Viola leader of young infield
ByMikeKluck
Senior Reporter
In the Nebraska softball team’s
season-opening tournament, the Coca
Cola Classic at Tempe, Ariz., the No.
19 Cornhuskers
faced four Top 20
ranked teams and
finished with a 1
5 record.
This
weekend, NU
travels to Colum
bus, Ga., to par
ticipate in the
Leadoff Classic
Tournament — a
tournament that allows only teams that
qualified for an NCAA Regional the
prior season.
Consequently, 11 of the 18 teams
participating in the pool-play tourna
ment are ranked in the Top 25.
Nebraska’s first game of the tourna
ment is against Nicholls State with a
rematch of last year’s regional where
the Colonels won 2-0 to end NU’s sea
son.
With a ferocious schedule and
eight newcomers participating on this
year’s squad, one key ingredient the
Huskers need is leadership. That job
has fallen on the shoulders of junior
shortstop Ali Viola.
“I guess I just feel an obligation to
this team to try and be a leader,” Viola
said. “Some days it’s me; some days
it’s somebody else.
“I feel like I’ve been here for four
years —just as long as anybody else.
I’ve already put a lot of playing time
under my belt, and I feel real comfort
able with my position. I’m just trying
to be the steady Eddie of the team and
calm everybody else.”
NU Coach Rhonda Revelle said
she talked with Viola, a first-team All
American, during the summer about
asserting herself as a team leader.
Revelle said Viola’s acceptance of
her role will be crucial in helping to
take the Huskers to a higher level this
season.
“She’s always had that in her,”
Revelle said. “She’s always had lead
ership qualities, and as she gets more
comfortable, she will only get better.
She’s already shown herself to be very
much a stabilizing force for our team.”
Viola showed her leadership abil
ity early this season against Arizona.
Although NU lost 15-2 to the No. 1
Wildcats — the only game the Husk
ers lost by more than one run —
Revelle said she is pleased how Viola
took control and gathered the team
together after the loss.
Last season, Viola, from Novato,
Calif., was named second-team All
Big 12. The season before, following
her freshman year, she was named the
Big Eight player of the year.
Viola is still proving her consis
tency in the field and at the plate. In
the Coca-Cola Classic, Viola hit her
29th and 30th career home runs to
become NU’s all-time home run
leader. She is also the 14th person in
NCAA history to hit more than 30
home runs in a career.
This season, Viola is surrounded
by a young infield. Thie freshman Jen
nifer Lizama starts at second, while
sophomore Kelly Pinkepank is play
ing her first season at third.
“I’m basically the veteran on the
infield,” Viola said. “I feel ready to
take on that role, because I’m really
comfortable and I know what my job
is. It has kind of allowed me to pay
attention to other areas where people
are unsure about where they are sup
posed to be in certain situations.”
Nee anticipates ‘electric zoo’
KANSAS from page 9
counted for 10 miscues.
“That’s way too many,” Lue said.
“If I can cut down on that, the team
will feed off me, and we’ll have a bet
ter chance to win the game.”
To win the game, which will be
televised nationally by ABC, Nebraska
must overcome an obstacle absent in
the teams’ first meeting. KU center
Scot Pollard, a 6-foot-11 force in the
paint, plays for the third time Sunday
since recovering from a fractured right
foot.
With Pollard missing from the
lineup, the Big 12 champion Jayhawks
(28-1 and 14-1) struggled — Kansas
style. Three days after Nebraska took
KU to overtime in Lawrence, Missouri
beat Kansas 96-94 in double overtime.
The Jayhawks bounced back to win
69-62 at Iowa State and stomped Colo
rado by 40 points on Feb. 15.
But Jayhawk Coach Roy Williams,
whose team won 70-68 Monday at
Oklahoma, said not all has run
smoothly this season. In addition to
losing Pollard, Kansas played without
Jacque Vaughn for its first 10 games,
and the senior point guard has been
human-like at times since his return,
averaging 10.3 points and 6.1 assists
per game.
