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Thursday, October 21,1999____Page 9
Nebraska takes three to tame Tigers
Like the Huskers’ last four opponents,
Missouri falls fast without much fight
By Brian Christopherson
Staff writer
Missouri’s volleyball team left the NU
Coliseum on Wednesday night with the same
deer-in-the-headlights look that five straight
Nebraska opponents have now had.
The twelfth-ranked Comhusker volleyball
team continued its winning ways with a 15-5,
15-11,15-1 three-game sweep of the Tigers.
“I’m surprised that we didn’t put them
away in the second game, maybe,” said NU
Head Coach Terry Pettit, “but overall I was
pleased.”
The Huskers (15-4 overall and 7-2 in the
Big 12 Conference) dominated the first game
of the match and appeared well on their way to
a second game rout when Missouri responded
with an eight-point run to erase an 8-1 NU lead.
‘To their credit, they played better,” outside
hitter Nancy Meendering said. “But the reason
they came back is because we let down.”
The Huskers went on a six-point spurt of
their own to take a 14-9 lead and then finish off
the game with a 15-11 win.
There are good teams m this conference,
and they are going to play well at times,” Pettit
said. “They played hard, and that was an intense
second game.”
After a hard-fought second game,
Nebraska tamed the Tigers with five straight
blocks, as the 3,763 fans in attendance were
treated to the Amber Holmquist show.
The freshman middle blocker recorded six
blocks in the final game on her way to a career
tying nine blocks for the match, which was
coupled with eight kills.
The five straight blocks stuck out in setter
Jill McWilliams’ mind.
“I don’t know that it has ever happened
before, with five in a row,” she said. “Amber did
a great job of reading their setup and making
the block.”
Missouri (8-12 and 2-7) struggled all night
against the NU blockers, as it hit at an ugly -
.035 hitting percentage for the match, far below
NU’s .258 clip.
66
To their credit, they
played better. But the
reason they came back is
because we let down.”
Nancy Meendering
NU outside hitter
The Tigers also had third-game troubles
accounting for adjustments made by the
Huskers involving outside hitter Angie Oxley.
“We put Oxley on the right side to stop their
left-side attack,” McWilliams said, “and she
blocked a couple, and that was big for us.”
Nebraska All-American Nancy
Meendering put her standard mark on the game
with 12 kills to lead all players. Freshman
Greichaly Cepero also added a spark to the NU
attack with her six kills.
Pettit was also pleased to see Mandy
Monson come alive late in the match.
Mandy was hitting the ball down into the
block early, but she finally relaxed in that third
game,” he said.
Pettit said the season has taken a positive
spin for the Huskers over die past few weeks.
“Our passing over the last month has been
really good, and our setters are getting die ball
in system,” Pettit said. “We’re making
progress.”
Nebraska will need to play at a high level
when it visits lO^-ranked Texas on Saturday
evening in offense as the Huskers try to climb
from their third-place spot in the conference
standings.
“We’re going to need to serve tougher than
we did tonight at Texas,” Pettit said. “I think this
was a good match to prepare us for this week
end.”
For more on the Huskers match with
Missouri, turn to page 10.
Ill I hM——i——^—————IlfUl INI I
MkeWarren/DN
NEBRASKA’S NANCY Moondoring digs a serve from Missouri at the Coliseum on Wednesday night,
neorasm swept Missouri in three games ana Moonaonng lea an players in mis with 1 z.
Lone Star Huskers feel sting of Longhorn wins
By Darren Ivy
Senior staff writer
As Clint Finley talked about losses to Texas in 1996 and
1998, his Mood started to boil.
The 37-27 loss in the 19% Big 12 Championship game
and 20-16 loss last year in Lincoln have caused the junior
safety from Cuero, Texas, to almost regret going home.
Sine he likes to see his family, but the people in the town
make it almost unbearable.
“I have to listen to it every day every time I go home,”
Finley said. “It gets old. It gets old realty quick. Football is not
just a game to me. 1 don t
take this jokingly. To me
they can joke about it all
they want. When they are
in it, and they are playing
in the heat of battle, it is
not just a game. To them
it is just entertainment. I
take it to heart, and it
bothers me.”
