Sam McKewon
Injury ends
tough year
for London
"I was pretty much packed and
ready to go."
That's what Frankie London had
to say to Daily Nebraskan reporter
Mitch Sherman on Apr. 24. 1997.
about his career at Nebraska. 1 ie was
prepared to leave, to transfer some
where where he could play quarter
back. Instead, he stayed.
1 wonder if he would hav e been
better off if he hadn't.
London broke his tibia and fibula
in his left leg Saturday against
Kansas. His season is over. He'll be
out for six months. It's a long wav
Irom almost being the starting quar
terback last spring.
London now only has one year
left of eligibility, lie's spent four
• ears in this program and had little
more than a feu moments in the sun
■s a player. He had talent, but after
• aiting his rum at quarterback, he
got passed over for a younger, faster
Bobby Newcombe. He got moved to
wingback. where he never saw the
ball Then he got hurt.
It's all very unfortunate. And
really, it never had to happen.
London never should have lost
the job. 1 le ought to be directing the
offense right now. 1 never agreed with
NU's decision to go with Newcombe.
Watching the first seven games
this season. Newcombe has been
slowed by an injury and even sat out
a couple of games. When he has been
m. he hasn’t been the spectacular big
play quarterback Frank Solich and
Turner Gill touted him to be.
Case in point: Newcombe’s
longest run from scrimmage this sea
son is 20 yards. That’s it, 20 yards. He
had a 22-yard run on the first play in
the first game of his career against
Akron.
Blasphemy, you say? How dare I
criticize Newcombe? Well, really,
I'm not. Newcombe is a good passer
- NU’s most accurate since Brook
Berringer. With an inexperienced
line, Newcombe can’t make the plays
he might otherwise.
But as I watched Saturday as
Newcombe handed the ball off a
bunch and ran a few good options, I
thought to myself, “Frankie could
have done this.” And certainly, he
could have, because Eric Crouch and
Monte Christo have done it, too.
What London could not do was
what Newcombe did as a wingback.
He was the most dangerous player on
the field. With only one guy to cover
him, there was a 50/50 chance
Newcombe would break a big play
on a pass or a reverse. On punt
returns, you know he was good.
As London lay there Saturday
night, I saw for him and Nebraska
what could have been: London at
quarterback, Newcombe turning mto
the next Irving Fryar and NU still
undefeated.
It should have been that way.
Sam McKewon is a junior
news-editorial and political science
_ major and the Daily Nebraskan
sports editor.
NU survives A&M test
■ Coach Terry Pettit wins
his 700th career match
while Nebraska is taken to
four games for only the
second time this season.
By Andrew Strnad
Staff writer
The first go around the Big 12
Conference is complete, and for the
Nebraska volleyball team, all is well.
Nebraska, fresh off a weekend
sweep of No. 13 Texas and a four
game victory over No. 15 Texas
A&M, pushed its record to 17-0
overall and 8-0 in the Big 12
Conference.
Friday NU dumped the
Longhorns in three games (15-7, 15
11. 1*5-12) behind a career-high 23
kills from senior middle blocker
Megan Norver. Sophomore Nancy
Meendering also added a personal
best 20 kills.
Coach Terry Pettit notched his
700th career win against the Aggies
(15-8. 15-7, 14-16. 15-12) on
Sunday as NU’s 44-game winning
streak came to an end.
Texas A&M was able to rally
from 8-14 down in the third game to
win 16-14. and put the pressure on
NU by leading 7-2 in the fourth
game before the Huskers rallied to
put the Aggies away.
“It was definitely good to ha\e a
tough match like that," NU senior
outside hitter Jaime krondak said.
“We learned a lot today."
krondak finished the match with
19 kills and 17 digs.
As a result of NU's strong play,
the Huskers received a first-place
vote for the first time this season.
The optimistic voter was none
other than Pettit.
“Why not?” Pettit said. “We’ve
played as well and as tough a sched
ule as anybody else.”
The Huskers are still well behind
top-ranked Long Beach State (38
first-place-votes) and No. 2 Penn
State (21).
The top three are the only three
remaining undefeated teams in
Division I-A.
In the Oct. 1 1 AVCA/Sagarin
Divison Power ratings the Huskers
Scott McClurg/DN
NEBRASKA SETTER Fiona Nepo celebrates during the fourth game
against Texas A&M on Sunday afternoon at the NU Coliseum.
Nebraska’s match against Texas A&M was only the second time this
season the undefeated Huskers have gone to four games.
were the top-ranked team ahead of
LBSU and Penn State.
In other volleyball news, NU set
ter Fiona Nepo was named the Big
12 player of the week.
The 5-9 senior recorded a career
high 21 digs and tied a career high
with 76 assists against Texas A&M.
“That’s nice,” Nepo said. “It
pretty much reflects our team, but it’s
nice. 1 told my mom, and she’s
happy.”
