Sports
Wednesday, October 27,1999 Page 9
NU volleyball: Team hasn’t peaked yet
By John Gaskins
Staff writer
An old adage says you should never judge a
book by its cover.
And according to the Nebraska volleyball
players and coaches, the 13 ^-ranked Comhuskers
shouldn’t be judged by their 15-5 record. In case
you’re not well versed in recent NU volleyball his
tory, that’s considered a bad record around here.
With 10 games left in the regular season, NU
has five losses for only the second time in six
years. Since 1994, the Huskers have posted
records of 31-1, 32-1, 30-4, 27-7 and 32-2 and
have made it to three Final Fours.
The losses are much ado about nothing,
according to senior co-captain Mandy Monson.
“I don’t feel we don’t have a shot to get to the
Final Four,” Monson said.
“Most teams would think they wouldn’t have a
chance, but I’m really positive about the rest of the
season. We’re not at a plateau yet. I don’t think
we’re even close to reaching that.”
NU is in the rare position of being the chasers
instead of the chased in the
Big 12 Conference, sitting
tied for third place at 7-3
after Saturday’s five-game
loss at Texas.
But this is a much
stronger conference than
past Nebraska teams have
been used to, with five
teams ranked in the latest
USA Today/AVCA top 25
Pettit poll.
As the Huskers arrive at
the halfway point in the Big 12 season with match
es against 3-7 Texas Tech on Friday and first-place
Kansas State (9-1) - which NU lost to earlier this
season at home - Saturday, NU Coach Terry Pettit
said he has no concerns about the rare frequency
of losing.
“Sometimes, when a team doesn’t live up to its
expectations or other people’s expectations, some
times you let go. They have not let go.”
All of Nebraska’s losses have come against
teams ranked 16th or higher, and all but one have
gone five games, with the exception being a four
set loss to No. 1 Penn State.
In their last three losses, the Huskers lost the
deciding game 17-15, 15-13 and 15-13 to No. 15
Kansas State, No. 16 Texas A&M and No. 9 Texas,
respectively.
“A very positive note with this team is that it
has lost five matches,” Pettit said, “but we have not
played a bad match, and we’ve not tanked in a
match or not competed in a match.”
That’s not to say Pettit doesn’t think the
Huskers need improvement to get over the five
game hurdle and beat the teams that have beat
them when they get their second chances. One of
those chances comes Saturday night at Kansas
State.
In that match, KSU outside hitter Dawn Cady
slammed a career-high 37 kills, which broke the
school record. Nebraska also saw career perfor
mances from two Longhorns last Saturday from
Texas’ Erin Aldrich (32 kills) and Kathy Tilson
(31).
Pettit said the Huskers must be better orga
nized defensively in order to overcome such per
formances, but there’s only so much they can do.
He pointed out that NU is the best defensive team
in the Big 12, suffocating opponents to a. 127 hit
ting percentage.
“Because there is a net there, and you can’t go
tackle them, you can’t prevent the other team from
playing well,” Pettit said.
“We’ve taken a lot of risks this year. You have
to go with what your gut instincts are. What I’m
interested in is that things prove right in the long
run.
“There’s nothing that I have seen this year that
leads me to believe that at some point, this isn’t
going to be a great team. All it needs is a little more
experience.”
NU turns
its focus
to Kansas
m ' :
■ Nebraska tries to
lookpast Saturday’s
24-20 Texas setback. •
Needless to say, the 3-5 Kansas ^
Jayhawks don’t cany die same pres
tige mto Saturday’s matchup with
Nebnmg that the Comhuskers ’ last
opponent, Texas, $4..
The pre-game hype feat accont-^
panied last wP&S'Z^hH) loss at UT* j
isn’t there this week. KU hasn’t beat- §
en the Huskers in 30 years and ha%
been outscored 76-0 in the past two 7
contests. X
But NU Coach Frank Solich said
that when he sawKU play in'its sea
son-opening 48-13 loss to Notre
Dame, he saw a team that looked
pretty good. However, Solich said,
the Jayhawks encountered some
injuries and setbacks that he says
they seem to be rebounding from.
