NU soccer
could sack
Big 12 goal
By Jay Saunders
Assignment Reporter
With Nebraska and Texas A&M
returning this season as nationally
ranked soccer teams, the biggest race
in the Big 12 Conference might be for
third place.
The Cornhuskers and the Aggies
are expected to lead the young confer
ence in its second season. Nebraska
comes into the fall season ranked sixth
nationally, the same place it ended last
season, while A&M is not far behind,
ranked eighth in the preseason poll.
Good recruiting classes and more
experienced teams are expected to
increase the talent and competition
level in the conference. Whether that
will be enough to challenge Nebraska
and Texas A&M for the top two spots
remains to be seen.
“It was an excellent conference
last year, even though there were a lot
of first-year teams,” Oklahoma coach
Bettina Fletcher said. “Teams are
going to gun for first, but third place
will be what everyone is shooting for.”
Nebraska returns nearly everyone
from its NCAA Tournament run last
season. Coach John Walker’s lineup
includes All-America forward Kari
Uppinghouse and goalkeeper
Rebecca Hombacher, who returns as
one of the nation’s top goalies. A&M
lost four starters from last year’s team
but reloaded with talented freshmen
and 15 returning letter winners.
Baylor heads a group of young
teams that will challenge the top two
teams. The Bears return all 11 starters
from last year’s 17-3-1 season in
which they finished third in the Big
12. Baylor almost pulled off an upset
over A&M in the conference tourna
ment semifinals, losing 5-4 in over
time. Courtney Saunders, who scored
18 goals and won the offensive MVP
award in the Big 12 Conference
Tournament, leads the Bears’ scoring
attack.
“Baylor can be looked at as a
Matt Miller/DN
NEBRASKA’S LINDSAY EDDLEMAN and Tanya Franck battle the Texas A&M
goalie for the ball in the Big 12 Championship Game.
spoiler,” Oklahoma State coach Karen
Hancock said. “Anyone in this confer
ence can be recognized as someone
who can knock off one of those top
teams. Anything can happen in this
crazy game.”
After Baylor comes a group of
young teams that are hoping to be
noticed. Texas Tech, Missouri and
Texas all have potential to make big
strides from last year. Add to that race
Oklahoma, which is in its first year in
the Big 12 Conference. Last season,
Oklahoma went 1-13 as an indepen
dent, but the Sooners return seven
starters and have a talented freshman
class.
Solid recruiting classes across the
board should make a major impact.
The Big 12 is hoping to join the
Atlantic Coast Conference and the
Southeastern Conference as one of the
nation’s elite leagues.
“We have six or eight very good
teams in the conference,” Baylor
coach Randy Waldrum said. “For
years, the ACC has been the confer
ence to play in. We can model our
selves after that and hopefully better it
down the road.”
Colorado coach Austin Daniels
said the success of Nebraska and
Texas A&M last season helps tremen
dously in getting the Big 12 to that
elite level.
“They wot* games with* a tough
national schedule,” Daniels said.
“Two of the top teams in the country
are in our conference. That gives the
Big 12 a lot of credibility.”
Volleyball teams rap on NU’s door
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Assignment Reporter
As the Big 12 Conference enters its
second volleyball season, most league
coaches agree that the conference title
is Nebraska’s to lose.
But an abundance of talent and
returning experience from the top of the
league down to the very bottom could
result in an interesting race for second.
“In terms of the conference race,
Nebraska is at the top, and the rest of us
are challenging,” Texas coach Jim
Moore said. “Texas A&M and
Colorado will be very good. I think you
can throw Texas Tech and Kansas State
in there also. All of those teams could
beat anybody at any given time.”
Each of those six teams competed
in the NCAA Tournament last
December. Texas Tech lost its first
match, but Texas, Texas A&M,
Colorado and Kansas State all posted
first-round victories. Nebraska, the
defending conference champion,
advanced to the Final Four before being
eliminated by eventual national cham
pion Stanford.
Each of last year’s top six finishers,
except Kansas State and Texas Tech,
return at least four starters.
Overall, the conference returns
seven of 12 all-conference selections.
Despite the returning talent and
experience on each of last year’s top
teams’ rosters, Kansas coach Karen
Schonewise - who was a two-time All
American at Nebraska - said the door is
open for teams that finished in the
league’s bottom half last season to
climb into the top six.
“We had a really great spring and
the intensity level in practices has been
much higher this year,” Schonewise
said. “I think we’ll be in the top five or
six if we stay healthy, and I think there
will be surprises in the conference this
year.”
Oklahoma coach Miles Pabst
agrees that the race for second is wide
open, which includes his team.
“It’s all going to depend on staying
healthy,” Pabst said. “We return six
players who contributed a lot. Nebraska
is definitely above the rest, but then I’d
say it’s us, Texas A&M, Colorado and
Texas.”
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