The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, September 02, 1999, Page 15, Image 15
Sports Thursday, September % 1999* Page 15 Huskers down Drake in three ■ Nebraska bounces back from its two-loss opening weekend, defeating the Bulldogs in under an ; hour and a halL By Brandon Schulte Staff writer * The Nebraska volleyball team’s match against Drake didn’t have the same heart-pounding excite : ment as its first two matches, but unlike the first two \ matches, this one gave the Comhuskers a notch in ; the win column. NU earned its first win of the season by blanking the Bulldogs 3-0(15-7, 15-7, 15-11). After starting 0-2 for the first time in school history, the Huskers \ it— I Last year, if we l would have \ played a team as good as Nebraska, we would have been out of j here in a half \ i 7 v, f 6 f an hour Blaine Tendler Drake coach I * *. » > *• l . •' •• ^ hit .339 to depose of Drake in less than an hour and a half. Nebraska Coach Terry Pettit saw posi tives in his team’s performance -even if it wasn’t perfect. “We did some good things and some not-so-good '* things’- Pettit said. “On the positive side, we had time to play (Amber) Holmquist, (Laura) Pilakowski, Katie (Jahnke). The tempo was different from last weekend, and there was some sloppiness on our side.” , Nil took control J of the match right from the start, jump ; img out to a 12-3 lead in the first game on its way to r a 15-7 win. \ ; The second game finished with the same score, as Nebraska was aided by Drake errors. The Bulldogs committed 27 errors on the night, 10 in the | second game alone. In the loss, Drake Coach Blaine Tendler was s happy with the effort of his squad. “The competitiveness was definitely there,” Tendler said. “Last year, if we would have played a team as good as Nebraska, we would have been out l of here in a half an hour.” DU kept the final game tight and was down 12 11 with Nancy Meendering serving. But the j Huskers ran off three consecutive points culminat * ing in a kill by Katie Janke. The non-conference match gave NU time to use v ' Nil ke Warren/D N NEBRASKA SOPHOMORE Jenny Kropp (right) and junior middle blocker Katie Jahnke put both arms up to block a spike from Drake. Nebraska beat Drake in a 3-0 sweep at the Coliseum, rebounding from last weekend’s two losses. The Huskers’ record is now 1-2. freshman Greichaly Cepero at setter in the third game. She also played as an outside hitter, finishing with 13 assists and five kills. “She did a nice job,” Pettit said. “She fired a couple of 31s (a long cross-court set). She really hadn’t worked with the team as a setter.” Though Nebraska used 13 players, competition amongst teammates wasn’t the focus of the game, middle blocker Jenny Kropp said. Not having a let down was. “There’s a lot of competition,” Kropp said. “Regardless of that, we do a really good job getting up for games.” The game was a homecoming of sorts for Bulldog setter Heather Harr, a graduate of Lincoln Southeast High School. She had 36 assists to lead both sides. And even in the loss, Harr was still up 20 minutes after the match ended. “I was so excited to be able to come here to Nebraska and play my senior year,” Harr said. “I’m still on a high.” Nebraska will next be in action this weekend at the Florida SunTrust Invitational in Gainesville, Fla. Adversity no match for NU Suspensions and position controversies add fuel to Huskers’fire Don't be surprised if die Nebraska football team wins a national tide this year. I know. I know. You’re saying, ‘What is this guy thinking? How can - he be making a prediction like this when there are so many uncertain ties?” Call me fan boy if you like. But if * you look at history, you may be call ing me Nostradamus at the end of the year. Here is my reasoning: NU has had a key player suspended in Shevin Wiggins, and there also has been con troversy at the quarterback position. It seems that Nebraska thrives on adversity. If you look back to die three national championships in 1994, ’95 and ’97, each year started with some controversy and adversity. Receivers Coach Ron Brown is a big believer that adversity makes peo ple stronger. When a whole team faces adversity, it brings them closer together. And when a team comes closer together off the field, that can’t help but carry over to the playing field. “When something happens, Coach Brown always stresses that we can be die ball that bounces back or be the paper that crumbles,” said senior Will linebacker Eric Johnson. “At Nebraska, we strive to be the ball that bounces back.” The Comhuskers bounced back when Lawrence Phillips was suspend ed in 1995. Other running backs stepped up and filled in until he was reinstated. Look for a similar occurrence at wingback this year, although it is not known whether Wiggins will be rein stated or not. Wiggins will be missed - don’t get me wrong - but there is talent at that spot. Sean Applegate, Jon Gibson and Wilson Thomas just don’t have the same game experience. Thomas, however, showed what he could do in die last scrimmage catching a long bomb. The Wiggins situation has all but been swept underneath the carpet as the quarterback controversy took cen ter stage. - The battle between Eric Crouch and Bobby Newcombe is settled for now, but I don’t think we’ve seen the last of it. The quarterback situation paral lels 1997 when Scott Frost and Frankie London were steeped in con-1 troversy or 1994 and 1995 when Brook Berringer and Tommie Frazier went head-to-head. Every time die media tries to drive a stake between players, or cast a bad image over the NU program, it seems to bond the team closer togeth er. And this increased unity can sometimes be the difference between completing a crucial fourth down and failing. When everyone on the team is on the same page and has extra motiva tion to prove critics wrong, teams can be very hard to beat. I think you will find NU is hungry and will be hard to beat this season. Darren Ivy is a senior news-edi torial major and Daily Nebraskan senior staff writer. Johnson’s role not limited to linebacker By Darren Ivy Senior staff writer If you step into the shoes of senior Will linebacker Eric Johnson, you bet ter be prepared to take on many roles. To his coach, Frank Solich, Johnson is a “tremendous” player, who provides enthusiasm and leadership for the Comhuskers. To redshirt freshman linebacker Randy Stella, Johnson is a teacher and player to look up to. To senior linebacker Tony Ortiz, he is a fraternity brother and good friend. The list goes on, but no matter who was asked, they all had positive things to say about the former Proposition-48 player from Phoenix, Ariz. “He has a great heart and enjoys doing things for people in the commu nity,” said Solich, who once considered using Johnson as a running back. “He plays many roles and does them all well” Johnson’s role as a football player is well documented. He is often-regarded as one of the best athletes on the team - '* holding five position records. As a junior, he started all the games, recording seven sacks and 70 total tack les. But his roles off the playing field are less known. When Johnson came to Lincoln in 1995 as a freshman, he feared that he would be picked on. “I was scared it would be a cold, cut throat place,” said Johnson, a fifth-year senior. “As a high school student, you watch movies like ‘The Program’ and think it is going to be like that.” But he got a pleasant surprise when he arrived on campus. Tony Veland, Mike Minter, Michael Please see JOHNSON on 16 New coach's plan remains a mystery By John Gaskins Staff writer There are plenty of things the Nebraska coaching staffers know about Iowa that will have them licking their chops for Saturday. To start, the Hawkeyes are coming off a 3-8 season in which they lost their last five games and ranked dead last in the Big 10 conference in both total offense and total defense. To boot, the experienced Comhusker coaching staff, mostly assembled of coaches who have been here for more than 10 years, will go up against a recently assembled Hawkeye staff under tjie guidance of fust-year Head Coach Kirk Ferentz. But the fact that the Hawkeyes have a new coaching staff may be the one thing that will keep Husker coach es’ chops dry. Both Nebraska’s offen sive and defensive coaching staffs Please see FERENTZ on 16