Tourney puts Huskers back on track ■ The Huskers adjust to their new 6-2 offense as they defeat Florida. By Brandon Schulte Staff writer The disparity in the level of confi dence and perception between a top five volleyball team and one on the fringe of the top-10 can be tremendous. But that,gap can be very small in a tight match where a point here or a point there can mean the difference between a win and a loss. The fifth-ranked Nebraska volley ball team found that out the first two weekends of the young season. Nebraska lost close matches to No. 1 Pacific and No. 2 Penn State in its first two of the season at the State Farm Classic. But at the SunTrust Invitational last weekend, right side hitter Nancy Meendering said NU took a step back in the right direction and showed improve 1 ment in defeating No. 6 Florida on the Gators’ home court. The Cornhuskers showed this improvement by surviving two game points after exhausting their substitu tions, before coming back to win the first game of the match, 18-16. They would go on to win the match in four games. With the victory, NU Coach Terry Pettit said the team took an important step. “Every top team has to go some where, like Florida, with a tough envi ronment and beat a great team like that,” Pettit said. “The earlier that happens, the better.” If they hadn’t won that tight game and ultimately the match, Pettit said, his team may have fallen out of the top 10. Florida stymied Nebraska hitters in the first game, and instead of relying qn stellar offensive hitting to win the game, the team used blocking, serving and passing to overcome the Gators in the key game. “The most important thing we do is serving, blocking and passing,” middle blocker Jenny Kropp said. “Because you can win gamps with those, but you can’t win games just by hitting because if you can’t serve and you can’t pass, you’re not going to hit.” Meendering contributed 19 kills, 14 digs and seven blocks in the Florida game en route to being named the MVP in the SunTrust Invitational. She said some of the hitting woes stem from the change to a 6-2 offense, and the time it has taken for each player to adjust to her new role in the offense. “It took us awhile to get used to it, and the first weekend showed that we still were adjusting to it,” Meandering said. “We never changed our goals though. But I just think we realized that we might have to give up something now - in terms of winning matches - to play at the best we could at the end of the season.” The Florida match may have been one game out of 40 for Nebraska this season, but Kropp said the win did more than secure a high ranking. It gave the young team confidence. “We kind of matured as a team,” Kropp said. “It was more a mental thing for us to push through and win.” Crouch breaks his silence CROUCH from page 9 myself in every way. I was a little disappointed to see the decision, the way it was made.” The sophomore played two series in the first half against the Hawkeyes, scoring NU’s only touchdown of the first 30 minutes for a 7-0 halftime lead. He added two rushing touchdowns later in the game. Crouch said that he delayed comment on his situation until Tuesday in order to adequately pre pare for the game. “The reason why I wanted to wait is I wanted everything to kind of settle down,” Crouch said. “I did n’t want to have to think every day about what I was going to tell people or how I .was going to explain myself. “I wanted to prepare myself to play against Iowa because, most importantly, it’s how I play on Saturday and not how I explain myself about rumors that I hear Or things that people are telling me.” And boy, did he hear some rumors. There was, of course, the trans ferring to Ohio State tale. One story had him going to the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Another had him going to California. Yet another had him; /■*. ©Y» ©I© ©I© nTa"~'nT a quitting altogether. Crouch said he even heard someone mention he was going to go be a coach. “There was a lot of stuff going around,” Crouch said. And after rushing for 92 yards on five carries against Iowa, Crouch said he was a bit disappointed that Husker fans would think he’d quit the team. “It did bother me, in a way, that people would kind of put that per spective out there, that once some thing didn’t go right that I would automatically give up and quit the team, and that’s not the type of per son I am. “I think the situation would have to be almost life-threatening or very traumatic for me to give something this important in my life up.” Beyond addressing those issues in his first day of full dialogue with the media since the decision, Crouch said he would “do anything to help the team” and gave Newcombe praise for his play in the scrimmages and Saturday’s game. Solich, meanwhile, held firm to JiisTdea of using both quarterbacks, witK Newcombe getting most of the/ snaps in the game but Crouch seeing time in both halves as well. However, Solich said, the cur rent situation could change, and Newcombe must continue to per form well. a T a ala a T a ala ala ale a “That’s understood in the pro gram by our players that when you are the No. 1 guy, you still need to perform at a level that would dictate that you still be the No. 1 guy,” Solich said. Newcombe, dressed slightly down from the three-piece suit he wore last week, remained upbeat about the entire quarterback situa tion. He sees no controversy, nor does he have a problem with Crouch hav ing success on the field. While he can play better, he said, he’s prepared to Rattle California this week. “Surprisingly, I feel no nerves,” Newcombe said. So for now, Crouch said, the sys tem will remain the same, and he will do what he can to help the team. Losing the starting job was a bitter pill to swallow but one he has to live with. “At the beginning of last week it was kind of tough,” Crouch said. “I had a lot of emotions running through my mind and how I was going to come back still kind of determined on how I played during the practice. “I kept telling myself I had to get better somehow, and the only way to do that is to come out here and prac tice hard and give everything that I could.” Y a « Y ft ala ala ftY« «Y a /\ RIDE IN STYLE r r~—-— -r—v | Student Special! j j Buy 1 Bike & jl | 20% OFF 1 | Get the 2nd at ]| | CBJJ-LOCKS ] I 1/2 Price, [i l „Aim . r , I I Buy one bike at regular list price and get the I ; Must present coupon at time of purchase. », .._ „ , .... „r. II I k, . „ . ., cc . . . I 12nd at 1/2 off the regular list price. Bikers ■, I Not good with any other offer, special orders I I ... . b , I I i„„„„ c e. e I , •, i 1 regular list price must be $299.99 or more. Not1 I or existing layaways See Store for details. 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