It’s tourney time: Huskers ready for MSU
66
All I know is
that they are
the Honey Bears
from Baltimore.
We 'll concentrate
on our play, and
the coaches
will have us
ready for
(Morgan State)."
Nancy Meendering
NU outside hitter
By Andrew Strnad
Staff writer
Playing in the NCAA volleyball
tournament may be old hat for
Nebraska, but it never gets old.
The Cornh
uskers are making
their 17th consec
utive appearance
in the tournament.
NU is fifth all
unit in luunia
ment invitations,
as four schools are
tied with 18 app
earances.
Pettit For NU Coach
Terry Pettit, the
chance to coach in the postseason is the
best part of coaching volleyball.
“It's my favorite time of year and my
favonte time to coach," Pettit said.
The Huskers bring a 35 -15 record in
NCAA tournament matches into
tonight’s match at the NU Coliseum
with Morgan State, which is 0-1 in tour
nament play.
NU is 11-1 in first-round matches,
and with a top seed, the Huskers are
heavy favorites over the Honey Bears.
The first-round matches begin at 5
p.m.. with Utah taking on Illinois State.
The Huskers and the Honey Bears
will follow at 7:30 p.m. with the winners
playing Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
The two teams have never met and
know very little about one another. They
exchanged videos Tuesday.
“All I know is that they are the
Honey Bears from Baltimore,” sopho
more outside hitter Nancy Meendering
said. “We'll concentrate on our play, and
the coaches will have us ready for
(Morgan State).”
The Honey Bears (18-14) were
champions of the Mid-Eastern Athletic
Conference, and Coach Ramona Riley
Bozier looks at playmg as an opportuni
ty to build the Morgan State program.
“We’re trying to build some tradi
First round teams
Nebraska (28-1) Illinois St. (22-9)
SR; 5 SR: 3?
CR: 19-1 CR: 16-2
TTR: 14-1 TTR: 2-9
TA: 17 TA: 11
Morgan St. (18-4) Utah (20-9}
SR: 235 SR: 31
CR: 10-0 CR: 9-5
TTR: 1-2 TTR: 6-6
TA: 2 TA: 1
Key:
SR • Sagarin rating
CR • Conference rating
TTR - Record vs. tourney teams
TA - Tournament appearance
Jon Frank/DN
tion here, and playing at Nebraska will
show us how things are done,” Riley
Bozier said.
Morgan State, despite not having a
permanent home court and playing with
six scholarship players, is returning to
the tournament for the second-straight
season.
For Nebraska (28-1), in its quest for
a third trip to the Final Four in four
years, the Huskers have history on their
side.
Since 1982, no team that finished
the regular season undefeated has won
the national championship.
NU was undefeated until Nov. 20,
when the Huskers lost to Texas A&M.
In 1998, two unbeaten teams
remain (Long Beach State and Penn
State), but Pettit doesn’t buy historical
trends.
“I don’t throw salt over my shoulder
or cross my fingers or avoid ladders,”
Pettit said. “I think the best teams win.”
If Pettit is right, then Nebraska is
certainly one of the favorites, consider
ing the Huskers will be able to play all
four matches preceding the Final Four at
the NU Coliseum.
Nebraska is 22-1 in tournament
matches played at the NU Coliseum.
The only loss came on Dec. 10, 1994,
against Penn State.
That season the Huskers entered the
NCAA tournament at 31-0.
Husker volleyball
thrives on loud,
cozy environment
that propels home
winning streak
By Sam McKewon
Senior editor
Fourteen minutes before the
Nebraska-Texas volleyball match Oct. 16
came one of the best examples of just how
cozy the NU Coliseum really is.
There was a mother, courtside, hold
ing her daughter’s hand as they made their
way through the incoming crowd. The
daughter was holding the hand of a
younger sister, who, in turn, was holding
the hand of the youngest sister.
It was a scene that could have been
lifted from the book “Madeline.”
Then came the vicious twist.
On the court, Nancy Meendertng and
the rest of the NU volleyball team were
warming up. Meendenng has a cannon of
a left arm and isn’t afraid to use it.
She unleashed a practice kill cross
court, where a ballboy was supposed to
catch it.
He didn’t. Can’t blame him - the ball
shot 10 feet into the air.
But Mom never saw it coming.
The ball zinged off the mother’s head. Trying to
steady her balance, she broke her hands away from her
daughter, who broke away from her sister, who broke
away from the youngest sister, who promptly plopped
down on her fanny and cned.
Welcome to the comfy (and occasionally, too close
for comfort) confines of one of the nation’s top college
volleyball facilities.
It’s small, tight, dark and incredibly loud - about
what you’d expect from a venue of a little more than
4,000 seats built before World War II. The coliseum has
kept some old touches, too - it still has a Longines clock
in the east end of the stands, the only one of its kind in
collegiate volleyball.
And the NTJ volleyball fans love it. Go to a couple
of matches and you'll see the same regulars in their
same seats: the lady waving the K (for a kill) at the top
of the arena, the tubby kid shakin' his thmg in Section
G, the old man who has to peek around a column to
watch the action. They all come back every match.
The NU players love it as much as the fans do.
“This is what you play for, to come out here in front
of the fans at the NU Coliseum,” senior middle blocker
Megan Korver said. “The coliseum is what I’m going to
miss most.”
Korver, who transferred from George Washington
in 1996, has never lost a match in the coliseum. One
must go back to 1995 to find a Comhusker loss there.
Since then, they've won 61 consecutive matches in
the coliseum. NU has won 137 consecutive matches
against conference teams in the building that was built
m 1926.
The coliseum is a big change from Korver’s former
home arena with the Colonials. Battling with the NFUs
Washington Redskins, Georgetown men’s basketball,
and other sports in the fall, her teammates struggled to
find an audience - especially one that knew what was
going on.
“Unhaaa ... Hah,” Korver moaned when asked
about GW fans. “I actually had somebody walk up to
me and ask me what volleyball was. They said, ‘Do you
play that with a net?’ We got about 100 fans per game.
“Nebraska fans know what volleyball is. They know
what a rally is. They know what a back-row attack is.
Please see COLISEUM on 10
Dawn Dietrich/DN
THE NU COLISEUM has played home to the Nebraska volleyball team since the team was formed in 1975. The Huskers have won 61 consecutive
matches in the arena. _
NU Sports Information
THE NU COLISEUM was home to the Nebraska men’s basketball team from
1926 to 1976. In 1958, NU beat No. 1 Kansas and No. 3 Kansas State in the
span of two weeks.
