_
Trevor Parks
Big crowd gives
new pro league
shot in aim
OMAHA—Play the game, and
they will come.
Make that played the game, and
3,046 curious people came.
The National Volleyball Associa
tion —a professional women’s vol
leyball league — made its debut in
Omaha Saturday night, and what
happened was the unexpected.
A packed house filled the
Omaha Burke Gymnasium to
watch the Nebraska Tornados of the
NVA make their debut against the
St. Louis Spirits.
The Tornados won their first
match with a 13-15,15-9,15-8,18
20,15-13 win over the Spirits, but
what happened off the court was
more significant than what oc
. curred on it.
The start of the match was de
layed 17 minutes because people
were outside waiting to get in.
Eventually the match began at
8 p.m. — a half-hour after its
scheduled start time.
And the crowd — a record for
the league — that came was loud
and appreciated the effort of a
group of players who practice to
gether just once a week, play a
match together every other week
and earn $75 for their work.
All tHic Q nnrpr i q f i nn fnr o A _
year-old league that was lucky to
draw more than 3,000 people in an
entire season.
Lori Endicott, a setter for the
Spirits, not to mention a former
Cornhusker and U.S. National
team player, said having a couple
hundred fans in attendance was
considered a great crowd.
“I was a little surprised so many
people turned out,” Endicott, a two
time Olympian, said. “This is way
over the NVA league goal. Now we
just have to keep it going. Last year
the crowds were poor.”
Endicott saw first hand the lack
of interest in professional volley
ball playing in a league last sea
son. Of course playing in a volley
ball-crazy state helps.
With Nebraska making its sec
ond trip to the Final Four and the
University of Nebraska at Omaha
winning the NCAA Division II
title, any type of volleyball action
is going to draw interest.
“It was great from the begin
ning,” Tornado Coach Joel
McCartney said. “Nebraska’s and
UNO’s teams ended their seasons
on a pretty high note, and I think
that carried right over into the pro
fessional league.”
For one night the league showed
it could survive. Next season it
plans to add four more teams, but
for now having six thrive should
be the main concern.
“I think it will continue to
grow,” Endicott said.
After one night the league has
already grown by leaps and bounds.
Parks is a graduate student
and the Daily Nebraskan sports
editor.
Damian Peter enrolls
at NU, but needs
medical OK to play
football.
Bt David Wilson
Staff Reporter
Damian Peter refuses to give up.
Nearly three years removed from
a life-threatening neck injury, Peter—
brother of former NU football player
Christian and current defensive tackle
3 Jason — enrolled in classes at Ne
braska this semester with hopes of
earning medical clearance to play foot
ball once again.
“I have goose bumps right now just
talking about it,” Damian Peter said.
i : 1 *
As a highly touted senior at
Middletown South High School in
Locust, NJ., in 1994, Peter decided
not to follow his brothers’ footsteps to
Nebraska. Instead he opted to accept
a scholarship to play football at Notre
Dame.
But then came an obstacle bigger
than any opponent the 6-foot-7, 315
pound offensive lineman had ever
faced.
After work on May 28, 1994, Pe
ter fractured his cervical five vertebrae
diving into a friend’s pool. He was
paralyzed from the neck down for 48
hours.
Less than a week later, Peter was
on his. feet again.
“It’s a whole new process,” Peter
said. “It’s like starting from scratch.”
He spent the summer of ’94 in the
Kessler Rehabilitation Center in
Northern New Jersey, where he gradu
ally went from walking on ^treadmill
to running. Despite his struggle, Pe
ter never lost sight of playing football
again.
“It crossed my mind every day,”
Peter said. “It’s something I’ve been
wanting to do for a long time. I don’t
think it ever really left my mind. I
questioned it, but with today’s tech
nology, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be
possible.”
But unlike the NU coaches, Peter
said, Notre Dame’s staff was not very
supportive following his injury.
“I think I actually got more calls
from Nebraska coaches (after the ac
cident),” Peter said. “I wasn’t even
playing for them. They just wanted to
know how I was. That just shows you
I
what kind of people the coaches out
here are.”
Peter was released from the center
in late August 1994 and attended
Notre Dame on the football scholar
ship he had in the spring. But Peter
said he was never contacted to be a
part of the Fighting Irish football pro
gram.
