The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, March 09, 1998, Page 9, Image 9

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Baseball team falls short
Sandwiched between rainouts,
the Nebraska baseball team lost its
conference opener 9-3 to Baylor
Saturday night m Waco, Texas.
Nebraska lefty startei Kenny
Duebelbeis was touched for seven
runs on nine hits through six
innings. Right-hander Timothy
DeHart followed Duebelbeis and
allowed two runs on two hits whale
tossing two-thirds of an inning.
Trailing 5-0 m the top of the sixth
inning, Husker designated fatter Ken
Haney blasted his fifth homer of the
season - a solo shot to right
Baylor added two in the bottom
of the sixth but the Huskers closed
the gap to 7-3 with two runs in the
top of the se\ enth. The Bears added
two runs in the bottom half of the
inning for the final margin.
Tiie Huskers are scheduled to
face Northern Iowa Tuesday at
Buck Beltzer Field before hosting
Kansas this weekend.
Huskers win fifth straight
Rain forced a quick end to the
Nebraska softball team’s weekend,
but not before the 15th-ranked
Cornhuskers beat Southwest
Missouri State 4-3 Saturday at the
Arkansas Invitational in
Fayetteville, Ark.
NU broke open a 1 -1 tie in the
fifth inning when designated hitter
Christie McCoy singled in a runner
to make it 2-1.
Freshman Jaime Fuente
extended that lead to 4-1 in the top
of the sixth, and sophomore pitcher
Jenny Voss held off the Lady Bears
tc pick up her seventh victory of
the season. The Huskers moved to
10-4 this season and won their flfth
consecutive game.
NU was supposed to face
Arkansas and No. 24 DcPaul
Sunday and finish a rain-delayed
contest with Northern Illinois.
Jayhawks downs NU
No. 24 Kansas proved to be too
much for the Nebraska men’s ten
nis team as the Cc-mhuskers fell to
the Jayhawks 5-2 Friday at the
Woods Tennis Center.
NU won the doubles point, and
Junior Dinko Verzi defeated K'U's
Xavier Avila in the No. i singles to
take a 2-0 lead. Kansas won the last
five points to hand NU its third loss
of the season, and its first in six
matches.
NU fell to 8-3 and 1-2 in the
Big 12 Conference; the Jayhawks
improved to 4-6 and 1 -1.
Verzi moved to 10-! this season
in the No. 1 singles slot.
Women upset Texas A&M
The No. 67 Nebraska women’s
tennis team defeated No. 33 Texas
A&M Sunday at Woods Tennis
Center.
Nebraska improved to 6-3
overall and 1-2 in the Big 12
Conference.
“It’s a great win for us,” NU
Coach Scott Jacobson said. “The
kids just played their hearts out.
Hopefully this will give us a leg up
with respect to our confidence
lex el.”
The Huskers were led in singles
action by Sandra Noetzel. who
posted a win at No. 1 singles and
Jennifer Hart, who won at No. 2
singles.
Bowlers finish fourth
Led by all-tournament selec
tion Stacy Rogers, the Nebraska
women's bowling team finished
fourth at the Buckeye Collegiate
Bowling Tournament in
Columbus, Ohio.
Gym meet snowed out
The Nebraska women's evm
na:-ties meet auamst BYU sched
Lit
v\eJnc>du\
Hot start propels men’s gymnasts
By Darren Ivy
Assignment Reporter
Not even a Nebraska blizzard
could deny Bill Mulholland from
i competing in his last home meet as a
| Cornhusker.
With two shovels and a lot of
| patterne, Mulholland left his south
Lincoln home for the Bob Devnney
j Sports Center. Along the way he bat
i tied negative wind chills, blowing
snow and unplcwed streets, but,he
eventually made it safely.
"1 got stuck a couple times."
Mulholland said. '1 shoveled t\
I way. It took me one hour and it nor
mally takes 20 minutes.”
While it was cold outside, a hot
start and a school-record floor-exer
cise score inside enabled the No. 1
Nil men’s gymnastics team to hold
on for a 230. 675 to 230.175 victory
over No. 4 Ohio State before 268
die-hard fans Sunday night.
NU gymnasts wasted little time
setting the tone for the meet.
On the first event, the floor exer
cise, the Buskers posted four career
best marks en route to scoring a
school-record 38.975, surpassing
the old mark of 38.85 set last year,
Mulhoiland and junior Marshall
Nelson tied for first with 9.775
scores.
We started out really good,"
said Coach Francis Allen. “We put
them m a hoie they couldn't dig out
While the weather had no ill
effects on NU, OSU Coach Miles
Acer , thought u contributed to his
team’s slow start.
“it’s hard sitting in a hotel for
two days and not e\en being able to
go out,” Avery said.
