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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 16, 1996)
( 1 7 Huskers outlast Penn State in a memorable fifth game. By Trevor Parks Senior Reporter Fittingly, the Nebraska volleyball team relied on its character to succeed The defending national cham four match in the fifth game after trailing to Penn But NU man aged to win 15 12,8-15,15-13,9 Korver 15, 20-18 in a 2 hour, 25-minute marathon, claiming the NCAA East Regional and earning a second straight trip to the Final Four. “It’s one of the most interesting and amazing matches I have ever been a part of,” said NU Coach Terry Pettit, in his 20th season on the Husker bench. “I’m drained.” Pettit and his players will have to regroup quickly as fourth-ranked NU ^m_2i night 3t 8:30 at the Convocation Cen ter in Cleveland. Saturday nignt, rerai said, was a battle of two experienced programs with a lot of fight and a lot for which to fight. “Both of these teams are used to playing teams that let go,” Pettit said. “They are used to playing real good teams, but usually when you start to open the door, die teams let go. Nei ther Nebraska nor Penn State would let go. “It’s like two terriers on a rag pull ing back and forth, and it just so hap pened that we had the rag when time ran out.” Penn State used a 6-2 run in the rally-scoring fifth game to lead 10-4 when Megan Korver rocketed a shot wide right. Jaime Krondak’s kill cut the deficit to 10-5, but Krondak hit a shot long and NU trailed 11-5. Krondak’s then rifled a kill to close the gap to 11-6 before Fiona Nepo served three straight points — includ ing two aces — to pump life back into a frenzied crowd of 4,024 at the NU Coliseum. — ‘1 thought that we thought we were going to win,” said Penn State middle blocker Terri Zemaitis, who had a team-high 19 kills. “Maybe we were thinking too far ahead. 1 know we had diem down, and we made mistakes and that helped them even more.” A Christy Cochran tip and a block by Carrie Schonveld and Lauren Cacciamani of Lisa Reitsma left Ne braska down 13-9. But a Reitsma kill, an NU block of Schonveld and a Kate Cmich smash brought the Huskers back within 13-12. Penn State then earned its first match point off a Schonveld solo block of Reitsma. The Huskers avoided an end to the season when Reitsma knocked die ball to the floor. On the second match point, Reitsma struck again, tying the match at 14. Nebraska had its first match point when Cochran hit a shot wide. But Zemaitis tied the game again at 13. PSU earned its third match point on a kill by Schonveld, but Reitsma again prevented defeat with a kill. Korver and Cmich teamed up to Matt Miller/DN JAIME KRONDAK digs a ball Saturday night in Nebraska’s dramatic five-game win over Penn State. The fourth-ranked Huskers advanced to the Final Four and will play No. 2 Stanford Thursday in Cleveland. ." block Zemaitis, giving NU a second match-point, but a Schonveld kill kept the Lions growling. Schonveld’s shot was ruled long by one official, a call that sent the Huskers prematurely bursting onto die floor. Angie Kammer’s 15th kid of the match gave PSU an 18-17 lead before Korver stepped up big. The 6-foot-1 sophomore smashed her 16th kill of the match to tie the game at 18. Korver took a set from Nepo and dinked the baljin the middle of the Penn State defense JJer 18th and final kill of the night ended^the match. “I just looked at our players and we all had the same goal,” Korver said. “We all knew we could do it We all had a passion at the very end and we knew what was going to happen. We never let up.” The NCAA does not keep a record for the most points scored in a losing effort, but considering that no team has ever scored more than 78 points in a victory, the Nittany Lions’ 73 points on Saturday were certainly near most ever scored in a loss. It was also only the fourth time ever that Nebraska has been outscored (73 67) while winning a match. Penn State Coach Russ Rose, who was an NU assistant in 1977, praised the Huskerfe for refusing to give up. “It was a good match that could have gone either way,” Rose said. “We had a few swings for match point and we didn’t seem to get the ball on the floor. “Some of the things we needed to do well broke down a bit in the fifth game.” In games two and four, 31-3 Penn State rolled. The Nittany Lions held Please see PSU on 10 Stanford rolls -v tv into Final Four By Trevor Pares . Senior Reporter The matchup nearly everyone expected to see in last year’s na tional championship volleyball match will take place in the semifinals this season. Nebraska and Stanford, who have won three of the last four national titles, meet in one of the two Final Four Shaw matches Thursday at the Convocation Cen ter in Cleveland. Hawaii (34-2), winner of the Mountain Regional plays Florida (37-1), winner of the Central Re gional in the other semifinal. Ha waii and Florida will play at 6 p.m. The second match will follow 45 minutes after the end of the first match. The 29-2 Cardinal, who are the tournament’s top seed, swept Southern California and Washing ton State this weekend, winning die West Regional title in Palo Alto, Calif. At last year’s Final Four in Amherst, Mass., Stanford and Ne braska entered semifinal play ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the na tion. NU beat Michigan State in five games and Stanford lost to Texas in four. Stanford Coach Don Shaw said his team still remembers that snowy night Dec. 14 at the Mullins Cen ter. “We don’t have any battle cries,” Shaw said. ‘We were disap pointed with the way we played last year, and this year we want to make sure we get the job done. ‘We don’t have any slogans. We don’t have anything printed up on a T-shirt, and we don’t have any signs posted in the locker room.” Instead, the Cardinal have been making their statements on the court. With three returning starters — Lisa Sharpley, Eileen Murphy and all-everything Kristin Folk! — from last season’s 30-3 team, Stanford is the favorite to win this year’s title. As a team, the Cardi nal are hitting .302 with four play ers above the .300 mafic. Add to that lineup freshman Kerri Walsh. Walsh, the Pac-10 freshman of the year, was-one of the most sought-after recruits in the country last year. The 6-foot-2 out side hitter/middle blocker has paid big dividends for the Cardinal, av eraging a team-high 4.8 kills per. game. She was also named to the I....— —.— \ Please see CARDINAL on 10 Action Score PSU block of Kate Crnich 1-1 Reitsma hitting error 1-3 Maser kill 24 i imm wnimiOTiwi—Mit Terri Zemaitis kill 2-6 ~ ; Bonnie Bremner kill 3-7 Angie Kammer kill 4-8 Korover hitting error 4-10 Krondak hitting error 5-11 Fiona Nepo service ace 7-11 Nepo service ace 9-11 PSU block of Reitsma 9-13 ♦ NU block of Schonveld 11-13 PSU block of Reitsma 12-14 / Reitsma kill 14-14 Zemaitiskill 15-15 Reitsma kill 16-16 Schonveld kill . 17-17 Korver kill 18-18 Korver kill 20-18