“In some ways, it’s been the most
challenging coaching year I’ve had,”
Williams said. “We’ve had to continu
ally make changes and have young
sters understand that their roles are
going to change a little. The respect
that the kids have had for each other
((
There should be no
time when the other
team is more ready
than you are.”
Roy Williams
Kansas basketball coach
is the key.”
With victories at UCLA, Virginia,
Colorado, Texas Tech and Iowa State
this season, Williams said, KU knows
the pressure of playing before a bois
terous crowd. The Jayhawks began the
season ranked second, moved to No.
1 on Dec. 2 and haven’t left the top
spot since.
“You get everyone’s best shot,”
Williams said. “No one is going to be
unenthused. But there should be no ,
time when the other team is more ’
ready than you are.” ]
Nebraska will be more than ready j
Sunday, Nee said. i
“I think the place is going to be a ,
zoo on Sunday,” Nee said. “I think it’s i
going to be an electric zoo. But I don’t
think we can have a bad start against j
Kansas. We have to be up 10 at half (
and then hold off their spurt.” 1
With a win chi Senior Day — Ne- 1
braska will honor Mikki Moore and j
Bernard Gamer before the game — >
Men's Basketball
Starters ^
Sunday, 2:47 p.m.
Devaney Center gjgMjj^^HMp
Nebraska 16^12 (7^)
Pos Name HL WL Yr.
F 5 Larry Florence 6-5 225 So.
G 30 Cookie Belcher 6-3 200 Fr.
Kansas 28-1 (14-1)
Pos Name HL WL Yr.
F 45 Raef LaFrentz 6-11235 Jr.
MMraMM ■■■
G 35 Jerod Haase 6-3 191 Sr.
he Huskers meet the magic NCAA
tournament criteria of the old Big
Eight Conference. Since the touma
nent expanded to 64 teams in 1985,
10 Big Eight team with 17 Division-I
vins and a .500 league record has
nissed the Big Dance.
“We’ve just got to come out and
ilay the way we did in the second half
Wednesday),” said NU forward Troy
‘iatkowski, who scored a career-high
1 points against OSU. “We’ve had a
p-eat February, and I don’t see how
ve can’t be a bubble team.”
*
i
Bob Devaney Sports Center
MEN: NU vs. Iowa
WOMEN: NU vs. lovya State
Corporate Sponsor:
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General Admission - $2
UNL Students with ID - FREE
Children 6 and under - FREE
women’s
ENNIS
Nebraska vs.
Wmjfr Oklahoma State
Sat., March 1 @ 10 a.m.
Beck happy to end month I
COWBOYS from page 9
That win can come either at
Gallagher-Iba Arena, a place where
Beck has never won in her 11-year
career as NU’s coach, or in the Big 12
Tournament on Tuesday at the Mu
nicipal Auditorium in Kansas City,
Mo.
“I feel good that we can go down
to Stillwater and rebound from it,”
Beck said after NU’s 66-58 loss at No.
8 Kansas on Wednesday night. “I
don’t feel down about it.”
But Beck said Saturday’s game is
not a must-win situation for the Husk
ers, who have lost four of their last
five outings by a total of 13 points.
The Huskers have lost three of their
last four games by five points, and
against the Jayhawks NU blew an
eight-point halftime lead. It was the
largest halftime deficit KU faced at
Allen Fieldhouse this season.
“I’m not going to say it is (a must
win),” Beck said. “I’m not going to
do that to myself. If we won (against
Kansas) it would have taken a lot of
pressure off us. If we don’t win then
we are going to have to play well in
the Big 12. But I can’t say 19 is not
going to get us in.”
Beck bases her optimism on how
the Huskers have been playing against
the league’s and the nation’s top
teams. Nebraska beat Texas Tech 62
57 in Lincoln during February and lost
by one point in overtime at Texas on
Feb. 17.
Anna DeForge, whose 23 points fl
against the Jayhawks moved the jun
ior up to ninth on the NU’s all-time |
career scoring chart with 1,188 points, |
said the Huskers must keep their chins
up at Oklahoma State. ■
“The last couple of games we’ve I
been right there and just haven’t been ■
able to get over the edge,” DeForge
said. “It gets really frustrating and re-1
ally disappointing.” I
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