The Buckeyes trailed by 1.525
points after the floor exercise and
pommel horse, but they battled back
the rest of the meet to challenge NU.
”1 was proud they at least dug
u
We starred out really good.
We put them in a hole they
couldn’t dig out of.”
Francis Alien
NU coach
out and gave themselves a chance to
\\ in,” Avery said.
OSU cut the lead to 0.350 going
into the imal event and came within
one Husker fall oh upsetting
Nebraska.
On the high bar. NU had only
five competitors and Derek l.eiter
fell. That meant Nelson fast year’s
national champion on the event,
needed to hit his routine.
“(Falling) is not an option,"
Nelson said. “I was just thinking
about sticking by dismount.”
And stick it he did. He scored a
c< 80 to finish in fourth place.
Although NU jumped out to the
eari\ lead. Nelson :>aid he expected a
battle.
“We knew they weren't going to
give it to us." Nelson said. They
fought and fought the whole meet.'
Avery said the competitive meet
will help both teams down the line.
“Nebraska looks great," Avery
said. “We hope to see them and
California-Berkeley in the (NCAA)
team finals.”
Nationals
in future
for seven
WRESTLERS from page 8
| over Munoz.
Tobin, who claimed the top spot
at 190 pounds, battled the No. 3 seed
Pat Poplizio of Oklahoma State foi
the title At 2:20 in the first period,
Tobin scored his first of four take
downs in the match that led to a 12-3
major decision.
T just came out and wanted to
wrestle hard the whole match.”
Tobin said. “I just try to relax as
much as I can, and if I'm relaxed,
I'm going to beat my opponent.”
Three other Buskers - Brad
Canoyer. Temoer Terry and ) R
Phems - fell just short of a confer
ence title.
Top-seeded Canoyer (1 8-7) was
upset 10-3 by freshman Michael
Lightner of Oklahoma in the 134
pound weight class.
At 158 pounds No. 1 Terry fell to
No. 2 Hardell Moore of Oklahoma
State. Moore won with a 6-2 deci
sion, marking his first career win
over the Busker Terry nowr leads the
series 4-1.
“I feel disappointed in Temoer
Terry and Brad Canoyer's perfor
mance,’’ Neumann said, “but I think
this is the first time all year that I
have been. I'd rather have it happen
here than at the National
Championships.”
rourtn-seeaea heavyweight
Plienis (30-10) got off to a strong
start in the opening round, posting
the lone NU fall of the tournament in
1:08 over No. 5 seed Thomas
Patterson of Missouri.
In the semifinal round. Plienis
upset top-seeded John Henry Ward
of Oklahoma with a 9-2 decision.
With the two victories, Plienis joined
Vering and three others as the only
Husker freshmen to record 30 or
more wins.
Plienis just missed his first con
ference title, falling 3-2 to Ben Lee
of Oklahoma State in the final bout.
Plienis’ second-place finish was
enough to qualify him for the NCAA
Tournament.
The Huskers will send seven
wrestlers to the national tournament.
Five - Vering. Tobin, Canoyer, Terry
and Plienis - qualified by finishing
in the top three in their respective
weight classes at the Big 12 meet.
Paul Gomez M 18) and Jeramie
Welder ( 126) earned wiid-card
berths.
"1 just wanted to go"out and qual
ity tor nationals.” Plienis .-.aid, “1 just
want to go out and be nothing less
’ban Ali-American "
KU leaves NU flattened
i
KANSAS from page 8 j
the game with 17 points, but |
made only 7 of 19 shots from
the field - including 3 of 10 .
from behind the 3-point line.
Lue said that KU’s tough
man-to-man defense gave him
problems.
“They did a good job cover- !
ing me,” Lue said. “I may have
forced some shots, but that’s j
the way it goes "
Besides LaFremz, forwards
Paui Pierce and Lester F.ari and j
guard Kenny Gregory all j
scored in double figures with
17. 16 and i I points respective
ly. Belcher had 12 points for the '
Fluskers.
The loss on Saturday iol- !
lowed a 65-46 victory over j
Baylor in the first round Friday !
afternoon. In that game i
Nebraska held Baylor to 26 9
percent shooting for the game I
and 14 percent from the 3-point ,
line.
Lue led all scorers with 22
points while Belcher and fresh
man forward Chad Johnson
added 1 1 for the Fluskers. It
was the first-ever win for NU in
the Big 12 Tournament.
Note:
Approximately 200 tickets
for the Huskers’ NCAA
Tournament game will go on
sale this morning at the
Nebraska Athletic Ticket
Office. Tickets will be
availaible for $27 and will be
good for NU’s first-round and
second-round games.
o
Matt Miller/DN
NEBRASKA GUARD TYRONN LUE attempts a reverse layup against Big 12
first-team forward Paul Pierce in Saturday’s loss to Kansas. He missed.