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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 1999)
NtPs Conner, Flores bolster tourney slate ■ The two players have recently recovered from injuries. By David Diehl Staff writer Traveling to Bethlehem, Pa., for the Billy Sheridan Tournament, Nebraska’s starting wrestling lineup is beginning to take the shape that was intended at the beginning of the year. Although 125-pounder Paul Gomez is still three weeks away from being eligible to wrestle, redshirt freshman Justin Flores, NU’s project . ed starter at 141 pounds during the preseason, will mgke his first colle giate start After having arthroscopic surgery on his knee in early November, Flores has returned a week ahead of sched ule. Coaches had hoped to have him back in time for the Missouri dual next weekend. Assistant Coach Mark Cody said Flores definitely gives the team a boost headed into the 12-team tourna ment, which Lehigh will play host to. “He gives us the opportunity to challenge to win the team title,” Cody said. “I think without him it might be kind of tough.” While Nebraska was solid at the 141 spot last year with All-American Jose DeAnda, Flores will be die third wrestler to start at the weight this year. DeAnda finished eighth at last year’s national meet and was one of the most talented wrestlers cm the 1998 team. But Head Coach Tim Neumann has confidence in Flores’ ability to take DeAnda’s place. He said that the coaches had planned on Flores taking over the 141 spot at the beginning of this year, and they recruited him to fill the void left by DeAnda. Cody said that Flores had a great week in practice, and though he still isn’t in top shape, he expects Flores to fare quite well this weekend. “Technically he looked real sound,” Cody said. “He needs to get himself in a litde bit better shape, and then he’ll be ready to go. But he’s so sound technically that it may not make a difference this weekend.” Also back from injury for the open is 174-pounder Ati Conner. Conner sat out of the Black & Decker Cornell Classic two weeks ago resting a knee he slightly injured in the sea son opening dual. Conner said he aggravated the knee in Wednesday’s practice but said he feels he can still fare well in his matches on Saturday. “As long as I don’t get it twisted I’ll be all right,” Conner said. “On my feet it’s about 80 percent. But on the mat I can’t bend it.” Sanderford questions seniors in loss to Drake DRAKE from page 8 Wisconsin game. Against a team like Drake, you have to slow them down, and you can’t make defensive errors.” NU tied the game at 61 at the nine-minute mark, but the Bulldogs had one more run in them as they went on a 15-4 run to put the game out of reach. The Huskers would cut the lead to five but could get no clos er. Drake Coach Lisa Bluder said the difference between this year’s game and last year’s game, a 75-72 Nebraska win, was the rebound mar gin. The Bulldogs held a 51-45 mar gin on the glass, despite a career high 20 rebounds from Nebraska’s Charlie Rogers. NU out-rebounded DU 55-31 at Drake last year. “As I told my players, I’m thrilled with their character,” Bluder said. “You hope that you don’t get yourself in those kind of holes, but we hit some big shots down the stretch and got some good boards.” Sanderford, on the other hand, wasn’t so pleased with Nebraska’s effort. Schwartz, Rogers and Nicole Kubik combined to score 61 of Nebraska’s 77 points. Sanderford said he begged and pleaded all night for his team to get the ball inside but to no avail. “I was a disappointed within our decision making and our shot selec tion,” Sanderford said. “ I’m disappointed that we lost. I told our players that they have to be accountable. We have mature play ers that aren’t playing like seniors. Maybe we need to play freshmen. We have to do whatever we have to do to turn this thing around.” San Diego pounds JMU By Brian Christopherson Staff writer Somebody forgot to tell San Diego’s setter Katie Lindquist that Nebraska is a lock to waltz through this weekend to the Sweet i6. Tonight, San Diego and the Huskers hook up at 7 in the NU Coliseum in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Lindquist is as confident as any that the Torero of USD can take out the Huskers after her team’s 15-3,15 7, 15-11 win over James Madison, which pushed the Torero record to 26 7. “I think we’re ready for them, and we’re ready to take that step into the Sweet 16,” Lindquist said. Lindquist’s case for an upset over the Huskers is made stronger by the fact that she can flip the ball to the tal ents of her All-American teammate Petia Yanchulova. Yanchulova can have the same dominating presence that All American Nancy Meendering brings for the Huskers, as she showed with her 15 kills and .560 hitting percent age Thursday night. Horns’ QB challenges Nebraska CHAMPIONSHIP from page 8 schemes. “They’re Nebraska, and they’re good, but they are not very complicat ed,” Applewhite said. “It’s not going to be calculus.” Come Saturday, an ABC national television audience will see if Applewhite has the perfect equation drawn up for beating the NU defense again. Putting pressure on Applewhite appears to be the big key to NU walking out of the AJamodome with the Big 12 trophy, junior defensive tackle Loran Kaiser said. “We’ve