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Mii Matt Miller/DN
ANGIE OXLEY forfeited a redshirt year midway through the Nebraska volleyball season, and the freshman
has helped stabilize an NU team that plays at Texas Tech tonight and at Baylor Saturday.
MedMaiders, Bears present
major road test for Huskers
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Assignment Reporter
In Nebraska volleyball, Coach
Terry Pettit’s perfect world, the
Comhuskers’ schedule would not
include back-to-back matches. NU
would not travel hundreds of miles
in one weekend, and the Huskers
would not expose themselves to the
physical challenges that competing
on consecutive nights present.
But for Pettit, NU’s schedule is
anything but perfect, and this
weekend strays as far as possible
from his ideal.
The Huskers (21-6 overall and
12-4 in the Big 12 Conference)
battle Texas Tech (22-8 and 9-7) in
Lubbock at 7 tonight at the
Lubbock Municipal Coliseum.
NU then packs up and leaves
for Waco, where it will face Baylor
(15-15 and 5-11) at 7:30 p.m. at the
Ferrell Center Saturday.
Pettit - who favors breaking
road trips up by playing on
WpHflPcHav onH incfaoH
of the current weekend format -
described the Texas trip as “geo
graphically tough.”
Pettit also said the trip comes at
a point in the season when sore
arms and mental fatigue begin to
take its toll. NU has four matches
remaining in the regular season.
“Lisa Reitsma swings at the
ball 80 times in two consecutive
nights,” Pettit said. “You would
never ask a pitcher to throw that
many times in two days.
“Hitting a volleyball is much
harder on the shoulder than throw
ing and releasing a bail. It’s just not
the ideal situation to be competi
tive in.”
Ideal or not, this weekend’s
matches hold conference ami post
season implications for both 11th
66
Its just not the
ideal situation to
be competitive in”
Terry Pettit
Nebraska volleyball coach
ranked Nebraska and Texas Tech as
the regular season winds down.
Nebraska shares third place in
the league with Texas A&M, and
Texas Tech, who plays host to Big
12 second-place team Colorado
Saturday, sits fifth in the league
along with Kansas and Oklahoma.
Only three matches separate
the third- through fifth-place
teams, and both Pettit and Texas
Tech Coach Jeff Nelson predict
that the top six teams in the confer
ence will earn NCAA Tournament
Dias.
“If we just went on power rank
ings,” Nelson said, “I think our
conference would probably get
seven for the first time ever in vol
leyball, but I don’t think politically
that’s going to be the move of the
NCAA committee. I think if you Ye
in the top five, it’s a sure thing. If
you’re in the top six, you’re on the
bubble.
“So we’vfe got to do everything
we can to put ourselves in the dri
ver’s seat, and our players realize
that we have to win a match this
weekend.”
The Red Raiders have won four
of their past six matches, including
a 3-2 victory over A&M last week
end.
Nebraska swept Tech on Nov.
11 in Lincoln, but the Red Raiders
had just lost their leading hitter,
sophomore Courtney Putnam, to a
knee injury.
Putnam has missed Tech’s last
five matches and likely will not
play this weekend.
“It was a tough trip to
Nebraska,” Nelson said. “We need
ed a little more time to adjust to not
having Courtney. But those adjust
ments are made now.”
Senior Brande Brown has
picked up the slack for Putnam.
The middle blocker leads the Red
Raiders with 3.7 kills per game and
surpassed the 1,000-kill mark for
her career last weekend against
Iowa State.
Natalie Rives stepped into the
starting lineup for Putnam and hit
.333 against ISU.
Nebraska counters Tech’s
building momentum with a six
match win streak. The Huskers -
who are still without injured out
side hitters Jaime Krondak and
Renee Saunders - have eained
confidence by adjusting to a new
lineup in recent weeks.
Pettit said the team has grown
comfortable with freshman Angie
Oxley inr Krondak’s former spot
and also with middle blocker
Megan Korver playing the full
rotation to counter the loss of
Saunders and Krondak in the back
row.
“Oxley is just doing it all, and
nobody really knows how good she
is,” Pettit said. “When we leave
Korver in for the back row, she
becomes a good defensive player
and it doesn’t disrupt her rhythm.
“The team has become more
confident and more settled into
this lineup.”
Nike Sprint Classic,
Shoot Out excite NU
By Sarah Dose
Staff Reporter
This weekend is a big one for the
Nebraska swimming and diving
team.
Tonight at 7, the men and women
play host to several teams in the Nike
Sprint Classic at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center pool. Saturday at 11
a.m, the Cornhuskers participate in
the Husker Shoot Out, which ends
with an 11 a.m. session on Sunday.
“We want to go successfully,”
Coach Cal Bentz said. “That means
good competition and putting people
at a level where they can compete
with the other people. It’s still early
in the season, and we can’t spend
time resting, or it will reduce our
effectiveness.
“I want to show that we’re a bet
ter team than we were two weeks
ago.”
The men’s team, ranked No. 13,
will face No. 11 Arizona State, Iowa,
Toledo and Kenyon tonight. The
women, ranked No. 7, compete
against No. 2 Southern Methodist,
Illinois, No. 13 UCLA, Colorado
State and Kenyon.
The Nike Sprint Classic features
only sprint events and is the only
meet in the nation of its kind.
Nebraska also held the meet in 1985,
1988, 1989 and for the past three
years.
The NU men and women have
won every Sprint Classic, with the
exception of the women’s third-place
finish last season behind Auburn and
SMU.
j Bentz said he’s confident enter
ing this year’s meet and has been
pleased with the production of sever
al athletes, including 100-yard
freestyle and 100-yard butterfly
swimmer Adam Pine, diver Danny
Bergman and diver Amanda Zins.
“I think the divers are well ahead
of where they were last year,” Bentz
said. “Adam Pine is doing well, too.
He’s still preparing for the World
Championships in January.”
Bergman said he’s ready, too.
“How high I place this weekend
depends on how well I dive,”
Bergman said. “I started the season
off well, and I want to keep that up
It’s a fun meet. I have the same
expectations for myself as I do every
meet.”
Bentz said he feels no pressure
for his team to win.
“If we finish well at the^end of
the year - at the NC AA meethhd the
inference meet thifik
many people wilf retflejhber‘how
(fed at the sprint meet,” Behtz sajlf
“But that doesn’t mean we’re not
going to try as hard.”
' Nine track newcomers
include 3 at semester
From Staff Reports
The Neme||||
of intent.
Three of the signees - Daniel
Johnson, from Fairfield, Calif.,
Mikael Nordin, from Vaxjo,
Sweden, and Waldo Nagel, from
Pretoria, South Africa - will be
eligible to compete in January.
Johnson placed sixth in the
triple jump in the California state
meet in 1997. Nordin is a hammer
thrower and Nagel is a top-ranked
South African hurdler.
The other men’s recruit, Jess
Kirchoff, from Syracuse, will join
the Cornhuskers next fall.
Harmon, from Green-River,' Wyo.,
Katherine Livesey, from
Blackpool, United Kingdom, and
Candy Peirano from Maize, Kan. -
will also join the Huskers next fall.
•v
“All of the people we signed
are good athletes that will con
tribute to our team,” Nebraska
Coach Gary Pepin said.
The Nebraska track and field
team will begin indoor competi
tion on Jan. 16-17 at the Wildcat
Invitational in Manhattan, Kan. t
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