Penn State seeks
trip to Final Four
ROSE from page 12
semifinals, Nebraska extracted revenge
with a four-game win over Penn State.
Although PSU is making its third
f straight regional trip to Lincoln, Rose
said he doesn’t mind returning to Lin
coln, where he was an assistant under
Pettit in 1977.
“The players would have a lot more
distractions if they went to Honolulu
or down to Gainesville or even Palo
Alto,” Rose said. “Being here in Lin
coln is probably the best of the four
sites for teams to be focused on vol
leyball.”
Rose said he watched on television
as NU defeated Texas in four games
last month. Rose was impressed.
“Nebraska reloads,” he said. “It’s
not the type of program that loses two
or three kids and goes down too far.
You don’t get good in one year, you
don’t get bad in one year. Any team
with (Lisa) Reitsma on it has the po
tential to win it all.”
While Nebraska has the All-Ameri
can Reitsma, Penn State has second
team All-American Terri Zemaitis.
Zemaitis a 6-2 junior from Downers
66
We were not playing
our best volleyball
down the stretch of
the Big Ten.”
Russ Rose
PSU volleyball coach
Grove, 111., leads the team with 4.86
kills per game.
While Zemaitis’ numbers have not
jumped greatly this season — she has
75 fewer kills and 220 fewer attacks
than last year—Rose said she has be
come a better player.
“Zemaitis is the player that gets
most of the attention,” Rose said, “but
I agree with John and Terry that we
have more than one player to go to.
“She’s a key player. She’s a
Reitsma. You need players, who late
in a match against a big block, have
the mentality that they are going to get
after it.”
tl AMERICAN LUNG ASSOCIATION®
I 7101 Newport Avenue, Suite 303 of NcbrQSko
Omaha, NG 68152 1 -800-LUNG-USA
■ J|f JByHP'
■rJwf Hi IWV/aj
^I hTAT^^B h
f
ACCURATE• FAST • PROFESSIONAL g
I
a
a
a
a
a
a
a
Receive $2 off a resume package with tiiis ad. a
Net valid wit i other offers. One per customer. Expires December 31,1C'j6 _
Grade A Notes at flebraska Bookstore a
Lowor Level • 13th & Q Street
_ _ _ _CALL477-7400 ■
■-r--:-1
ffajij,■■■ mMUlalakf !■ eL. ■ ■■ _ «■ a
i UMMnzfKif nigmy iraniea, rruven viiiiiiociiy
computerized study expert teechera who guaranteed to
plana, talorad to your know the teats raise your score.
Mvldual needs. ktskle and out
Classes starting soon.
Register today! f
the leader In test prep and |
admissions counseling I
<ms> !
1-IM-KAP-TEST
www.kaptan.com
f Scott Bruhn/DN
MEGAN KOHVER, Nebraska’s sophomore middle blocker, hits over a Tfexas Tech block attempt
earlier this year. NU will play host to Louisville tonight
Nebraska braces for war
PETTIT from page 12
“Louisville is probably the big
gest team, physically, we have
played all year,” Pettit said. “People
and coaches in volleyball know they
are a very good team and capable
of beating anybody in this regional.”
First-year Cardinal Coach Le
onid Yelin said he likes his team’s
underdog roll this weekend. Yelin
replaced Don Hardin, who left to
coach at Illinois.
“This is not a surprise,” Yelin
said. “We set up this goal early in
the season. It’s a good dream that
went through.”
Pettit also is not surprised by the
success of the Cardinals, who won
the Conference USA title under the
direction of Yelin. Yelin was named
the AVCA national coach of the
year last season after leading Barry
University to the Division II na
tional title.
Before coming to the United
States in 1989, Yelin coached and
played for the Uzbekistan National
Team in the former Soviet Union.
At Louisville, Yelin inherited a
program that returned four starters
from last year’s,,29-6 team, which
lost to Hawaii in the NCAA Tour
nament. Yelin also added 6-5 Sonia
Gubaidulina and Sinichenko, both
of whom played at Barry last sea
son, to the Louisville lineup.
