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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1997)
Huskas trying to find stride going into Duals ByAntone Oseka Staff Reporter While most of us grappled with wrapping paper and stuffed our faces with pie during the winter break, the Nebraska wrestling team prepared for the second half of the season. The Comhuskers will find out if the hard work pays off at the Giff Keen National Duals this weekend at the NU Coliseum. Nebraska (6-2 in dual meets) wrestled in six duals and one tour nament during die past month go ing 4-2 and posting their first tour nament victory of the season at the Great Plains Invite. The Huskers are coming off the Peach State Duals in Atlanta where they beat Tennessee-Chattanooga 37-3, lost to sixth-rated Illinois 32 11 and beat Georgia State 38-9. Before heading to Atlanta, Ne braska wrestled then-No. 6 Minne sota Jan. 7 in Lincoln. The Golden Gophers manhandled Nebraska 29 12 losing only three matches. “I pretty much know where our team is after wrestling Illinois and Minnesota this past week,” Coach Tim Neumann said. NU began 1997 on the right note with wins over Ohio State and West Virginia Jan. 2. Nebraska beat the Buckeyes 24-12 and defeated the Mountaineers 25-12. ' The Huskers also played host to the Great Plains Invite, posting their first championship of the 1996-97 season. NU won the meet with 190 points, 51 points ahead of West Virginia. The biggest moment of the break was 'a routine win by 1995 national champion heavyweight Tolly Thompson. Thompson entered the tourna ment just shy of Bill Scheer’s Ne braska record of 133 career wins. Thompson notched career-win 134 with a pin of South Dakota Stale’s Ryan Resel at 5 minutes 38 sec onds. Since then, Thompson has added four more wins to put him at 138 career wins. He is 23-2 on the year. This weekend at the National Duals, Thompson has one final chance to improve his No. 4 rank ing. Two teams bring in heavy weights ranked higher than Th ompson. But Nebraska needs to be paired with those teams for Thomp son to have a chance to improve. Penn State’s Kerry McCoy and North Carolina’s Justin Harty will be on Thompson’s hit list for the weekend. Harty knocked Thompson out of championship contention at the NCAA Championships last year in Minneapolis. “The way he’s wrestling right now, he’s just dominating every body,’’ Neumann said. C prises no one CU from page 7 freshman-of-the-year Chauncey Billups said, the team played harder. The tenacity has shown this sea son, as the Buffs have raced to a 12-3 record and 3-0 in the conference. Colorado is off to its best start since 1979 when it was 12-3 after 15 games as well. With one more win, CU will have as many conference wins as it did last season. “People put a lot of stock into things like crowd noise on the road,” Patton said Monday. “But the game is played on the court. This team lays it on the line.” Billups leads the charge averaging 18.3 points and 5.8 assists per game, ranking him fifth and second in the Big 12 in those categories. In the thrilling road win at Lubbock, Texas, Billups scored 29 points, his final two came with 0.5 seconds to give CU the win. Colorado plays 8-5 Oklahoma State in Boulder, Colo., Wednesday night at the Coors Event Center. Billups drew rave reviews from OSU Coach Eddie Sutton. “He’s a winner,” Sutton said. “He brings the whole ball of wax. He handles the ball well and can shoot the trey.” Texas Tech Coach James Dickey, who saw Billups up close and per sonal Saturday agreed with Sutton’s assessment. “He makes everyone else better,” Dickey said. “He’s tough to defend and has an excellent crossover dribble.” Patton said the key to Colorado’s success has been solid defense and playing disciplined on offense. “We don't have enough big post people to matchup,” Patton said, “so we extended our defense. Offensively, we move the ball and everyone plays unselfishly.” The Buffs are fourth in the Big 12 in field-goal percentage defense, al lowing opponents to shoot only 39.9 percent per game. On the offensive end, CU averages 77.7 points per game. Senior forward Fred Edmonds has given Billups support, averaging 12.9 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Billups said the only thing that makes CU happy is wins and not the old standby — moral victories. “We don’t want to be a team where somebody says, 'It’s going to be a tough game but we’ll still win,’” Billups said. “They’re going todiave to take it from us. We don’t want to be the doormat.” Injury derails Maser’s career MASER from page 7 ing opponents scrambling to defend her from three different position!. Maser’s versatility allowed Pettit to move her to the right side of the net, putting All-American Lisa Reitsma in the middle. “That adjustment really paid off at the end of the season,” Pettit said. “In a couple of critical weekends, we re ally needed her there.” Maser played her best when the Huskers needed her the most. On the final weekend in November, with the Big 12 Conference championship on the line, Maser blistered 13 kills on 26 attempts and hit a sparkling .500 at Texas and Texas A&M. “We would not have won the Big 12 if she hadn’t been available to play that weekend in Texas,” Pettit said. Maser said her success in Texas was because of her decision to change her attitude about her reduced role. “I had a different philosophy this year,” Maser said. “I played less this season, but I enjoyed it so much more. I didn’t take anything for granted.” Because of her ability to play on only one good knee, the abrupt end ing to her career seems a little unfair. But Maser admitted it would have been difficult to continue under the current circumstances. Even more difficult are the remind ers of what could have been. Watch ing her roommates — Reitsma and freshman middle blocker Lisa Avery — leave to attend spring practices every afternoon will be hard, she said. For now, Maser will work on accept ing her fate. “Yeah, it’s going to be tough,” Maser said. “I’ll miss it like crazy. But everything happens for a reason. I guess God just has another plan for 91 me. : iMV I Mr Join the Fun Join a League I _ STAl IG DATE AT1ME HUSKER DOUBLES MONDAY, JAN. 27,7:M PJM. BIG 8 DOUBLES TUESDAY, JAN. 21,7:88 PJM. NITEOWLS WEDNESDAY, JAN. 22,8:88 PJM. PDf POUNDERS THURSDAY, JAN. 38, fcM PJM. THURSDAY TRIOS THURSDAY, JAN. 23,8:88 PJM. - , •:* r- - ""J •• . eEfal}!* Each league consists of6 teams, 4 persons per team (doubles leagues: 2 per toam; trios league: 3 per team). tOT****^!® Teams and/or indtvuhials must preregister at the East Union |lOM^ Lanes N* Games. Students, Faculty, Staff and Friends eligible. _ For more information, Contact: Ray 472-9627or Lanes N' Games 472-175 Everybody has a chance to win regardless <■': I of abilities. Lots of fun and prizes??? '■ ''**'*’**■' ^ , AT THE.... SCORING IS AUTOMATIC WITH OUR I ■ BRUNSWICK. AUTOMATIC SCORERS! 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