Sports
Thursday, September 30,1999 Page 9
Monson leads NU in win over Kansas
Jahnke, Behrends
spark Nebraska
in reserve roles
By John Gaskins
Staff writer
The set-up for Wednesday night’s Nebraska-Kansas vol
leyball match provided eerie potential for the same night
mare that Kansas State gave NU last week.
Same building. Same night of the week. Same type of
opponent - a team from Kansas that had been a Comhusker
punching bag since the Ford Administration.
But after some early scares, reality set in and the night
mare was over.
Senior outside hitter Mandy Monson led a season-best
NU offensive explosion that scared the demons away and
prevented deja vu. The eighth-ranked Huskers (10-3 and 2
1 in the Big 12 Conference) crawled out of a 9-6 first-game
hole to sweep KU (104 and 1-2), 15-11,15-6,15-7.
The victory prevented the second-consecutive school
- - ... num ivansas in two
llnlloilhall weeks to beat
■UlIvYUall Nebraska for the
Nebraska 15 IV' first time ever. NU
Kansas 116 , .
-improved to a per
fect 63-0 vs. KU,
after dropping its first loss to K-State in 59 meetings Sept.
22.
“I’m impressed with our team,” NU Coach Terry Pettit
said. “They didn’t see what happened against Kansas State
as a sign of where we’re at. I think they saw it as a challenge.
They’re working hard to get better.
“We could have won that (KSU) match. That whole deal
is over with. I thought we were out to play tonight.”
A crowd of 3,011 at the NU Coliseum watched co-cap
tain Monson blast a season-high 16 kills, three shy of her
career high (and her most in 56 matches) and lead
Nebraska's best offensive attack in 35 matches - a .358 hit
ting percentage.
Monson - who hit a season-high .600 - picked up the
slack from a contained Nancy Meendering, who, despite a
10-kill performance, was not the team's kill leader for just
the third time this season.
It didn’t seem to matter. Monson and Meendering got
help from juniors Kim Behrends (9 kills and .471) and Katie
Jahnke (7 kills and .500), who came off the bench to physi
cally overpower an out-sized KU defense.
“That lineup we had tonight was probably our best
Please see SWEEP on 10
Mike Warren/DN
NEBRASKA JUNIOR, Nancy Meandering digs in the first game against Kansas in the Coliseum. Nebraska won the match in three
games.
Jackson’s defensive stats defy belief for NU
By Matthew Hansen
Staff writer
Before the season, if you had told Nebraska
Defensive Coordinator Charlie McBride that
one of his linebackers would be leading the team
in interceptions alter iour
games, he might have been
a little skeptical.
If you had claimed that
this same linebacker would
also have more career
touchdowns than Matt
Davison, McBride
undoubtedly would have
called you crazy.
Julius Jackson is mak
Jackson in§ t“e strangest of predic
tions come true.
The weakside line
backer has racked up three interceptions, two
fumble recoveries and two touchdowns for the
Comhuskers through their first four contests.
Jackson claimed that these statistics are
somewhat of a coincidence, a matter of being in
the right place at the right time.
McBride begged to differ.
He called Jackson a big-time player and said
that big players make big plays.
Middle linebacker Carlos Polk also dis
agreed with Jackson’s assessment of his rash of
key plays.
“Everybody keeps saying that all the
turnovers that Julius is getting are a big fluke,”
Polk said. “I don’t buy it. He puts himself in a
position to make those plays. He works hard in
practice, and the hard work he puts in allows
him to make those kind of plays in games.”
And Julius Jackson began the season as a
backup.
Most defensive coordinators would proba
bly be terrified at the prospect of having to
replace an injured two-year starter at the line
backer position. Not McBride, who had to do
just that when senior Eric Johnson went down
with a knee injury in the Southern Mississippi
game.
All McBride has to do is send Jackson, who
had been splitting time with Johnson, into the
fold on a full-time basis until Johnson returns in
late October. McBride had no reservations in
doing so.
“We obviously hate to see Eric go down, but
as for being worried about the position, no, we
weren’t worried,” McBride said. “Jackson is a
good football player. All we really lost was
depth”
66
Everybody keeps saying that all turnovers that Julius is
getting are a big fluke. I don’t buy it. He puts himself
in position to make those plays ”
Carlos Polk
Nebraska middle linebacker
Said Polk: “Eric is a great player, with great
speed and instincts. At the same time, when Eric
went down, we knew we were still covered. We
knew Julius was ready to step up and play ball.”
It wasn’t like Jackson was lacking in experi
ence. The three-year letter-winner played in 33
games before starting against Missouri on
Saturday. He has recorded 56 career tackles.
Jackson said that his first career start wasn’t
much of a thrill because of his prior experience.
However, he welcomed the opportunity to be on
the field for the whole game.
“Before this year, as a backup, I sometimes
got a little frustrated with my lack of playing
time,” Jackson said. “This year, playing every
other series was fine. But, at the same time, it is
nice to stay on the field. It is really important to
me to show the fans what I can do.”
According to Jackson, it will be nearly
impossible to continue to do what he has done so
far, namely to keep up his current pace of inter
ceptions, fumble recoveries and touchdowns.
That doesn’t mean, however, that his level of
play will fall.
“I don’t expect to come out of every game
with a touchdown or a fumble recovery or a
pick,” Jackson said. “What I want to do is bring
intensity to the defense. I want to come into
every game and play my position and play my
responsibilities, which I think I have been doing.
If I do that, and turnovers keep coming by way, I
don’t have any problem with that.”
