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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1997)
Antone Oseka Thank heaven for MU victory Irish eyes were watching. Sitting with a drink in hand, and his red leather fedora and blaz-4 er on, his Irish eyes couldn’t believe what was going on down there in Columbia, Mo. The pro- < gram he had built with years of sweat and stress was struggling to ^ beat a familiar opponent. He had to help them, and they needed the help. winers or ms kuiu nau oeen iu that same place before, like when Colorado needed five downs to beat Missouri in 1990. It was rumored Sal Aunese showed up to help his former teammates to the national title. After that, it was accepted for the old man to get one visit to lend a helping hand. So, he went to the north end zone of Missouri’s Faurot Field. He had the same mission the younger visitor did seven years before: help his former team overcome a tough Missouri oppo nent in hopes of winning a nation al title. Aunese really broke in the place, giving CU a critical fifth down to complete the pass that would end Missouri’s hopes of an upset and launch Colorado to their only national football title. With Nebraska threatening on the 12-yard line and time running out, the old man did all he could for his old team. He threw Shevin Wiggins’ leg up, then tipped the ball so it’d float end over end. Finally, he helped the freshman receiver under the ball for the catch. He’d given them the touch down. The rest would be up to them. He slowly moved to the sideline and watched the overtime. Alter tne mcreaioie overtime and the victory, coaches and play ers agreed there was some divine intervention on the field that night. Several times the freshman Matt Davison would thank the Lord for putting him in the right place at the right time. “I’m just blessed the Lord gave me a chance to do this,” Davison said. Receivers Coach Ron Brown would comment only divine inter vention could have saved the Huskers from defeat. The old man sits back down, shifts his worn red hat and smiles, knowing perhaps the intervention wasn’t as powerful as they might think. But, with Nebraska still in con tention to win their third national title in four years, his Irish eyes are smiling once again. Oseka is a senior news-edito rial major and a Daily Nebraskan senior reporter. Seeding disappoints soccer team Huskers play Michigan Saturday By Jay Saunders Assignment Reporter , A loss toTexasA&M in the Big 12 Soccer ConfereneeToumament left Nebraska with many questions about how its post season would play out in the NCAA Division I Soccer Championships. The Comhuskers received their answer on Tuesday but were not happy with the news. Nebraska (17-3 overall) will play host to a first round game on Sunday . at 1 p.m. against Big 10 Tournament champion Michigan (18-3-1) at the Abbott Sports Complex. The winner of the Nebraska-Michigan game will ' play the winner of the Cincinnati Notre Dame game. Many ,of the NU coaches and ^players said they thought before the * selection that the Huskers would get t one of tho top eight seeds in the tour nf‘ which would mean they i play host to the first two games. * - No. 7 Nebraska^and Big 12 Chaifrpion aad Nti^J Yfexas A&M were th? only two' teams selected from the Big 12 Conference, and nei ther of the two were seeded in the NCA^Toumament. “I|was surprising in the terms of A&M^pot being seeded,” Nebraska Coach John Walker said. “I thought we had a decent chance. It sends a message on who (the selection com mittee) thinks the best conference is.” The Atlantic Coast Conference had the most teams selected to the tournament with six including four of those teams - North Carolina, Duke, Maryland and Virginia - all earned seeds in the tournament. Nebraska beat Dyke in Durham, N.C., 5-0 on Oct. 20. “They don’t respect the Big 12,” Nebraska goalkeeper Rebecca Hombacher said. Wake Forest, which was sixth in the ACC and seventh in the Southeast Region, received a bid into the tour nament as the 32nd and final team. The Demon Deacons play No. 1 North Carolina in the first round. Nebraska senior co-captain Kari Uppinghouse said she was disap pointed in the way the selection Please see SOCCER on 8 Soccer Championship ^ 1997 Division I Women’s NCAA - ^ North Carolina Wake Forest_\— Florida_ _ Vanderbilt I Harvard_ _ Massachusetts I George Mason Semifinals Maryland-1 Campus Field Dukg_ University of North Carolina, - UNC Greensboro!- Greensboro Georgia_ _ December 5 Clemson I Minnesota - Wj^-i^ilwaukee Bringham Young - Final National Santa Clara J- Campus Field chSonahin Connecticut University of North Carolina, Champ -hlp Fairfield I- Greensboro Hartford - December? Colgate I William & Mary - Penn St._j James Madison Semifinals Virginia □- Campus Field Portland_ University of North Carolina, - UCLA i- Greensboro SMU - December 5 ' ‘ f •• Texas A&M I Michigan - Nebraska_\ Cincinnati_ _ Notre Dame I JonFrank/DN Taller Huskers defeat Raiders NU becomes defensive, gets victory By Shannon Heffelfinger Assignment Reporter Nebraska Volleyball Coach Terry Pettit has always emphasized strong defensive play to his team. With a dominating defensive per formance Tuesday night, the Cornhuskers showed they’ve been paying attention. “Passing and defense are what volleyball is all about,” Pettit said. “Those things are always the issue, and if you do them well, you’ll com pete every match.” The 1 rn-ranked Huskers accom plished both those objectives in a 15 7,15-7,15-8 victory over Texas Tech Tuesday night in front of 2,273 fans at the NU Coliseum. Nebraska (19-6 overall and 10-4 in the Big 12 Conference) recorded 54 digs to the Red Raiders’ 51 and dominated the smaller Tech team. The Huskers post ed 18 blocks while holding the Red Raiders to a .098 hitting percentage, their second worst hitting percentage of the season. , ' _c , “They were just huge,” Tech out side hitter Christine Martin said, “and we’re not exactly the biggest team to go up against.” Tech Coach Jeff Nelson agreed that losing the battle at the net hurt the Red Rhiders. Tech (20-8, 7-7) totaled just four blocks. Nelson, a former NU assistant, saidTech’s ulti mate problems lay at the service line. “We have to serve tough,” Nelson said. “And we did do that, but we l served it right to them. They passed them easily and we could never iso Please see TECH on 8 j^yan Soderlin/DN NEBRASKA’S TONIA TAUKE (left) and Angie Oxley block Texas Tech’s Janelle Jones during the first game. The Huskers won the match in three games and finished with 18 total blocks as Tauke led the team with five. Nepo’s serve knocks Texas Tech on heels By Antone Oseka Senior Reporter Fiona Nepo jumped all over Texas Tech Tuesday night. Jump served, that is. In Nebraska’s 15-7, 15-7, 15-8 sweep of the Red Raiders, Nepo, NU’s junior setter, served the Huskers into contention or the lead in die both of the first two games. hi the first game, Nebraska traded points with Tech as the two teams were tied at six when Nepo stepped to the back row to serve. She fired off six straight points to give NU a 12-6 lead. “The turning point in the match came in the first game, when Fiona’s jump serve put them on their heels a little bit,” Nebraska Coach Terry Pettit stid. “That first game was even until Fiona ran those points and that kind of opened it up. “She did the same thing at some point in the second game, as well.” In game two, Nebraska was trail ing 7-4 when Nepo again came to the line. She fired off three straight serves including one ace to tie the game at seven. Nebraska never trailed after that, as Tech didn’t score anoth er point in that game. “I was kind of surprised,” Nepo said of her serving performance. “I think it was at the beginning of the second game, I thought that one was going out. And then, they called it in. I was like, ‘Well, then, you know I’ll Please see NEPO on 8
