Three teams chase Big 12 title
By Jay Saunders
Staff writer
. i This weekend, the Texas A&M soc
cer team will have to do something it
has never done before in order to win
_•a-''.-. the Big 12
Conference Tour
nament - win three
games.
The last two
seasons, the
Aggies have been
either the No. 1 or
No. 2 team in the
conference going
into the tourna
ment
But when
A&M Coach G. Guerreri looks at the
Big 12 standings this week, his Aggies
will be in third place after the close of
the regular season.
That’shecause Baylor swept through
the conference with a 9-0-1 record, good
for a No. 1 seed in this weekend^ tour
nament in San Antonio, Texas.
“It may be the first time in the three
years of the tournament that there are
more than just two teams that can win
this thing,” Guerreri said.
The Bears knocked off both Big 12
powerhouses this season. Baylor beat
Texas A&M 2-0 and knocked oflfNU 1
0. BU tied Texas Oct. 11.
Baylor is led by junior Courtney
Saunders, who finished fourth in the
Big 12 in scoring with 34 points.
“Baylor has had die same lineup for
three years now,” Guerreri said.
“Everyone expected them to be in the
hunt, but I don’t think anyone expected
them to outscore (A&M and
Nebraska).”
If Baylor is going to win the tourna
ment, they’ll have to do it without start
ing goalkeeper Dawn Greathouse, who
injured her knee in October and will be
out for the rest of the season.
Freshman Megan Jones started for
the Bears against Nebraska and will
have to shoulder die load this weekend.
“That is a huge loss,” Missouri
Coach Bryan Blitz said “But they are
talented all the way around”
The Tigers are the No. 5 seed and
will play No. 4 Texas.
In die other half of the bracket, a
semifinal showdown between Texas
A&M and Nebraska could happen if the
Aggies can beat Iowa State.
“We were trying to avoid Nebraska
until the final,” Guerreri said “We have
been positioning ourselves to beat
Baylor for the past tree weeks.”
If A&M and Nebraska meet in die
semifinals, it will be the third time in
three years the two teams have met in
the tournament
Guerreri said this year’s meeting
could come with NU having a chip on
its shoulder after the loss to Baylor.
“I talked to (NU Coach John
Walker) and told him I felt sorry for
whoever his team played next,” Guerreri
said. “Then I realized it was probably
going to be me.”
Buffaloes have‘no heart’
in loss to No. 3 Nebraska
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Senior staff writer
Colorado \folkyball Coach Pi’iAiu
struggled to find a way to describe die
Buffaloes’ lop-sided three-game loss to
No. 3 Nebraska on Wednesday night at
the NU Coliseum. In fact, he struggled
to say anything at all
“I’ve got nothing to say,” an unusu
ally tight-lipped Aiu told reporters after
the match. “If you have questions to
answer; 111 answer them. If not, well, the
sooner we get out of here, the better.”
Nothing went well for CU in the 15
7,15-5,15-3 loss that both Aiu and the
1 S^ranked Buffaloes would like to for
get. Colorado, which has hit .274
against league opponents this season,
mustered a .033 hitting percentage
againsj the Comhuskers.
And a school-record blocking night
for NU - which broke the three-game
mark with 38 block assists - con
tributed to the Buffaloes’ 42 errors at
the net.
Defensively, CU recorded just eight
blocks. The Huskers posted a .326 hit
ting percentage with NU’s outside hit
ters playing well at the net. Jaime
Krondak hit .414 and totaled 17 kills,
while sophomore Nancy Meendering
pounded a match-high 18 kills.
But Aiu insisted Nebraska did not
surprise the Buffaloes with its game
plan.
“They didn’t do anything special,”
Aiu said. “We played very pooriy. The
way we played tonight we’re not going
to beat many teams in the Big 12, let
alone the best team in the Big 12.
“And I don’t want to take anything
away from Nebraska. They’ve played a
good match, and they're a solid team.
But we are much better than we showed
tonight”
CU outside hitter Sarah Lodge
blamed the loss on the Buffaloes’
seniors. Lodge, who leads the team with
3.59 kills per game, had nine for the
entire match.
Senior captain Tegan Lynch, who
averages three kills per contest, hit an
uncharacteristic -.133 percentage.
“We had no heart and no fight in
us,” Lodge said. “We had absolutely no
senior leadership tonight. With four
seniors on the team, that is going to hurt
I’m disappointed.
“I hope we have a better shot at diem
at home at the aid of the season.”
Nebraska starts off’98 season
with new point guard, Holmes
From staff reports
The Nebraska men’s basketball
team will open its exhibition season
tonight with one new face in the start
ing lineup.
Joe Holmes will attempt to fill the
shoes of point guard Tyronn Lue, now
with the Los Angeles Lakers, when
the Comhuskers play host to Pella
Windows at 7:05 p.m. at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center.
With the exception of Lite, .
Nebraska returns every player who
started a game last season.
“We lost a great player in Tyronn
Lue,” NU Coach Danny Nee said,
“but I know the players feel they have
a lot to prove - that we can win with
out Tyronn.”
Lue averaged a team-high 21.2
points per game, m me Huskers si
contests last season. NU finished 20
12 after a loss to Arkansas in the first
round of die NCAA Tournament
Along with Holmes, a transfer
from Tyler (Texas) Junior College,
the Huskers add guard Rodney
Fields, also from Tyler Junior
College, and three true freshmen.
“The new players have been
brought in and nurtured by the older
players and that’s really refreshing,”
Nee said. “Usually there’s a Jot of
competition - a lot of egos in basket
ball.
“With this team, it’s really nice
how they pull together. We have great
senior leadership.”
Nebraska returns four seniors,
three of whom will start tonight along
with junior guard Cookie Belcher.
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