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
