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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 24, 1997)
L_* o <o OJ Tt CHECK OUT TRIS WEEKS GREEN PINT GLASS NU preps for Big 12 PETTIT from page 7 " against the Penn State and No. 2 Florida but defeated No. 10 Pacific, No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 23 Arkansas and No. 21 Ohio State. Pettit said the challenges of the past month will benefit Nebraska during conference play. “I think the team senses that we’re getting better,” Pettit said. “One statistic that catches my eye is we’ve played a great schedule to this point and we holding oppo nents to .110 (hitting percentage). To do that against quality teams like Penn State, Ohio State, Florida and Pacific shows that we are pretty strong defensively. “We took a step forward this weekend, and we need to continue to do that.” The fifth-ranked Huskers relied on their defense throughout last year’s conference- and NCAA-Toumament run and Pettit said defense is NU’s strength once again this season. Lisa Reitsma, Megan Korver and Tonia Tauke average more than one block per game. Pettit added that Reitsma and Husker ^setter Fiona Nepo provide NU with the nation’s best right-side blockijigcombination. Offensively, Pettit said, he expects Nebfa&ka to improve greatly during ffi^i^few weeks of conference plajC^^feas posted a .243 hitting percenta^S^ough 11 matches, a number^^tit expects to rise in Big 12 action. Six Big 12 teams competed in the NCAA Tournament last season and four have earned top-25 rank ings in 1997. Nebraska faces No. 13 Texas, No. 14 Texas A&M and No. 24 Colorado before beginning postseason play. By then, Pettit said, the Huskers need to have all of their offensive wrinkles ironed out. “I think the players are getting more comfortable, and we’re get ting a little clearer idea of who’s going to be on the court so we can start to refine what we’re doing toward their skills,” Pettit said. “I still think we’re a good eight to 10 weeks away from playing our best volleyball. I think we have the potential to be really good.” UNO scrimmage provides newcomers opportunities SOFTBALL from page 7 Revelle said. “We are just concerned with getting players experience for the spring season.” Revelle said the fall season won’t be a true assessment of how good the | team is going to be, because the team will be playing without several key players. “Once everyone is healthy, we will be a different team,” she said. One of the benefits of playing without the injured players is that the six freshmen were given a chance to play right away. During one of the games last weekend, the Husker infield consisted of five freshmen and one sophomore. Revelle said it was good that the freshmen couldn’t rely on the senior’s leadership, and that they had to rely on themselves. “It will help them in the spring,” Revelle said. Revelle was especially impressed with freshman Jamie Fuente’s play last weekend. She said Fuente was solid on defense and good at the plate. In one of the games, Fuente hit a bases-loaded double to break open a tie game. As the freshman mature this fall and winter, and as the injured players return to top form, Revelle hopes the Huskers will challenge for the Big 12 championship in the spring. Last season, the Huskers finished fourth in the conference and made it to the regional finals of the NCCA Tournament. The team returns 10 players, including All Big 12 and NCCA Midwest Region first-team players Jenny Smith, a catcher, pitch er Jenny Voss, designated player Christie McCoy and shortstop Jennifer Lizama. “We hope to use the fall season to springboard into the winter training and then into the spring season,” Revelle said. WILD WEDNESDAYS » PM-CLOSE $5°° Pitchers S300 Refills $2°° Mixed Drinks 1823 “O” Street “A Gentleman’s Club” Lincoln, NE 68508 WANT TO LEARN ABOUT FIRMS THAT RECRUIT AT UNL? If so, you are invited to attend Employer Informational Meetings where company representatives: • discuss the benefits of working with their organization • tell you about their products or services • answer any of your questions * To attend, simply drop in to any of the following sessions • casual attire acceptable, business casual preferred t • approximately 60 minutes • sometimes free snacks! lip All Majors Welcome! jh Sept24 Union Pacific Railroad 7:00 p.m. City Union Sept 30 Koch Industries 7:00 p.m. City Union Sept 25 Kiewit Pacific 7:00 p.m. Nebr. Hall w 178 Oct 1 CNA Insurance ,6:00 p.m. City Union Sept 29 Sprint Corp. 6:00 p.m. City Union Oct 2 HenselPhefys Construction 7:00 p.m. Nebr. Hall W178 Sept 30 Motorola Semi-Conductor 7:00 p.m. City Union Oct 2 Pella Corporation 6:00 p.m. City Union To find a listing of 50+ Employer Informational Meetings scheduled for Fall semester, visit the Career Services Web Site at www.anl.edii/careers/ira/ciii.litiii NU adds wrinkles FOOTBALL from page 7 was really nobody left.” That was the story for most of the game. Nebraska’s inside running game was effective, as Washington spread its linebackers out to cover the option game. Ironically, Nebraska didn’t run all /' the new plays it had worked on in practice. Frost said they didn’t use any of the new passing plays. NU offensive line*€nd kicking coach Dan Young said the lrhe added new blocking schemes to the trap plays, making them a little different each time they were run. Other than that, Young said, the Huskies difficulty was just plain option football “When you play an option team, it takes a while to adjust,” Young said. “It’s just a disadvantage.” The biggest indicator of the suc cess of NU’s offensive line was Husky safety Tony Parrish finished the came with a career-high 17 tack ics lour more man ms previous career best. The Huskers only threw the ball 15 times while completing just eight passes. Frost said the Washington defense is typically hard to block because they do a lot of changing positions late in the snap count. He said the 10 new plays is the most he can remember the Huskers adding for a regular season game. For most regular-season games, Nebraska will add a few new plays to expose their opponents weaknesses on defense. “That was an unusually large number,” he said. “For bowl games, sometimes you add that many.” Osborne said that the team had worked on many of those plays in preparing for their first two games against Akron and Central Florida. “We put that stuff in fall camp, we were just able to hold it,” Osborne said. That’s not to say Washington was a perfect game for the Huskers. Although they were victorious, Osborne said they had meetings over they things that went wrong in Husky Stadium. “We talked about the things we did well, and talked a lot about the things we didn’t do well,” he said. “There’s a lot of things we need to improve on. We set a series of goals for everv name, and we came un short of a lot of them on defense, and quite a few on offense, and quite a few in the kicking game.” Runner Pauli shoots high PAULI from page 7 This year, I know I’m going to be tired. I know how tough the competi tion is going to be. “But I’ve learned that you can’t focus on that. You have to fo yourself to do well.” Pauli has shown signs of improvement this season. In the Woody Greenqjilvitational last Saturday at Piofteers Park in Lincoln, Pauli ended the race as NU’s No. 2 runner with a time of 18 minutes, 10.6 seconds in the 5,000-meter course. Amy Wiseman finished first for Nebraska. Overall, Wiseman earned second place while Pauli claimed the sixth-place spot. Pauli followed a strict workout routine this summer. By August, Pauli was running 60 miles a week, compared to 40 miles a week at that point last year. “Her biggest asset is her fierce competitiveness,” NU Coach Dirksen said. “She wants to be at the top, and she is driven to get there. I look for her to be one of the better runners we’ve had here.” '
