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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 10, 1996)
- :5 /. | !. ■■■"' '“''I'- ■- 'Jv-iV/' ' SK _ ii fflaTi?wi™i '' ■ i mu . % _a J iimi uflviQ wiison Battle Creek lineman fulfills lifelong dream Monday morning started like any other at Battle Creek High School. Dave Volk was sitting in homeroom, minding his own busi ness, when he was called into Foot ball Coach BobSchnitzler’s office. Schnitzler had Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne on die line. V>lk an swered the phone and was offered a scholarship by the NU coach. Suddenly, his dream to one day take the field wearing Husker scar let and cream at Memorial Stadium was becoming a reality. “If you grow up in Nebraska,” Volk said, “I don’t know how you can not want to play for the Husk ers. Though he knew he wanted to play for the Huskers, Volk told J Osborne that he wanted to talk things out with his parents before making a decision. Osbome said he understood and he would call Volk at home later that night “I toldhim I wanted to talk with my parents first,” Volk said, “but I pretty much had my mind made up since I was a sixth-grader.” Volk said he returned to class and shared his secret with just three people throughout the day. “I didn’t want to say anything until it was official,” he said. After football practice, Volk went home and discussed the situ ation with his mother. “My mom has been freaking out a lot more than I have,” said Volk, who will sign a letter of intent in February. “She was just nervous. It’s a mother thing.” The 6-foot-5,275-pounder, who has lettered in football, basketball, baseball and track since his fresh man year, had not received any other football scholarship offers — until hist after 9 D.m. Baylor coach: NU defense is the best By Trevor Parks Senior Reporter Baylor Coach Chuck Reedy knew his team was going to be 3-0 entering the first season of Big 12 Conference play. It’s the next few games after that that had him worried. Baylor beat Louisiana Tech, Louisville and Or egon State before losing its confer ence opener 45-24 to Texas Tech last ^ Saturday. Reedy “Now that the conference race has started, it is going to be a battle every week,” Reedy said. “We’re pleased we have gotten off to a good start, but from here the sched ule gets nothing but tougher.” The Bears, 3-1 overall and 0-1 in the&ig 12, get a much stiffer challenge than they ha\e faced all season when they play Nebraska Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium. A wounded Bear team will visit Lincoln. No.l quarterback Jeff Watson is “very, very questionable” for Saturday’s game, Reedy said. Unless Watson makes a miraculous recovery from a nerve problem in his back, sophomore Jermaine Alfred will start at quarterback. Alfred entered in the first quarter of Baylor’s loss to Texas Tech. Al though he rushed for minus-19 yards (Mi seven attempts, he did lead the Bear offense to all of its 24 points. No. 3 quarterback Odell James, who was highly recruited last year by Nebraska, had athroscopic knee sur gery Wednesday and will redshirt this season. For the season, Alfred has com pleted 19 of 39 passes for 328 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. The Baylor defense came out of the Red Raider game with its confidence bruised as well. The Texas Tech of fense rolled up 624 yards of total of fense against the Bears. Of that, 482 came on the ground. Tech tailback Byron Hanspard earned Big 12 offensive player-of-the week honors for a 287-yard perfor mance against Baylor. Hanspard’s rushing total was the most allowed in 98-year history of the BU program. Please see REEDY on 7 Marni Speck/DN RENEE SAUNDERS, a sophomore on the Nebraska volleyball team, willmut up as a redshirt freshman oh the Husker basketball team this season. Saunders’ act is double trouble ' By Jay Saunders Staff Reporter Deion Sanders. Bo Jackson. Renee Saunders? .. Sanders and Jackson sue famous for playing two sports, but how does 19-year-old Sanders from Omaha fit in with those multimillionaires? Saunders is on scholarship at Nebraska to play both volleyball and basketball. She is a sophomore on Volleyball Coach Terry Pettit’s team, and will be a redshirt fresh man this year for Women’s Basket ball Coach Angela Beck. Saunders was a three-sport ath lete m high school. The Omaha Marian graduate dropped down to two sports after her sophomore year. ‘1 ran track, but I quit to focus on volleyball and basketball,” Saunders said. “I figured why run when you can jump.” It is her ability to jump, shoot and hit that landed her on scholar ship. Saunders was an all-state bas ketball player in high school but chose to come to Nebraska because of volleyball. “My decision was pretty much made because I knew volleyball is what I would be playing my first year,” said Saunders, who also vis ited Penn State, Illinois and Clemson. Please see SAUNDERS on 7 Huskers hammer a-i—-■ iiOiorflQO Reitsma breaks her own school record in three-game win. By Trevor Parks Senior Reporter Unfortunately for the Colorado vol leyball team, Lisa Reitsma has finally come around. Reitsma, a junior All-American, hit .323, coming alive to break her own three-game-match record of 28 kills with 29 in a sweep of CU Wednesday night in Boulder. The sixth-ranked Comhuskers im proved to 13-2 overall and 5-0 in the Big 12 with a 16-14,15-11,15-10 win over Colorado ,(8-4 and 3-2) in front of a crowd of 1,892 at the Coors Event Center. “It’s a big win,” Reitsma said from Boulder after the match. “Winning on the road is never easy.” Megan Korver added 12 kills for NU and Fiona Nepo had a career-high eight. After falling behind 14-10 in game one, NU fought off three game pointy. A Reitsma kill and an error by Colorado’s Melissa Schultz cut the deficit to 14-12. An ace by Reitsma pulled Nebraska within one point, and a Nepo kill elimi nated the Buffaloes’ fifth game-point chance. CU’s Sarah Lodge was then blocked by NU to tie the game. The Huskers took a 15-14 lead on a Reitsma kill and won on a Kristin Dorsch hitting error. “We pumped ourselves up when we got down,” Reitsma said. “We were a little flat to start the match, but when we fell behind, we realized we needed to turn things around.” Nebraska had to rally again in the second game, falling behind 7-3. Af ter tying the game at nine, the Husk ers scored six of the game’s final eight points. - The Huskers led 11-5 in game three _. before hanging on for a 15-10 win. ‘To come in hoe and maintain your poise and keep fighting, that’s a char acter builder,” Nebraska Coach Terry Pettit said on his post-match radio show. NU’s Renee Saunders left the match with a left ankle injury in game one. 1 i % $ Brown stable full of returning backs, includ ing senior Damon Benning and sopho more Ahinan Green. In addition, the NU program has become nationally known for redshirting nearly all of its manning freshmen. But because of Evans’ work, he— along with fellow Hoe freshman Ralph first true freshman non-kicker to start Brown — has joined recent players a season opener since at least the like Green and Tommie Frazier in 1940s. making a significant contribution in his “I just wanted to come in and get a first year on campus. “I watched about six hours of film a week during the summer,” Evans said. “I watched a lot of film on Lawrence (Phillips), Ahman and Damon, watching their steps. “Coming up here this summer re ally helped me out with the offense. I got to leamthe passing offense pretty good.” Brown, a right comerback from Hacienda Heights, Calif., said he also benefitted from spending three weeks in Lincoln during die summer. That work ethic helped him to become the little time playing here,” Brown said. ‘1 played on grass in high school, and I didn’t really know wfiatturfwas like. While I was here, the coaches gave me a lot of plays.” Both freshmen said they thought they might have a chance to play early, but starting was never their main goal. “My goal was just to mainly help out the team the best that ! can,” Brown said. Evans, who may start Saturday against Baylor because of injuries to Please see FLZII1ZZN on 7