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,. .... _ .. . Lane Hickenbottom/DN
Lindsay Wischmeier and the Husker volleyball team will play Saturday night at 7 p.m., a night that will also honor 25 years of Nlft volleyball programs.
Husker standouts to be honored
By Brian Christopherson
Staff writer
It’s hard enough to play the Nebraska volley
ball team anytime, but it would seem like Baylor
is walking into a lion’s den Saturday night.
The Bob Devaney Sports Center brings vol
leyball into its friendly confines again on a night
when NU will be celebrating the silver anniver
sary of its volleyball program.
Factor in that the Bears are facing a Nebraska
team that has won seven straight on route to a 22
5 record, with a 14-3 conference mark, and it
looks like a tall order.
„ BU will also be playing in front of an even
bigger sea of red than usual in the 13,500-seat
Devaney Center.
NU Coach Terry Pettit knows his team still
nas 10 piay me game rnougn, ana tsayior is not a
slouch of an opponent.
“We have two things working against us,”
Pettit said.
“There’s the fact that we’re not familiar with
the arena. The second thing that you lose is that
it’s not as intimidating a situation as the
Coliseum is, where teams have a history of los
ing.”
Baylor does have a history of losing to
Nebraska though and was dominated in three
games earlier this year in Waco.
Yet, Pettit know the Bears have the talent to
give NU all it wants and possibly more on
Saturday.
“Baylor runs a very fast offense, very athlet
ic,” Pettit said. “Baylor’s probably as good of an
offensive team as we have in the conference.”
The Bears brings a very respectable 23-7
record into tne game witn a i 1-0 conrerence
mark, including wins over Texas and Texas
A&M.
All games are important for the conference
leading Huskers now. They just need to avoid
tripping before the finish line, and they will wrap
up another conference title.
This one may even have a little added signif
icance, the return of former Husker players to
celebrate the 25th anniversary.
“I think it’s significant because we take
women’s participation for granted now,” Pettit
said. “I think it’s important to recognize the com
mitment Nebraska made 25 years ago and to rec
ognize those women who built this program.”
The venue for the game was also changed to
accommodate the Nebraska fans.
Please see VOLLEYBALL on 12
Swim meet highlighted by sprint competition
By Brian Christopherson
Staff writer
The Nebraska training room might
3e a little cramped with swimmers and
livers on Monday.
Arms and legs might be aching
after the Husker men and women host
30th the adidas Sprint Classic and the
Husker Shoot Out meets this weekend.
It is a three-day swimming fest
3eginning today and climaxing on
Sunday &t the Bob Devaney Sports
Center. The sprint meet starts Saturday
light at 6:30 p.m.
Nebraska comes into the meet
adding die 15th spot in the country in
he men’s poll and a No. 12 spot in the
women’s poll.
NU Head Coach Cal Bentz thinks
his meet could be the start of his
tarn’s climb in the polls.
“We feel with our scores from last
/ear, we are capable of sneaking into
hat top 10,” Bentz said.
Despite their optimism, both the
nen and women will be looking to
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swipe away their losing streak after
going 0-3 in dual competition in
Minnesota two weeks ago.
NU will try to revive themselves at
the adidas Sprint Classic, which is a
fast-paced affair, designed by NU
coaches to feature their sprinters and
draw fan interest. Races are cut in half
for the Huskers’ new 25-meter pool.
Bentz says the competition coming
in should make this an interesting
weekend.
“NX. State is probably the top
team to come in and probably the team
, we haye to look out for,” Bentz said.
Of course, the Huskers are also
wary of Drury, a Division II power
who has won three consecutive nation
al titles.
Besides the Wolfpack and Drury,
Cincinnati, Penn State and Colorado
State represent Nebraska’s competi
tion on die women’s side.
Penn St. and Colorado St will not
bring their men’s teams, but UC Santa
Barbara and Wyoming will compete
instead.
Junior Shandra Johnson shined for
w... .* ..
JoshWolfe/DN
UNL swimmer Javier Batelio, a sophomore, runs practice laps Thursday in
preparation for the team’s meet this weekend.
the Huskers, winning three events for
the women in Minneapolis two weeks
ago. Johnson thinks this will be a chal
lenging weekend, however.
“With the quality of competition
that will be there, it’s a great experi
ence to swim with people that are real
ly fast,” Johnson said. “I think this is
the kind of meet more compared to the
Olympics.”
It might not be an orthodox swim
ming and diving event, including an
exhibition of synchronized diving on
showcase, in which two people dive off
of two boards at die same time.
Bentz says it shouldbe a fun event
for the fans.
“It’s a really unique event, and I
feel it has a future at the Olympic
games,” Bentz said.
A&M
deja vu:
NU plays
Aggies
By Brandon Schulte
Staff writer
Coach John Walker and the
Nebraska soccer team can look at their
NCAA Tournament match with Texas
A&M two ways.
If NU looks at
the situation posi
tively, they realize
they won’t need a
scouting report.
But based on the
fact the teams
have met five
times in the past
| two seasons, you
Walker might think the
Cornhuskers
would rather face someone less famil
iar in the biggest game of the season to
date.
Sunday’s third round NCAA
Tournament match at 1 p.m. between
the No. 4 Huskers and the No. 11
Aggies at the Abbott Sports Complex
may be the biggest match in a rivalry
that has marked Big 12 Conference
soccer.
Walker said this weekend’s game
is bigger than the rivalry.
“I think for both teams the most
important thing is to play well,”
Walker said. “To play them in the reg
ular season helps from a familiarity
standpoint, but both teams are trying
to advance.”
Nebraska (21-1-1) defeated
Minnesota 5-0 in the second round of
the tournament to advance after a first
round bye. A&M (17-4-1) beat
Montana 2-1 in first round, action
before going to Kentucky and winning
3-2 in overtime.
Nebraska has won the last four
matches in the series, including a 1-0
victory in College Station, Texas, this
year and an impressive 7-0 victory in
the second round of last year’s NCAA
Tournament.
NU forward Lindsay Eddleman
said A&M would come in wanting
revenge for the tournament loss last
year.
“I think they’ll always have a chip
on their shoulder,” Eddleman said.
“But just like any of the past years we
played them, they’re going to come in
and play as hard as they can. It’s going
to be a great game. They’re a great
team, and it’s going to be another bat
tle out there. Even though we don’t
iike to admit it, we like playing each
other because it will be a great com
petitive game.”
Aside from Nebraska’s blowout
win, all of the matches have been tight,
hard-fought affairs.
The match earlier this year was
decided on a penalty kick by Jenny
Benson after Amy Walsh was fouled
hard in the A&M box. Nebraska also
won a three-overtime thriller 3-2 in the
Big 12 Conference Tournament and a
2-0 match in Lincoln last year.
Part of the reason for A&M suc
cess has been the play of first-team
All-Big 12 goalkeeper Melanie
Wilson, who has a 0.65 goals against
average this season.
Eddleman remembers more than a
Please see A&M on 12
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