Antone Oseka
Undefeated
teams can’t
look ahead
Is it Jan. 3 already?
If so, Nebraska should be los
ing to Kansas in basketball.
As a matter of fact, I haven’t
seen any snow yet.
I thought it was the middle of
October, half way through the
football season. I guess not.
I guess it’s the end of the sea
son and Penn State is crushed
after going undefeated and still
not winning at least a piece of
the national title.
Silly me, I thought it was
October and the World Series
was still being decided.
Thai’s what everyone seems
to be forgetting. There’s a lot of
football to be playe.d yet. Who’s
to say the national championship
is the Nittany Lion-Cornhusker
showdown anyway?
Aren’t there still some other
teams in the undefeated circle?
Michigan, Florida State, North
Carolina, Oklahoma State and
Toledo all have goose eggs at the
end of their respective records.
Even Husker quarterback Scott
Frost isn’t sure that a Penn State
Nebraska game would decide the
national title.
“It’s insane to go through a
whole year and have two unde
feated teams and not know who
the national champion is,” Frost
said. “I don’t think it was right
for Penn State not to get in ’94,1
don’t think it would be right for
either of us not to get it this year.
“If it got to be the end of the
season and two teams were unde
feated, it could be Florida State
and Michigan, or it could be Penn
State and Nebraska. It just would
not be right for that to happen.”
And he’s right. But let’s get
back into the reality that the sea
son is far from over. Michigan
and Penn State still have to face
off, eliminating one of them.
Nebraska has yet to face
Colorado. And even though the
Buffaloes look bad now, they’ll
be a challenge for the Big Red.
So let’s get back to pre
Halloween bliss. Enjoy the
weekends and watch the teams
eliminate each other from the
national-championship hunt. It
could be in two weeks there are
no undefeated teams left in the
country. That would cloud the
picture even more. All the teams
that were supposed to be elimi
nated with a loss - Tennessee,
Florida and Washington - could
find new life.
So get those games underway
and enjoy the rest of the season.
I’m not ready for 1998 quite yet.
Oseka is a senior news-edito
rial major and a Daily
Nebraskan senior reporter.
NU freshmen find court time
■ Meendering and Oxley
help pull NU out of its three
match slump.
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Assignment Reporter
Nancy Meendering and Angie Oxley
share a long list of contrasting characteristics.
The left-handed Meendering occupies the
right side of the ffontcourt for the Nebraska
volleyball team. The right-handed Oxley
plays on the left.
Meendering owns an outspoken
demeanor. Oxley speaks softly and deliber
ately.
Meendering accumulates her kills with ian
explosive leap and a strong swing of her arm,
sending the ball directly to the floor. Oxley
collects hers with smart placement, sending
the ball around or over opposing blockers.
The strength of one is often the weakness
of the other, but the one similarity the two NU
freshmen share remains their greatest asset.
“The key with freshman is not always
what they can do for you, it’s what they don’t
do,” Pettit said. “When they get to the point
where they don’t make errors, it increases
their opportunities to play.”
Both Meendering and Oxley enjoyed
increased court time last weekend in Texas. In
the midst of the Cornhuskers’ first three
match losing streak in 20 years, the two fresh
men emerged for the first time this season as
key contributors.
Oxley pounded nine kills and recorded
five digs against No. 11 Texas Friday. Oxley,
who gave up her redshirt season 18 matches
into the year to fill the offensive void left by
Jaime Krondak, has mixed feelings about for
going her redshirt season. Back spasms limit
Krondak to play in the back row.
“It’s definitely a positive if I can help the
team,” Oxley said. “But I lost a year by doing
that, so it’s negative in that way.
“I’m really happy, but I know I can play
better. My main priority is not to make errors
at critical times.”
The 6-foot former middle blocker from
Ogallala continued her success Saturday
against 12th-ranked Texas A&M in College
Station, Texas, by topping her debut perfor
mance when she led NU with 14 digs and
totaled 10 kills as Nebraska snapped its three
match skid.
“You have to watch her to know how good
Please see FRESHMEN on 8
Nikki Fox/DN
NANCY MEENDERING pounded five kills Saturday in Nebraska’s four-game win over Texas A&M.
Meendering and fellow NU freshman Angie Oxley have assumed important positions in the Nebraska
lineup after shifts to correct the Huskers’ three-match losing streak.
Injuries end Avery’s career
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Assignment Reporter
The inevitable conclusion to 2!4
injury-plagued years for Lisa Avery
arrived last week when the Nebraska
volleyball player accepted a medical
hardship scholarship, surrendering
her remaining two years of eligibility
with the
Comhuskers.
Avery, a 6
foot-1 middle
blocker,-has suf
fered from lin
gering effects of
reconstructive
surgeries on both
knees since com
ing to Nebraska
in 1995. Avery
tore her left ante
rior cruciate liga
ment in 1993
while competing for Shawnee
Mission (Kan.) South High School.
Two years later, after accepting a
scholarship from the Huskers, Avery
tore her right ACL.
The injuries damaged Avery’s
jumping ability and lateral move
ment, which proved too difficult for
Avery to overcome, NU Coach Terry
Pettit said.
“She’s very gifted and very talent
ed, but it’s very difficult in a sport
where you have to jump this much to
have two ACL injuries,” Pettit said.
“I’m disappointed for her because
so much of an athlete’s identity and
they way they express themselves
comes while participating in athletics
at a high level.”
Avery redshirted in 1995 and
played in 12 of NU’s 34 matches in
1996. Avery pounded a career-high
10 kills against Brigham Young
University before sustaining a stress
fracture in her left femur.
Avery totaled three kills in
Nebraska’s NCAA Tournament semi
final loss to Stanford last season, the
final match of her career.
Pettit has seen these circum
stances before. Last season, middle
blocker Stacie Maser accepted a med
ical hardship after suffering ACL
injuries and a rehabilitation period
similar to Avery’s. The situation is
U-—
She s a very
intellingent
person, and
she 'll be all
right”
Terry Pettit
NU volleyball coach
always difficult to accept, Pettit said.
“When they’re injured, it’s cer
tainly no fault of their own,” Pettit
said. “It’s not that they did anything
technically wrong. In Lisa’s case, it
happened before she even came to
Nebraska.
“You have to feel for her, but she
has the focus to concentrate on some
thing else just as intently as she con
centrated on sports. She’s a very
intelligent person, and she’ll be all
right.”
Osborne says
No. 1 ranking
changes little
for Nebraska
ByAntone Oseka
Senior Reporter
It’s hard to keep Nebraska
off the top of the polls.
The Comhuskers (6-0 over
all and 3-0 in the Big 12
Conference) ascended to the
top of the polls this week after a
29-0 shutout of Texas Tech and
previously No. 1 Penn State
struggled at home to defeat
Minnesota 16-15.
Twice in the last three
years, the Comhuskers have
finished the season as the No. 1
team in the nation.
Last year, the Huskers start
ed the season as the top team,
but an early season 19-0 loss to
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