Freshmen look to compete
By Lindsay Grieser
Staff writer
Competition for playing time can
be fierce - and according to
Comhusker women’s basketball Head
Coach Paul Sanderford, his five starters
for this season have yet to be decided.
Let the battle between the freshmen
and the veterans begin.
“The key to this season is depth,”
Sanderford said. “The freshmen are
going to be challenging returning play
ers for playing time.
“This is the best team I’ve had at
Nebraska. Putting them together and
finding the right chemistry is a chal
lenge for any coach.”
In order to attain some playing
time, Paige Sutton, a 6-foot-2 for
ward/center recruit from Las Vegas,
saidshe will have to take destiny into
her own hands.
“No one has a secured spot,” Sutton
said. “I think that’s the way it should be.
It pushes you past mediocrity.”
Adjusting to multiple practices
each day has been the toughest compo
nent for the six incoming freshmen,
four of whom will not likely redshirt.
“Most of the time we have four
workouts a day: lifting, conditioning,
individual and then a workout with
three other players,” Sutton said. Isha
Kelley has also seen the differences.
“College and high school (training)
are completely different,” said Kelley, a
5-foot-9 guard from Lincoln Southeast.
However, practices have been a
smoother transition for Sutton and
Stephanie Jones, a new addition from
Omaha Benson. Both began condition
ing this summer. All of the freshmen
had the chance, but Jones and Sutton
were the only two to participate.
“(The summer is) a whole different
level of training - the demand is so
high,” Jones said.
Outside of their required individual
practices, Sutton and Jones said they do
some shooting on their own time.
Jones said: “I always go shoot a lot.
When cdming into a big program with
so many good people in front of you,
you have to work so much harder.”
Playing with NU veterans like
Nicole Kubik and Brooke Schwartz
can definitely make for intense compe
tition, Jones said.
Jones, despite an ankle injury this
summer, is now fully recovered.
“Her size and athleticism, and her
ability to rebound will cause her to be a
challenging player right from the get
go,” Sanderford said.
Jones was recently named a third
team Preseason Freshman All
American, and she was also the first
player from Nebraska to play in the
Nike/WBCA All Star Classic, scoring
14 points.
Kelley was a second-team All-State
selection, and her record of 6.6 assists
in high school led Class A.
Sutton was a two-time first-team
All-State representative and led Bishop
Gorman High School to a 29-5 record
as state runner-up.
Another freshman with playing
potential is 5-foot-9 forward Shahidrah
Roberts from Blue Valley North in
Overland Park, Kan. As the first player
in the high school’s history to score
1,000 points, Roberts earned first team
All-State honors and led Blue Valley
North to a state runner-up finish.
The remaining two freshmen,
Amanda Buchholz and Margaret
Richards, will redshirt this year.
This season, NU is ranked No. 19
in the Women’s Basketball News
Service poll.
“Since they ranked us in the Top 25,
I hope we can live up to those expecta
tions,” Sanderford said.
Moscow State Radio
Symphony Orchestra
and Chorus
Nikolai Alexeyev, Music Director
Verdi’s Requiem
Sunday, Oct. 3, 7pm
Generous support provided by Ruth Marie Amen
Bh_
Perlman/Nikkanen/
Bailey Piano Trio
Pianist Navah Perlman, violinist Kurt Nikkanm
■ ; and cellist Zuill Bailey.
Tuesday, Oct. 5, 8pm
Johnny Carson Theater
Friday, Oct. 8, 8pm
Main Stage*
Guest Artists with the University Symphony Orchestra
Don Cossacks
of Rostov
Anatoly Kvasov, Artistic Director
An evening of Russian folk culture reflected in
choral singing and dancing.
Wednesday, Oct. 6, 8pm
i
_C_£_
Lied Center for Performing Arts
Lincoln, NE
Tickets: 472-4747 or 1-800-432-3231
Box Office:ll:00AM-5:30PM M-F
TEN YEARS Website: www.unl.edu/lied/
Nebraska Lied Center programming is supported by Ihe Friends of Lied and grants from the National Endowment tot the Arts, Md-Ametica Arts Alliance and the Nebraska Arts Council All events are made
»• p»i»tMiTTor HbEuncos possible by the Lied Performance Fund which has been established in memory of Ernst F, Lied and his parents, Ernst M. and Ida K. Lied
NU women runners
ranked nationally
By Jason Merrihew
StaffWriter
Though Nebraska Cross Country
Coach Jay Dirksen says the
Cornhuskers have yet to reach their
potential, the women’s team is now
ranked 15th in the country.