“This is not a turnaround pro-,
gram,” Pettit said of the Cardinals.
“This is a program that was very
good—that was probably going to
have it’s best year ever. Then (Lou
isville) got a coach that also brought
his two best players with him.”
Underdogs savor experience
against Buskers, Penn State
Louisville and
Wisconsin face tall
tasks tonight.
By Shannon Heffelfinger
StaffReporter
Underdogs.
That’s the term being used to de
scribe the Louisville and Wisconsin
volleyball teams this weekend.
And why not?
Both the Cardinals and Badgers are
facing difficult challenges in their
NCAA Tournament matches against
national powerhouses Nebraska and
Penn State tonight at the NU Coliseum.
And both coaches realize that their
teams have been overlooked in the
high-profile East Regional.
Leonid Yelin of Louisville and
Wisconsin’s John Cook were given less
than a week to prepare their teams to
battle Penn State (30-2) and Nebraska
(28-3), both of which have played in
every tournament since 1982.
But neither underdog is backing
down.
, “We’ve never beaten Penn State,
and Louisville’s never beaten Ne
braska,” said Cook, who coached un
der Nebraska’s Terry Pettit form 1988
through 1991. “But our team is cer
tainly not shy about playing Penn State
again.”
The No. 17 Badgers (25-7> are
faced with the daunting task of upset
ting PSU tonight at 5. Penn State is one
of only four teams to compete in all 16
NCAA Tburnaments and has posted six
victories over ranked teams this sea
son. The Lady Lions defeated Wiscon
sin twice during their Big Ten Confer
ence championship run this fall.
Both Cook and Pettit said they are
impressed with third-ranked Penn
State, which is 14-0 all-time against
Wisconsin.
“They might be the best team in the
country right now,” Cook said. “They
certainly proved it by being the Big Ten
champion.”
Wisconsin’s hopes for an upset will
rest on the shoulders of a pair of All
Big Ten selections. Seniorsetter Laura
Abbinante commands the Badger of
fense, averaging 13 .5 assists per game
while ranking fourth on the team de
fensively with 2.4 digs per game.
Heather Dodaro, a 6-foot-1 middle
blocker, ranks second in the Big Ten
and seventh nationally with 1.7 blocks
per game. The junior frorilOak Lawn,
111., is pounding 3.5 kills per game with
a .324 hitting percentage.
Both players will have to be at their
best tonight against Penn State’s
frontcourt, which leads the nation in
blocking and ranks second in hitting.
“Based on stats and the past,” Cook
said, “I’m sure we’re the big under
dog.”
Louisville’s Yelin faces a similar
challenge in preparing his team for
tonight’s match with No. 4 Nebraska.
Yelin said his team’s approach to the
match will not differ from the attitude
with which it has competed all season.
“I will just tell the team to go out
and get them,” Yelin said of facing the
defending national champions in a hos
tile environment.
That fighting mentality has pro
pelled the Cardinals to their second
straight Conference USA champion
Cook
Yelin j
ship and sixth consecutive tournament
appearance.
Facing Nebraska in regionals is a
dream come true for his team, said
Yelin, who won the AVCA national
coach-of-the-year award last year while
leading Barry University to the Divi
sion II national title.
Yelin, who delivered pizzas in Mi
ami after leaving Russia for the United
States in 1989, coached the Cardinals
to a 26-4 record this season.
“I like his (Yelin’s) attitude,” Penn
State Coach Russ Rose said. “That's
probably why his team is here.”
The 22nd-ranked Cardinals played
only three ranked foes this season, de- *
feating Maryland and losing to Hawaii
and South Florida.
Advancing to the NCAA
Tournament’s round of 16 represents
a step for both the Louisville and the
Wisconsin programs, their coaches
said. But both know that the road to
Saturday’s 7:30 pm regional final will
be a difficult path.
“To go to the Final Four and to be
successful, you’re probably going to
have to go through Lincoln at some
point,” Cook said. “That’s Something
we’ve been telling our players for the
last several years.”