“They’ve done the right things to
get their team back on track,” Solich
said. “Right now, they appear to be
playing their best football.”
Coming into a game that isn’t as
hyped up as the Texas one doesn’t
make the week of practice any differ
ent, Solich said. The team is going to
approach the Jayhawks the way it
does any other team because taking
anyone lightly could be costly.
“Any game can be a big game if
you don’t get it done,” Solich said.
“So you need to approach it that way,
and approaching it that way, we know
that this game against Kansas is a big
game. And if we don’t get it done, it’ll
be a Titanic of a game.”
KU has some momentum tor
Saturday’s game, coming o£f a 21-0
Nanking of Missouri, its first confer
ence shutout since 1993.
The team features junior college
transfer quarterback Dylen Smith, a
bruising 245-pound fullback, Moran
Norris, and the shifty David
Winbush.
Solich said that KU’s rushing
attack, if clicking, could be as potent
as Iowa State’s conference leading
rushing offense.Quarterback Eric
Crouch expects a battle.
1 “They’ve proven they’re a better
team this year than they were last
year,” Crouch said, “So we expect a
lot of good things from them.”
" i7^ •.V:T ~ ? ' Mtxe Warrem/ON
NEBRASKA GOALKEEPER, Karina LeBlanc, has made the Nebraska net look small tejlppMeots this season. LeBlanc, a junior from Maple Ridge, British
Columbia, is leading the Big 12 Conference in all statistical categories for goorikeepen. * 1
■ ; ,* ;• ’.^8?. ->#.;*■ v5f-’ifa£?' £ '
LeBlanc
By Brandon Schulte
Staff writer
Nebraska goalkeeper Karina
LeBlanc reflects on her goalkeeping
adventures by writing poetry and short
stories. , V, ••
The literature is filled with happy
experiences, such as her spectacular
performance against the United States
for toe Canadian World Cup team, and
sad experiences like toe loss to Notre
Dame last season in the NCAA
Tournament.
LeBlanc reads her past works to
motivate herself before big matches. By
reveling In the good memories and
learning from the bad memories she has
grown into one of toe top goalkeepers in
the nation and is a key component of toe
fourth-ranked Nebraska soccer team, v
“Before matches I read about how
empty I felt after the Notre Dame game
and how good I felt after the game
against the U.S.,” LeBlanc said.
Since the beginning of last season,
her first as the starting goalkeeper for
NU, LeBlanc, a junior from Maple
Ridge, British Columbia, has become
accustomed to playing in big matches.
And to All-Americao-defender
Sharolta Nonen’s delight, ^eBlanc
seems to play her best in those big
games. X • , $
“Karina blossoms when we play
against tough teams,’*Nbnens£ud. “This
summer, when we played against the
U.S. for tte Canadian national team, she
was terrific. And last year against Notre
Dame, she played outstanding. It would
have been a totally different game with
y" />■■ •<^ntv. ^r.1 vj 11 ■ ■ -■ -
Before matches I read about how empty I
felt after the Notre, Dame game.’’
out her in the line-up.”
Starting with the game against
Texas A&M in the Big 12 Conference
tournament, her ability to dominate
games as a goalkeeper has been appar
ent. In that game she swatted away a
school-record 12 shots on goal in the
Huskers’ 3-2 overtime victory that pro
pelled than to the conference title. 11
More of ha brilliance was seen just
a few weeks later at Notre Dame in the
NCAA tournament She recorded 10
saves in the 2-1 loss, but Marty
Everding, Husker goalkeeper coach,
said NU could have easily lost by a 6-0
score if LeBlanc hadn't played so well.
Finally, this summer against the
United States, LeBlanc had a confi
dence breakthrough. NU Coach John
Walker said that was die day “you could
Please see LEBLANC on 10