NU continues Big 12 play at
home as Oklahoma and Kansas
come to Lincoln Friday and
Saturday.
Nil’s Zimmer
leads women
to fourth place
From staff reports
Freshman Jeannette Zimmer led the
Nebraska women’s cross country team to
a fourth-place finish Saturday at the
Oregon Invitational in Eugene, Ore.
Zimmer again paced the Comhuskers
in the 5,000-meter race at Alton Baker
Park with a time of 18 minutes, four sec
onds. The time gave Zimmer a ninth-place
finish in the field of 204 runners.
Erica Palmer of Wisconsin won the
women’s race in 17:22. Wisconsin won
the women’s title with 46 points.
Sophomore Amy Wiseman finished
next for the Huskers in 18:20 for 16th
place, and Jaime Pauli was shortly behind
in 21st w ith a time of 18:25.
On the men's side, the Cornhuskers
finished the 8,000-meter race in seventh
place and were led by senior Jim Vance,
who finished in 24th place w ith a time of
25:02.
Lagat Bernard of Washington State
won the race in 24:04. Portland earned the
men’s team honors w ith 73 points.
Marcus Witter and Tony Smith were
next for the Huskers, finishing in 25th and
28th place with times of 25:03 and 25:12.
Rogers pushes
mens golf team
to third at Duke
From Staff Reports
Three seniors led the Nebraska men's
golf team to a third-place finish Monday
at the Duke Golf Classic.
The Cornhuskers tied with Georgia
Tech, the fifth-ranked team m the country,
at the two-day, 54-hole tournament at 6
over the par 70 course.
Seniors Jamie Rogers, Scott
Gutschewski and Josh Madden finished
m the top 20. Rogers shot a tournament
best round for Nebraska with a 69. He tied
for sixth with a 2-under par 214 (72, 73
and 69). Gutschewski matched Rogers
for sixth with rounds of 71, 73 and 70.
Madden tied for 18th, shooting 220.
NU’s Steve Friesen finished 30th
(222), and freshman Seth Porter shot a 236
in only his second college tournament.
NU’s hoops season under way
Men start new era without Lue
By Sam McKewon
Senior editor
When a reporter asked senior for
ward Andy Markowski how he felt
about this season’s Nebraska basketball
mmmi _i
Nee
team, it would
have been fair to
expect an
unpromising pre
diction.
After all, the
Cornhuskers lost
their top player,
Tyronn Lue, to the
NBA Draft last
April. Along with
him went his 21.2
points per game and the team’s best
free-throw shooter.
Instead, Markowski cracked a small
smile and had a look that said otherwise.
“I feel real good about this team,”
Markowski said Tuesday at NU’s media
day. “Silently, I'm more excited about
this team. We’ve got the potential to be
better than last year.”
Nebraska returns every scholarship
player from last season’s 21-12 team
except Lue and guard Rodney
Williams. Williams was released from
his scholarship last spring.
NU Coach Danny Nee said the team
will have more balance without Lue,
who now plays for the Los Angeles
Lakers. Nebraska still will rely on its
defense, second best in the Big 12
Conference last season, to be the team’s
strong point again.
“We’re gomg to hang our hat on our
defense,” Nee said. “We’ve also got to
cut down on our turnovers if we’re to be
better than last year.”
NU averaged 17.8 turnovers last
season, and Nee said he’d like to see that
amount down to 12. The Huskers will
try to cause more turnov ers with a new
pressing defense.
Nee said he plans to use three play
ers at point guard: junior Joe Holmes
and freshmen Todd Smith and Cary
Cochran. Holmes, a junior college
transfer from Tyler (Texas) Junior
Please see MEN’S on 11
Sanderford more comfortable
By Jay Saunders
Staff writer
For the Nebraska women’s bas
ketball team, last season was sup
posed to be a test run for then first
Sanderford
year coach Paul
Sanderford.
The players
were not ones he
recruited, and
the players
weren’t exactly
sure what to
expect from the
former Western
Kentucky
coach. But the
test run ended up as a 23-5 season,
tying the school record for most wins
in a single season.
As practice begins for this sea
son, Sanderford said he is excited
about the prospect of another suc
cessful campaign.
“This is a long way from being
my team,” Sanderford said, “but at
least I know the kids that are return
ing. I know who to push and how to
motivate them.”
Sanderford had no problem with
motivation for Saturday’s first prac
tice.
With the Bob Devaney Sports
Center microphone clipped on his
shirt, the second-year coach had the
Comhuskers practice for three hours.
“I was very satisfied with today’s
practice,” Sanderford said. “We are
much ahead of where we were last
year physically.”
This season is also a chance for
the players to get to know
Sanderford’s coaching style better.
“It felt good to be back at prac
tice,” senior Cori McDill said.
“(Sanderford) makes practices so
intense. But it is competitive too.”
NU also has gained the serv ices
of former Husker volleyball player
Please see WOMEN’S on 11