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Meendering
takes charge
in third game
By John Gaskins
Staff writer
Wednesday night’s rematch of last year’s
NCAA Pacific Regional Final between
Nebraska and Wisconsin didn’t quite live up to
the five-game thriller from a year ago.
But it did provide enough excitement to trig
ger flashbacks.
The fifth-ranked Comhuskers (8-2) cruised
through the first two games, then clawed their
way back from a seven-point deficit for the sec
ond straight match to give them a sweep of the
No. 13 Badgers (4-3), 15-5, 15-9, 18-16, before
3,111 fans at the Nebraska Coliseum.
The victory, which ended NU’s non-confer
ence schedule, was the Huskers’ eighth straight
and third straight over a top-15 opponent after
starting the season 0-2.
For the third straight time against a top-15
foe, NU found itself down by at least six points
in a game and found a way to win both the game
and match. For the second straight time against
Wisconsin, Nebraska dug itself out of a five-or
more-point hole.
“We didn’t panic,” said Nebraska Coach
Terry Pettit. “We just stayed with it. I was
impressed that Wisconsin didn’t check out. They
continued to fight. They made some nice adjust
mems.
Just like last year, junior outside hitter Nancy
Meendering took charge of the match in the final
game and provided the match-winning kill that
sent the Coliseum crowd into a frenzy._Q
The All-American hammered nine of her
game-high 17 kills, and all nine of her kills in the
third game, after the Huskers found themselves
down 12-5 and running out of substitutions.
That’s when Pettit switched his dominating
right-side hitter to the middle blocker position.
. Meendering responded with a vengeance.
“I guess I just feel like when I’m on the floor,
I want to make a difference in any way I can to
help our team,” Meendering said of the switch.
“And when we got down by that much and they
were getting close to closing up that third game,
I think our team just kicked it in and said ‘Hey,
we’ve got to do this.’”
Jftost people would never have guessed that
Wisconsin would even sniff closing out a game
after their performance in the first two games.
The Badgers, who boast possibly the best
blocking unit in the nation behind 6-foot-4 All
American Kelly Kennedy and U.S. National
Team member Sherisa Livingston, were out
. Matt Miller/DN
GREICHALY CEPERO SMASHES the ball between two Wisconsin defenders Wednesday night at the Coliseum. After cruising through the first
- two games, the Huskers fought back from a seven-point deficit to win the third game 18-16.
blocked by the Huskers 12-7 after two games.
NU was led in those two games by backup mid
dle blocker Jenny Kropp, who provided a career
high eight blocks.
“I don’t think we competed in the first
game,” said Livingston. “We were out there, but
we weren’t on the court. But after a while, we
were just like, ‘Let’s start playing now.’”
UW did, and raged back to block NU seven
times in the final game, behind three of
Livingston’s game-high 10 blocks.
But just when the Badgers were three points
away from mounting a comeback, Pettit made
adjustments that gave the Huskers the defensive
savvy that held their sixth opponent in seven
matches to under .093 hitting percentage (.044).
Down 12-5, Pettit sent in defensive specialist
Nikki Henk from off the bench to provide the
spark the Huskers needed. Henk, whose fifth
game ace serve against UW turned last year’s
dramatic match around, came through again
with four point-stopping digs. By the time she>
went back out, the scoreboard read 12-10.
“I just come in there and do what needs to be
done,” Henk said. “I’m giving people a break
who have been in there a couple of hours, men
tally and physically. When (Pettit) calls my
name, I just go and don’t think about it.”
However, Henk’s boost wasn’t the most
memory-provoking aspect of the rematch. No
one had the legendary 1998 match in the back of
his mind more than NU Associate Head Coach
John Cook.
Cook was Wisconsin’s head coach in that
match and almost guided the Badgers to the
biggest win in program history. But UW lost a
heartbreaker, and a few months later, Cook left
the program he had built for NU.
volleyball JC ~7%
' Nebraska 15 1%\ S§ Vj
Wisconsin 5
Wednesday night’s match brought in so
much emotion for Cook that he refused to com
ment to the media in the days leading up to it.
After the match, Cook finally opened up and
expressed the difficulty in coaching the match ^
and watching the players he had recruited.
“It was very tough,” Cook said. “I’m very
happy we won, but ] feel bad for those Wisconsin
players, because I was having flashbacks to last
year, and I know how they feel over there.
“They competed really, really well tonight. I
was proud of their effort, especially after the
first game wheh they could have thrown in the
towel.”
: \
Solich, Evans speak
By Joshua Camenzind
j Staffwriter
Contact has been established
between former Nebraska running
back DeAngelo Evans and Head
Coach Frank Solich, but Solich
said he would not elaborate on the
situation until thetwo speak again.
“We talked a little bit
(Tuesday) ” Solich said. “We are
going to'have to certainly visit
again. It was good to have a con
versation.
» “We still need to talk some, so
we will get together again.”
When asked if Evans was still
in town, Solich replied, “yes.”
Solich said when something
“worthwhile” happens, the media
will be informed.
i
Evans has yet to. release a state
ment about why he has quit the
team.
His mother, Eamestine Evans,
told the Daily Nebraskan that
when the statement is released, “it
will be TV-wide.”
Solich was asked if players’
negative comments toward Evans
would affect the team if Evans
were to return.
“I try to stay away from doing a
lot of what if,” Solich said. “I
know that is done an awful lot in
the game by a lot of people, but if
you do that as a coach you’ve got
problems.”
Solich said he has taken the sit
uation mtoxonsideration, though.
“We take things as they come,
and we will deal with that issue if
that issue arises,” Solich. said.
No score pred'
■ Southern Mississippi
players take a no-fear
attitude for Saturday’s
game in Lincoln.
By Samuel McKewon
Senior staff writer
Southern Mississippi is no stranger
to slaying college football's giants.
In 1989, it knocked off Florida
State. Georgia, Alabama and Virginia
Tech are among the Golden Eagles’
higher profile victims in previous "Rea
sons.
c: But HJSM defensive lineman
Adalius Thomas, an All-American last
season, isn’t into pregame predictions
for Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. matchup at
No. 4 Nebraska.
“Ask me Sunday morning,”
Thomas said. “I’ll give you a prediction
then.”
Thomas and other Golden Eagles
preach a hearty respect - not fear - for
the Comhuskers. They don’t promise
victory or plot outan exact gameplan
for winning.
“We predict only one thing, that
we’ll play hard and we’ll play hard for
60 minutes,” said sophomore USM run
ning back Derrick Nix, who rushed for
1,180 yards last season. “We don’t care
about ranking. We’re ready for all of
them.”
Southern Miss (2-0) hasn’t broken
much of a sweat yet with a 48-14 victo
ry over Tulane and a 40-6 win over
Northwestern Louisiana. But NU (2-0)
exists in a different category, and the
Golden Eagles know it.
Still, there’s reason for optimism.
Southern Miss boasts the best receiver
ii —-—
We predict only one
thing, that we ’ll play
hard and we ’ll play
hard for 60 minutes.”
Derrick Nix
USM running back
in Conference USA in Sherrod Gideon
and the conference’s finest defensive
lineman in Thomas. In fact, the entire
defensive line returns, as do two of the
three linebackers.
USM’s defense also mixes in the
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