The Nebraska men’s and women’s
cross country teams will travel to
Emporia, Kansas, for the Emporia State
Invitational tonight.
The women’s team is ranked in the
top 25 for the first time this season after
a fourth-placed showing last weekend
in Minneapolis.
“Rankings are nice because it
means you have a pretty good team,”
Dirksen said. “There over 300 schools
in the country with a cross country
team.” \
Dirksen will use the Emporia State
Invitational to rest the top seven runners
on both teams and to let some younger
runners gain experience.
On the men’s side, the top finisher
for the Huskers will earn the seventh
spot on the roster for next week’s meet at
Penn State.
The Emporia State Invitational will
be the first time Ian Gray, a freshman
from Eugene, Oregon, competes.
“We’re looking forward for him to
run,” Dirksen said.
Freshman Hunter Kosman, a
Scottsbluff native, placed the highest
last weekend among runners on this
weekend’s men’s roster.
Freshman James DeBruhl, who bat
tled sickness last week, will try to regain
his form at Emporia. DeBruhl placed
206th in 28:00 at the Roy Griak Invite
last weekend.
Junior Todd Tripple will also try to
improve his time from last weekend.
Tripple placed 209th in 28:06 - the last
Husker to finish the Roy Griak
Invitational.
On the women’s side, Dirksen was
going to take six runners, but the roster
may be trimmed to four because of ill
ness. V
“We were scheduled to have six run
ners, but Melissa Drozda was real sick
this week, so she is not going, and
Stephanie Stewart is also sick, so she is
questionable,” Dirksen said. v
Jenna Lucas, who placed 102nd in
19:21 at the Griak Invite, will lead the
women’s team.
Amie Finker also will compete for
NU tonight. Finker finished 115th in
19:31 last weekend.
Deb Osteen, who finished 161st last
weekend, and Christy Linnell comprise
the rest of the women’s team.
The women’s race will start at 5
p.m., while the men will start a half hour
later.
Noetzel set to swing
into higher ranking
By David Diehl
Staff writer
When her time at the T. Rowe Price
National Clay Court Championships
was through, Sandra Noetzel had tri
umphed over two higher-ranked oppo
nents and clawed her way into the quar
terfinal round.
Noetzel, the Comhusker’s No. 1 sin
gles player, was ranked 58th nationally
entering the tournament, held Sept. 23
24 in Baltimore. After defeating the
23rd- and 34th- ranked women in the
country, her national position should be
on the rise - as high as 30th, Noetzel has
heard. But that’s not what’s on her mind.
“I don’t really pay attention to the
rankings,” she said. “I just want to play.”
Noetzel breezed through the first
round 6-2, 6-1 over 23rd-ranked Erica
Perkins from Washington State.
Her second round match went three
sets, but she finally prevailed 6-4, 4-6,
7-5 over Auburn’s 34th-ranked Andrea
Piski.
Noetzel’s tournament ended when
she lost to 16th-ranked Celeste Fry from
Mississippi, 6-2,6-4.
Women’s Tennis Coach Scott
Jacobsen said it is an honor to have
somebody as talented as Noetzel on his
squad.
“It’s a great thing for her. I’m really
proud of her,” Jacobsen said.
Noetzel was surprised at the quality
of her game this early in the season.
“It is good to know that in two to
three weeks I can be in the top of the
country,” Noetzel said.
Despite this, Noetzel said she was
n’t even in her best playing shape and
really wasn’t in a rhythm.
If she nails a quarterfinal bid with
out being in top playing shape, where
can she go when she is in top form?
Noetzel is humble on that subject.
“I don’t have any expectations,” she
said. “I just want to feel good and play
well.
“It’s my last year. I just want good
opponents to play, good tournaments, to
travel a lot and have a good time.”
^MDS Harris
Together, We're Making Lives Better
621 Rose Street, Lincoln
www.mdsharris.com/rcrt/recruit.htm
