Husker size too much for BU
By Brian Christopherson
Staff writer
Baylor could take a number and
stand in line as another victim of a
Nebraska volleyball tradition that
spanned to 25 years Saturday night.
The 8,279 fans in attendance at
the Bob Devaney Sports Center, rep
resenting the third-largest crowd in
School history, celebrated The silver
anniversary by watching the No. 12
Huskers (23-5 overall, 15-3 in Big
12) flex their muscles with a 15-7,
15-7,15-9 sweep of the Bears.
“I’m certainly happy to win in
three,” Nebraska Head Coach Terry
Pettit said. “Physically, we were a lot
bigger than they were, so we were
quite effective”
Baylor came into the match with a
23-8 record overall and 11-7 in con
ference play, with high hopes of
crashing die Husker party.
I NU’s middle block took over
early and often, however, preventing
any such thing.
Nebraska Coach Terry Pettit was
pleased with the play of Jenny Kropp
and Amber Holmquist and the way
they took advantage of an undersized
Baylor team.
4 “Amber and Jenny were very alert
in the middle tonight,” Pettit said.
“Baylor-is a dangerous team, but our
block and defense was real good in_
the first games.”
The Bears looked very dangerous
NE 15 15 15
Baylor 7 7 9
by scoring four-straight points on
their opening serve, but Nebraska rat
tled offal 5-3 run to push the score to
15-7 in the first game.
Baylor Head Coach Brian
Hosfeld seconded Pettit in terms of a
size mismatch.
“We don’t play against teams like
them,” Hosfeld said. “Physically,
they’re a Final Four team.”
Nebraska looked every bit a Final
Four team in a 7-0 run to start game
two, cruising the rest of the way to a
15-7 decision.
Kropp said the blocking by
Holmquist and herself may have
taken some bite out of the Bears.
“After you get blocked a few
times, they back off,” she said.
“’Cause they obviously don’t want to
get blocked again.”
Both players matched each other
with seven kills and four blocks for
the match.
When the lights were their bright
est, Nancy Meendering again stepped
into the spotlight, pounding out nine
of her 14 game-high kids in the final
game. >.
She again proved to be the biggest
weapon on the flopr on a night when
she was named asoneofse&n mem
bers on the Nebraska All-Century
team.
fe; . ; _ ...
a
Physically; we were
a lot bigger than
they were, so we
were quite effective
Terry Pettit
NU volleyball coach
“Nancy started out slow, but once
she got going, she was like a freight
train,” Pettit said.
Fittingly, Meendering put an end
to the match with her shot in game
three at 15-9, after Baylor had fought
to within 10-6. „
Meendering still gave much cred
it to the players around her.
■ “No way I can do it without my
team,” she said. “Tonight, you saw a
really well-rounded team out there.”
Nebraska will set its eyes on
clinching another conference .title
with a road win at Missouri and i win
at home on Saturday against Texas.
.... Pettit continues to run about like a
broken record in his assessment of his jg
young team’s potential, as theteam
seems to be still improving after an
eighth'Straight wim
. .-i^vTBis teamWilt eontinue tO get
better, not just for weeks, but for
years,” he said.
isconsm
—
By John Gaskins
j -v : Staff writer
“f'—^-5
, Wisconsin served as a massive roadblock on the
Nebraska women’s basketball team’s highway to national
prominence Sunday:
The unranked Badgers, utilizing the tallest frontcourt
in the Big 10 Conference and a proven lineup, outscored
No. 24 Nebraska 2447 in overtime to earn a 92-85 upset
victory and the Time Warner Cable Classic title.
In a game full of turnovers (67 committed between die
. two teams) and several second-half runs, Wisconsin (2-0)
proved to be both physically and mentally strong enough
to becdme only the third team in 32 games to beat
• Nebraska at the Devaney Center in the three-year Paul
Sanderford era.
“I’ve been coaching her^ a long time, and this win is
as big of a win this program has ever had,” said Jane
Albright, sixth-year Wisconsin Head Coach.
“We have so much respect for Nebraska and Coach
Sanderford. They are as good as everyone says they are.
We came into a place like the Devaney Center and played
a good, defensive game. We came up with the big plays
when we needed to.”
After breezing by its two exhibition opponents and
Friday’s first-round tournament opponent Georgia
Southern by an average of 35 points, die Huskers (1-1)
had all kinds of problems stopping Wisconsin’s attack
Sunday. The Badgers led most of the game.
And despite foul problems from heavily-hyped 1999
Prep Player of the Year and freshman setter Nina Smith
and NU’s containing of LaTonya Sims - UW’s leading
scorer last season - Wisconsin found ways to fend off
several Nebraska comebacks.
One way was feeding the ball to last year’s Big 10
Freshman of the Year, forward Jessie Stromski. The
sophomore carried Smith’s load by scoring 24 points,
grabbing 12 rebounds, blocking five Nebraska shots and
earning.the tournament’s Most Valuable Player Award.
Another way was making six of 14 3-pointers and out
rebounding NU 39-28.
BufSanderford said the Huskers, despite coming back
from a 58-50‘deficit with just under six minutes left, cre
ated their own disasters. He was most critical of senior
guard and last season’s leading scorer Nicole Kubik, even
Julie Luehrs/DN
Husker guard Nicole Kubik shoots over Wisconsin cen
ter Nina Smith. Kubik was the second leading scorer for
the Cornhuskers with a total of 16 points.
though her steal and assist to Casey Leonhardt tied the
game at 68 with about 20 seconds left and sent it into
overtime.
“Kubik was horrible,” Sanderford said. “She didn’t
show any leadership on the floor. My two senior guards
(Kubik and Brooke Schwartz) had 16 turnovers against
them. You’re not going to beat a team like Wisconsin
when you play like that. I can’t tell you‘how frustrating it
was trying to coach these kids today.”
NU track signs 200-meter star
From staff reports
The Nebraska track team inked
five high school athletes in the early
signing period Friday.
The group includes one male and
four females and boasts talent from
Texas and Nebraska.
Bradley Perry, a Port Arthur,
Texas, native, is the lone male recruit.
Perry, who has recorded a personal
best time of 21.11 in the 200 meters
and 10.53 in the 100 meters, is ranked
by Track and Field News as the No. 3
returning high school athlete in the
200 meters.
“He is among the best out there in
the 200 meters,” Nebraska Head
Coach Gary Pepin said. “He is a great
athlete and will fit very well into our
program.”
The female recruits include two
more Texas athletes: Ursula Peterson,
a middle-distance runner from
Portland, and Na’Tassia Vice, a high
jumper from Mesquite.
The group is rounded out by
weight thrower Emily Duran from
Nebraska City and multisport stand
out Julie Froeschl from Falls City.
“All the women, we think, are
very fine athletes who will be able to
come in and compete,” Pepin said.
“We are very excited about this
group.”
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