“I really wasn’t happy there,” Pe
ter said.
In October of 1994 — the middle
of his first semester—an X-ray found
that Peter’s neck was unstable. He flew
back to New Jersey where doctors re
moved a bone from his hip and fused
it with his vertebrae. Peter earned no
college credit during his first semes
ter.
Mulholland
now reliable
all-arounder
By Gregg Madsen
Staff Reporter
What a difference a year makes.
In one year, Nebraska gymnast
Bill Mulholland has left behind his
injury-driven inconsistencies and
become a reliable all-around threat.
He might not be the most no
ticeable member of the Nebraska
men’s team, but Mulholland’s love
for gymnastics has helped him de
velop a quiet, consistent style that
has made him a potent scoring
threat for the Comhuskers.
A junior from North Plainfield,
N.J., Mulholland has finished in
the top two in the all-around at both
of the Huskers’ meets this season.
Mulholland placed first in
Nebraska’s home-opener Saturday
against Oklahoma, scoring a
56.625. At the Jan. 17 Rocky
Mountain Open, he finished sec
ond with a 56.3.
“I’m just really learning how to
get out there and just enjoy myself,”
he said. “It’s great.”
Last year, Mulholland struggled
with sore knees throughout the sea
son. He said the injuries made it
nearly impossible to have consis
tency.
“I’m learning how to be consis
tent,” Mulholland said. “Last year
taught me how to impove for this
year, and now I’m just trying to
learn how to really be a part of the
team.”
With all-arounder Jim Koziol
still recovering from shoulder sur
gery, Mulholland has been forced
to become a major part of the team.
Mulholland said he didn’t see
Koziol’s absence as his personal
gain.
“I’m just striving to be a part of
a unit here,” he said. “But I want
to be able to be depended on at the
same time.”
NU Coach Francis Allen said
reliability has become
Mulholland’s primary strength this
season.
“He doesn’t really have an out
standing weakness,” Allen said.
“Any time you score a 56, you’re a
good gymnast.”
Despite his success in the all
around, Mulholland hasn’t been
JJIAi'l flllLLUK/JJl't
BILL NULHQIiABD perforins the high /bar Saturday Right.
Mnjhsllaad has placed first and second in the aH-areuad In two
■eets this year.
outstanding in any one event.
But that’s just fine with him.
“I’ve always thought of myself
as an all-arounder,” Mulholland
said. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be
real strong on any one event.”
Allen said it’s not unusual for
an all-arounder to not have an
event where they are noticeably
stronger than in others.
“Normally, that’s the way you’ll
find them: without a weakness,”
Allen said.
Mulholland said he hadn’t been
surprised by his early-season suc
cess in the all-around.
“I was expecting to do well,” he
said. “But it’s so hard to say be
cause these have all been only dual
meets.”
Even though the Huskers lost
to Mountain Pacific Sports Federa
tion rival Oklahoma Saturday
night, Mulholland said the team
would still be in good shape for a
run at Nebraska’s ninth National
«
Last year taught
me how to improve
for this year. *
BillMulholland
NU men’s gymnast
Championship.
The Huskers travel to Las
Cruces, N,M., April 5 for the
NCAA West Regional, with the top
two teams advancing to the Na
tional Championships in Iowa City.
“It’s early, so it’s so hard to say,”
he said. “But I’d say we’re really
coming together. Every meet is
important but the real focus is at
the end of the year.”
Please see PETER on 10
22-0 Kansas
plays below
par again
By David Wilson
Staff Reporter
even when they re
not on their game.
The top
ranked Jayhawks
(22-0 overall and
8-0 in the Big 12
Conference) were
one shot away from losing their first
game of the season to the Comhuskers
(11-9,3-5) at Allen Fieldhouse Satur
day.
With 22 seconds remaining in the
second half and the game tied at 60,
NU point guard Tyronn Lue took an
inbounds pass from in front of the
Nebraska bench and was triple-teamed
by the Kansas defense. Lue dribbled
to the top of the key where his shot
was partially blocked by 6-foot-7-inch
KU forward Paul Pierce, sending the
game into overtime.
“I didn’t think it would go into
Please see KANSAS on 10
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