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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 9, 1996)
n -. Mitch Sherman Boa Barr brings professionalism to his business When Ron Barr speaks, people listen. Five million people listen. Barr is the host of the nation’s most popular radio sports talk show, Sports Byline USA. He constantly rubs elbows with the bigwigs of the sporting world. He owns his own radio network and part of a new professional women’s basketball league. He is heard nightly on 300 U.S. radio stations and in 120 nations on the Armed Forces Radio Network. He covers the Olympics, the Super Bowl and the Final Four. His show is on the Internet and soon it will be broadcast in Spanish. Tonight, Barr brings his act to Lincoln for the third straight year i—to predict a third straight national title. Barr is a guest of Gov. Ben Nelson, with whom Ban developed a friendship in 1994 after Nelson called Barr’s show to bet the long time host that the Comhuskers would beat Florida State in die Or ange Bowl. Nebraska lost the game, but won Barr’s respect. For two years, Barr has watched NU roll over everything in its way. He has seen the domination on the field, and he has seen the heap of criticism follow Nebraska’s legal problems. “When you’re on top,” Barr said, “the spotlight is always going to be brighter.” But Barr, unlike much of the na tional news media, said he is not in a position to criticize NU Coach Tom Osborne, who will visit with Barr tonight along with Jason Pe ter, Grant Wistrom, Jared Tomich, ▼ f_ n . J_ nr\_ All_ jwuuiy rvuugcia, iiov mucus, Roger Graig, and of course, Nelson. Barr — who wijl meet with a UNL broadcasting class this after noon—has chosen not to re-hash Nebraska’s troubles. Instead, he will talk with Osborne #bout his new boakand Nebraska’s chances of fin ishing on top Jan. 2. “What you see is what you get with Tbm Osborne,” Barr said.“The man has been consistent with the way he views things, his value sys tem and the way he applies it.” Barr won’t talk much about pro bation hearings and DWI tickets tonight, but he knows Nebraska is notperfect. “There is a naiveness here that you don't have a problem,” he said. “It’s not a Nebraska problem. It’s a problem that easts with athletes in society, and Nebraska is reflective of the whole nation.” Ron Barr is not like every other host. Visit him tonight and find out why, along with five million other people Sherman is * senior news-edi torial major and the Daily Ne Huskers sweep No. 5 MSU NU uses a balanced offensive attack to topple Michigan State. By David Wilson Staff Reporter The fourth-ranked Nebraska vol leyball team improved to 5-1 after wins over No. 5 Michigan State Friday and Saturday. The Spartans, ranked No. 2 in the preseason, fell to 1*4. Nebraska defeated Michigan State 15-11, 15-8, 15-7 Saturday before a crowd of 4,474—the seventh largest crowd ever to watch a match at the NU Coliseum. “You can be really embarrassed if you’re not sharp,” Michigan State Coach Chuck Erbe said. “I feel that we really got embarrassed tonight. It’s been a butt-kicking weekend for the Spartans.” After losing the first two games on Friday 15-7 and 15-11, Michigan State came back to win the third and fourth games 15-13 and 15-11. But the Comhuskers wen the match and the fifth game 15-13. ’ “(Friday’s) match took it out of both Please see SWEEP on 10 Scott Bruhn\DN FIONA NEPO, Nebraska’s setter, blocks an attack by Veronica Morales Fri day night in Nebraska’s five-game win at the NU Coliseum. The Huskers swept fifth-ranked Michigan State on Saturday night. Michigan State hitters struggle to adjust to new setter, coach says. By Shannon Heffelfingeb StaffReporter During the last nine days, the Michigan State volleyball team has lost to No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Texas and twice to No. 4 Nebraska — all 1995 final four teams. “Not to make excuses, but we’ve had a grueling two weeks,” Michigan State Coach Chuck Erbe said. MSU, ranked No. 2 in the pre season poll, boasts of five returning starters from last year’s 34-3, Big Ten champion squad. Nebraska beat the No. 5 Spartans (1-4) in five games Fri day and in three games Saturday at the NU Coliseum. With senior middle bloekers Val Sterk and Dana Cooke, both first-team All-Americans, many predicted that this would be the Spartans’ year to win the NCAA championship. What Erbe’s team has discovered, however, is that they are missing the most important piece of the championship puzzle. Unfortunately for MSU, Courtney DeBolt, an honorable mention All American setter last season, is not back this year. DeBolt was the emotional leader of a team that advanced to the NCAA Final Four in 1995. “Courtney had a spirit that refused to lose,” Erbe said. “Right now, we Please see ERBE cm 11 Soccer team survives Fran, defeats: Kike By Vince D^Adamo Staff Reporter The 25th-ranked Nebraska women’s soccer team scored 14 goals in its first two games this season. umy a natural disaster could have slowed down the Cornhuskers. Friday, it was Hurricane Fran. The Husk ers were sched ..I. j a - —i_ uieu iu pi ay Woibo*. .. 