, and she maintains a 3.82 grade-point average in education. Bartlett said she thought confi dence was the key to the Huskers’ success this weekend. “It really felt good to compete,” she said. “We had a great warmup, and wc all felt really confident. There were some things that wc normally don’t do, like take little steps on landings. But now we’re used to that kind of atmosphere.” The Huskers will have to elimi nate those extra steps from their dis mounts if they expect to make the Super Six at the NCAA Champi onships. The Huskers will face Georgia, Michigan, UCLA, Brigham Young and Penn State in the even-num NU golf team in first place after first day From Staff Reports The Nebraska men’s golf team has an eight-stroke lead after the first two rounds of the Wichita State Shocker Classic in Wichita, Kan. The Comhuskers have a two round score of 598 and lead Drake, which has a 606. Iowa State is third, 10 shots behind Nebraska. Freshmen Steve Friescn and Josh Madden are tied for second place at 146, two shots behind the Cyclones’ Chris Peterson. Junior Jacques Paiement is in fourth place with a 149. The final 18 holes will be played Tuesday. bered side of the championship bracket. In the other bracket, ton-ranked Alabama will square off against Utah, Arizona, Florida, Oregon State and Stanford. Alabama set a new NCAA team scoring record in the Central Regional, scoring a 198.075. The top three teams from each bracket will advance to the Super Six. “That would be the biggest ac complishment in my gymnastics career —in my life, really,” Bartlett said. “It’s been a goal of mine since the sixth grade. I’ve always looked at the Super Six as the best gym nasts in the country. To be a part of that would be great.” Bartlett said she was confident Nebraska could advance to the fi nal round. “It’s gonna be a run for the money,” she said. “Really, a run for who can stick landings. And it’s not just the landings, it’s getting to that whole other level. I think we can do that.” Huskcr assistant coach Teresa Ijams shared Bartlett’s optimism. “The atmosphere at Alabama is going to be out of control,” she said. “If we hit 100 percent, we could score a mid or high 196. I really think they can do it. It’s what they work so hard for every week.” Ijams said Bartlett brought an extra element into the gym every time she competed — flair. “Overall presentation is just a finishing touch,” Ijams said, “and that’s what wins meets. If you have two teams and they both hit, but one looks better, that can make the dif ference.” In her first year of coaching, Ijams said she had seen Bartlett improve her consistency and pre sentation in each event, especially on the balance beam and the floor exercise. “I always feel really good when she comes up on beam at a meet” Ijams said. “It’s great for a coach to not have an uneasy feeling when someone is on an event.” Wiggins Continued from Page 10 Before the spring, Wiggins was listed along with Lance Brown and Sean Wieting on the depth chart be hind No. 1 wingback Jon Vedral. Wiggins gained 16 pounds over the last year, decreased his pro agility run from 4.43 seconds to 4.16 seconds and increased his vertical jump by three inches. “Even though we are a little inex perienced and some of those guys haven’t played a lot,” Coach Tom Osborne said, “they’ll be good play ers.” No matter where Wiggins ends up on the final spring depth chart, he will play quite a bit in the fall, Brown said. “I have big expectations of him,” Brown said. “Right now, he’s in a po sition where he and Lance Brown are battling for tfye No. 2 position. I ex pect both of them to be along in the running to go along with Jon Vedral.” Kansas Continued from Page 10 club. We started to feel like we could win.” Pitching has been the key for Nebraska’s last seven wins. Husker pitchers have combined to strike out 58 opponents in their last 72 innings. “We’re starting to get some pitch ers who have come to the call.They’re ready to play,” Meyer said. “When you have a guy up there that will throw strikes, you just have confidence in the field. And then your bats are confident, and that leads to a win.” Nebraska will pit its two aces against the Jayhawks. Junior Pat Driscoll, who was slated to start in Sunday’s game that was can celed because of snow, will take the mound today for the Huskers. In his only two starts this season, Driscoll has thrown two complete-game wins and held opponents to just four runs on 12 hits in 18 innings. Junior Steve Fish, who also has earned wins in his last two outings, has held opponents to a .237 average and needs just five strikeouts to sur pass Jonas Armenta’s team-leading total of 50. “It all depends on pitching,” Ne braska coach John Sanders said. “That’s the bottom line. We’re going to be depending on our pitching as we come down the stretch.” Jayhawkjunior Mario Opipari will start for Kansas today. Opipari owns a 10.80 eamed-run average and has allowed four homers in 11 2/3 innings pitched. Senior Josh Belovsky will start on the mound for the Jayhawks on Wednesday. Belovsky, 4-5, has a 5.66 ERA and has struck out 42 batters in 55 2/3 innings. Kansas, which is 10-7 in Lawrence this season, is looking to break a seven-game losing skid. The Jayhawks have lost 11 of their last 14. They lost last Friday and Saturday to Iowa on Saturday by a combined four runs, and their game scheduled for Sunday against the Cyclones was snowed out. Join the Husker Football Recruiters +r Students, help the Husker Football team and coaches recruit student-atheletes. Call Kim at 472-3116 by April 23 for details and to set up an interview. HuskerVision is Hiring!