The two losses to die
Longhorns bother many
in red, but none more
than the Cornhusker
players who hail from the
Lone Star state - because
they hear about die losses
each time they go home.
After last year’s upset that ended NU’s 47-game home
winning streak, Keyuo Craver didn’t have to wait
“A lot of people gave me d lot of crap back home,” said
Craver, a Harleton, Texas, native. “I had like 20 messages on
my answering machine. Messages like,‘I bet you are holding
your tongue now about picking Nebraska. I bet you regret
Please see TEXAS on 11
«
I have to listen to
it every day every
time I go home. It
gets old. It gets
old really quick.
Cunt Finley
NU safety
Don’t hate UT for playing good football
Samuel McKewon
“Look at me. And look at you. And look at
me. And look at you.”
- Robert DeNiro, “Raging Bull”
We have been conditioned to hate Texas.
Just like we were supposed to hate Oklahoma.
It’s the curse of the Nebraska fan, which
always reverts back to the curse of the farmer,
to not be happywith whdtwe have. To wallow
in insecurity. To fear Texas, because, for a few
moments, the Lone Star state might just be
better than us.
It befell Kansas State a few weeks ago,
when the president of the university said
everybody likes beating Texas because
Texans are rich and arrogant K-State, long
the downtrodden, mirrors die huddled masses
ofthe proletariat quite weH But Nebraska has
been living the football high life for a long
time.
So what is it with us? Both NU/UT clash
es have been fantastic entertainment worth
more than a hundred Nebraska-Baylor
blowouts. But there’s this inkling that says
most Husker fans would rather watch a cake
walk this weekend than a real game.
It goes all the way to the top, when
Athletic Director Bill Byrne vaguely hints at
just how much he’d like to see Nebraska beat
Texas. At least his notion extends to all sports,
whereas most Husker fans stop with die
pigskin.
Still, there’s no consolation. Nebraska is
to Texas as Colorado is to Nebraska. We have
created a rival where there isn’t one; UT
already has plenty. Texas A&M, Oklahoma,
every other team in Texas - the Longhorns’
dance card is full.
And alas, NU is going stag. OU is gone,
CU never was and KSU is just too weird And
so, as always, fens revert bade to the only rival
they can know: those who happen to be better
than us on a given day.
UT fits die bill. But there’s more to love
about the Longhorns than there is to hate,
Good coach. Smart quarterback. Tradition
like NU’s. A command of the state’s best tal
ent and resources. Texas isn’t like Nebraska,
they are Nebraska. Look at us. And look at
them.
They are proud of thek state, just like we
are. They are arrogant about toeir sports, just
like we are. They love strong women's college
programs, just like we do. They hire coaches
with promises of money and support. Their
fens are rich, just like Nebraska’s.
‘ The only difference is, they puff their
chests out about it, while the insecure
Midwesterners hold it all in, preferring to
horde all their pride for a rainy day that will
never come or some Internet chat room.
So what ifthey say their school is better (it
is) or that they have more money (they do).
That’s the charm of UT - they are definitely
high crust, and they make no excuses. They
like to throw their weight around at the Big 12
Conference (they are the few that dare chal
lenge Byrne). They speak their mind. They
are going to get the Big 12 Basketball
Tournament switched to Dallas, away from
die Kansas/Missouri crib of Kansas City, Mo.
Thatpower is admirable. And, ifNebraska
would just speak up, our people could have it,
too.
So they beat Nebraska in the past. So
what? Enjoy the Longhorns. Enjoy the
games. Enjoy their fans, their atmosphere,
their arrogance. Enjoy a game that deserves,
for once, to be televised. Enjoy, for once,
being nervous before kickoff. Enjoy it while it
lasts through Saturday.
Because next year, instead of Texas, NU
gets Baylor, a team, a people and a program
that couldn’t resemble the Comhuskers in its
wildest dreams. And that^s too bad
San wd McKewon is a senior news-edi
torial and political science major and a
Daily Nebraskan senior staff writer.
