Huskers blast Ohio State to sweep tournament
SWEEP from page 10
hitting .269. After posting 34 kills and a .351 hit
ting percentage in OSU’s five-game Saturday
morning loss to Oral Roberts, Pankova hit
minus-.057 with 11 kills against NU.
“I just think at this level, we should not be
playing two matches a day,” Stone said. “That
certainly didn’t lose the match for us, but if it
manifested itself, it was in Pankova. After the
afternoon, her gas tank was pretty low and she
hit negative tonight
Husker coach Terry Pettit said All-America
right-side hitter Lisa Reitsma and setter Fiona
Nepo played a part in Ohio State’s poor perfor
mance at the net. The two blocked the
Buckeyes’ outside hitters three times apiece.
“I don’t think that they necessarily matched up
well with us,” Pettit said. “Their best hitters hit
from the left side, and we probably have the best
right-side blockers in the country in Lisa and
Fiona. With those two opposite each other, we did
n’t have to chose who we were going to defend.
“Attack-wise, Lisa could pretty much go
anywhere she wanted and (Megan) Korver
could go over their middles.”
Korver, along with Nebraska’s other mid
dles blockers, held a definite height advantage
OSU’s middle blockers. The Buckeyes were
forced to counteract the 6-foot-1 Korver, 6-4
Reitsma and 6-3 Tonia Tauke with three players
up front who averaged about 6 feet.
Offensively, the Buckeyes could only muster a
.153 hitting percentage against the Comhuskers’
front line, and OSU failed to contain the Huskers
attackers, who hit .309 for the match.
Reitsma, the tournament’s most valuable
player, led NU with 22 kills, Krondak added 13
along with 14 digs, and Korver posted 10 kills.
Despite three dominating performances over
the weekend, Reitsma said the Huskers need to
improve this week before traveling to Madison,
Wis., for the Big Ten-Big 12 Challenge. Nebraska
will face No. 14 Wisconsin and No. 1 Penn State.
Matt Miller/DN
JAIME KRONDAK (right) celebrates with Renee Saunders Saturday in Nebraska’s win over Ohio State.
Krondak gives NU a spark
SPARK from page 10
hitting. 164.
“The first four games we had, I
didn’t hit above .220,” Krondak
said. “I was just like, ‘Well geez, I
suck.’”
Things changed Friday and
Saturday in the Arby’s Classic.
In a sweep of Ohio State
Saturday night, Krondak pounded
13 kills - second only to Lisa
Reitsma’s team-high 22 - and hit
.387 while recording 14 digs.
Through the three-match tourna
ment, Krondak slammed 26 kills
and hit .322.
“This weekend was one of the
first weekends that I’ve actually
thought I’ve played all-around
good,” Krondak said. “My hitting
has not been on at all. I felt (Friday
and Saturday) that I was strong on
my hitting, strong on my digging
and my passing. So I’m very happy
about that.”
Krondak said her on-court
improvements were directly related
to her mental preparation for the
matches, as well as the emotion she
brings to the court.
“I basically do think it’s confi
dence,” Krondak said. “It’s not that
I haven’t been ready to play,
because I have been. I just think I’m
dwelling on my mistakes a little bit
too much. And (Saturday night)
everybody was pretty low key. I’m
one of those people who kind of has
a lot of energy on the court, so I was
basically going out there and being
a complete idiot - trying to get
everybody else coming along, and I
think that just kind of helped me.”
Even Coach Terry Pettit noticed
the difference.
“Jaime, you played real solid,”
Pettit said to the junior outside hit
ter as he left Saturday’s post-match
press conference.
Krondak said her success in the
Arby’s Classic gave her a much
needed confidence boost.
“I’ve just been needing to break
away from the crappy play that I’ve
been doing,” Krondak said. “I
needed a game to help me get my
confidence back, because I’ve been
pretty low on it.”
As a sophomore last season,
Krondak knocked 349 kills while
hitting .210. The Lincoln East grad
uate also recorded 387 digs - the
second-highest total in school his
tory behind Kate Cmich’s 390.
But now as a junior and a team
leader, Krondak has changed her
on-court thinking.
“When I was a newcomer (to
the starting lineup) last year, I was
concerned with how I was playing
and less with the team,” Krondak
said. “It’s not like a choice you
make, it just kind of happens. But
now that I have a year of experience
starting, I’m more concerned about
trying to help get everybody orga
nized and figuring out what’s going
on and helping people.”
Take Reitsma for example.
“Reitsma, I mean the girl is out
standing,” Krondak said. “But she
shows no emotion. Man, if I were 6
foot-4 and played that well, I’d
show a lot of emotion. It’s just
something that she needs to work
on, like I need to work on skills.”
Krondak said she began the sea
son with five goals: To pick it up
another level on defense, to be a
captain on passing, to never hit
below .220, to be a member Big 12
all-conference team and to bring
emotion to the team.
With the first nine matches
behind her, Krondak said, she
hoped to remained focused on
meeting her goals for the rest of the
season.
“I just need to keep thinking
about my goals and thinking about
hitting,” Krondak said. “I believe
that’s the key to bring up my whole
game. I was there (Saturday night),
and hopefully I can remain consis
tent the rest of the season.”
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