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1
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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