16. North Caro 'muKBT lina State on Friday and sixth-ranked Duke an Sun day. Friday’s game was postponed. On Sunday, NU won 3-1 in what may have been the biggest victory in the three-year history of Nebraska soc cer. Hurricane Fran pushed inland into North Carolina, forcing the Huskers flight out of Lincoln to be delayed. It also caused the team to miss its con necting flight into Raleigh, N.C. The team finally arrived in Raleigh on Saturday morning for its Sunday matchup with Duke. Nebraska upped its record to 3-0 with the win. Husker Coach John Walker said despite the scary experi ence reaching the game site, winning made the weekend worthwhile. Please see SOCCER on 11 » OSU Coach Simmons vows to win once again - i-: ■ •* By Mike Kluck Senior Reporter The Dec. 7 Big 12 Champion ship game in St. Louis isn’t even. mentioned in the Oklahoma State media guide. Any reference to the postseason would go against Coach Bob Simmons's plan to bring the Cow boys hack to respectability. When Simmons, Colorado's former defensive coordinator, took over the Cowboys’program on Dec. 12,1994, he vowed to return Okla homa State back to the level it was at in the 1980s. In the eight seasons between 1981 and 1988, the Cowboys went to six bowl games. In the Cowboys' 95-year history, they have played in only 12 bowls. And although the Cowboys went 4-8 in their first season under Simmons, they did achieve some notable wins. Oklahoma State won three road games, the most it has won away from Stillwater, Okla., since 1988. Most notably for the Cowboys was their 12-0 shutout of intrastate rival Oklahoma. It was the Cow boys’ first win at Oklahoma since 1996 and the first time Oklahoma had been shut out at home since 1982. “What that did, in my opinion, is really add a great attitude and a great place in our own football pro gram and also with our alumni,” Simmons said. “There is a new atti tude about this football team, and kids are actually feeling good about themselves. So going into the spring, we went in with a positive attitude.” But now as Simmons is enter ing his second season with the Cow boys, he wants to stick to the goal set last year of taking one game at a time. “Fortunately for us, we played well toward the end of the season,” Simmons said. “We really went into the season trying to learn how to win and realizing what it takes to win. OSU opened its season on Aug. 31 with a 23-20 overtime victory over Southwest Missouri State. But on Saturday, the Cowboys lost to new Big 12 rival Tfexas Tech 31-3 at Texas Stadium in Irving, Tfexas. Oklahoma State, which plays Tulsa this Saturday and Utah State the following week before resum ing Big 12 action against Tfexas, does not face Nebraska this season for the first time since 1959. • 9 Cross country squads finish second at meet By Gregg Madsen StaffReporter A partial squad of runners for the Nebraska men’s and women’s cross country teams got a taste of action Sat urday at the Bearcat Distance Gassic in Maryville, Mo. Both teams placed second, with the women scoring 58 points and the men scoring 42. Division-Ill Washington (Mo.) won the men’s title and the host Northwest Missouri State women fin idled first. “What I tried to do was take run ners that weren’t in the top five,” Ne braska Coach Jay Dirksen said. ‘Tor the women, it was the top four, with the idea of getting the people into the meet, and getting their feet wet.” Freshman Jaime Pauli, who fin ished fifth, was the Cornhuskers’ top women’s finisher. “For her first race in college,” Dirksen said, “she did a really fine JOD. Also placing in the top 10 for the Huskers were freshmen Melinda Mohr (seventh) and Anne Finkner (10th). Sophomore Aaron Scheer finished second in die men’s race. Sophomore Lou Petricca was seventh, freshman Aaron Camzales placed eighth and junior Alex Lamme finished 10th. “Overall we had a good meet,” Dirksen said. “We didn’t take anyone over there that really ran poorly.” Dirksen said he was more con cerned with individual improvement this weekend than the team's finish. “With our sport, it really doesn’t matter what we do now,” he said. ‘This is just a necessary step along the way to get to where we want to Ire.”