learned that we can’t ever quit getting in his face,” Kaiser said. “If you quit pressuring him, he’s going to pick you apart.” San Diego 151515 J. Madison 3 7 11 With the score tied at 11 in game three against James Madison, Yanchulova put down a ball from the back row, propelling a 4-0 spurt to put the Dukes away. “I’m excited about the match with Nebraska,” she said. “I think we can come up with a good strategy and come out confident.” Nebraska Head Coach Terry Pettit said that San Diego has what it takes to give the Huskers all they want. “They don’t give you any points, and you have to go out and earn them,” Pettit said. “They are a consis tent, good ball-handling team that doesn’t make many errors.” Pettit’s team frustrated first-round opponent Davidson with its size and should have a significant advantage in that department against San Diego. That size factor doesn’t faze Lindquist. “We have smart players on this team, and when other teams are big ger, we know where to put the ball,” she said. « I think we1re ready for them, and we ’re ready to take that step into the Sweet 16.” Katie Lindquist San Diego setter Nebraska played San Diego last season and won in three games, but outside hitter Mandy Monson doesn’t expect as easy a go this time around. “They’re a lot better team than they were in the spring,” Monson said, having spent time playing against sev eral of the USD players during that time. Jennifer Torns, first-year San Diego Head Coach, is pleased to be heading into the Nebraska match with a win under her belt in the NCAA tournament. “The monkey is off our back after that first round,” she said. “Now, we will feel a little freedom to play more aggressive and be less timid.” Football Starters «&« Nebraska starters OlftKS Pos. No. Name Hi Wt Pos. No. Name Hi Wt SE 3 Matt Davison 6-1 165 LR 81 Aaron Wills 8-2 250 LT 69 Adam Julch 6-5 320 NT 96 Steve Warren 6-2 305 LG 63 James Sherman 6-4 295 DT 91 Lbrah Kaiser 6-4 295 C 54 Dominic Raida 6-2 295 RR 83 Kyle Vanden Bosch 6-4 270 RG 55 RussHodteMn 6-4 290 SLB 37 Tony Ortiz 6*1 220 RT 58 DaveVdk 6-5 300 MLB 13 Carlos Polk 6-2 250 IS 85 TJ. Deflates 6-3 250 WLB 50 Julius Jackson 6-1 240 QB 7 Eric Crouch 6-1 195 LCB 3 KeyuoCraver 5-10 190 FB 15 Wife Milter 6*1 245 FS 19 ClntFiritey 6*0 205 IB 38 Dan Alexander 6-0 245 ROV 21 Mike Brown 5-10 180 W8 82 Sean Applegate 5-9 185 RCB 22 RaphBrown 5*10 180 PK 26 Josh Brown 6-2 185 P 17 Dan Hadenfeldt 5-11 Texas starters Pos. No. Name Hi Wt Pos. No. Name HI Wt QB 11 MajtfApptotifhite 6-1 205 LE 49 AanxiHumpixey 64 260 RB 3 Hodges Mitchel.. 5-7 190 LT 64 Casey Hampton 6-1 305 RB 44 Ricky Brown 66 225 RT 73 SMunRogers 64 315 SE 22 Ryan Nunez 5-9 185 RE 50 Cedric Woodard 6-3 295 f 9 Kwame Cavil 6-2 205 SSL 39 Tyrone Jones 64 239 TE 81 Mike Jones 64 260 ML 4 De’Andre Lewis 6-1 238 LT 70 Leonard Davis 66 387 WL 2 EverickRawfa 6*1 230 LG 72 Roger Roestef 6-5 315 LCB 5 Ahmad Brooks 5-8 182 0 62 Matt Anderson 64 310 FS 24 GregBrown • 6-2 200 RG 76 A. Kirk-Hughes 6-3 320 SS 23 Lee Jackson 6-3 205 m 66 CoryQuye 6-6 325 RCB 1 DrvteMt S-9 182 PK 13 Kris Stockton 5-9 195 PR 33 Ryan Long 6-1 190 Husker lineup thin for Ameritas By Joshua Camenzind Staff writer When putting things into perspec tive, Nebraska Coach Danny Nee said his team has five “rookies” and is suf fering as all young teams do after last weekend’s Hoop and Quill Classic. “There are five players who went into that tournament that have never played this level of basketball before,” said Nee, referring to four junior college transfers and freshman Kenny Booker. “They are rookies, and we have played like rookies. We know it, and they know it” r* s i The Huskers (2-2) face a critical two-game stretch this weekend in the Ameritas Classic, as NU will open the tournament Friday night at 6:30 against Western Carolina (2-2). Monmouth (1-2) and Columbia (1-3) will face off in the other game at 8:30 p.m. The winners meet Saturday at 8:30 p.m. NU will enter the tournament shorthanded at the guard position with guards Cookie Belcher and Cary Cochran out with wrist and shoulder injuries, respectively. The injuries have forced Nick Lahners, a 6-foot-2 walk-on from Lincoln, into action for the first time this season. Guard Rodney Fields said the team is confident in Lahners backing up starting point guard Danny Walker. “Wp got Nick stepping up,” Fields said. “I got confidence in him. He’ll be OK. Other players have taken him to the side and shown him different things to keep his composure and keep him calm.” Fields said the tournament repre sents an important part of the season and is NU’s to win. “This whole tournament is criti cal,” Fields said. “We have had a cou ple of days to prepare for this little tournament, and we are going to win it. We have all the things in the world. It is at our house, and it is time to make things happen.” Nee said Western Carolina is an “athletic opponent comparable to Eastern Illinois.” If that is true, the Huskers will have their hands full after taking two overtimes to dispose of the Panthers. Nee described Monmouth and Columbia as “Princeton-style teams that play smart.” Nee said he is not overlooking the opponents in a tournament that the Huskers have not lost since its incep tion in 1987, when NU lost to Ohio State in the championship game. “They are all big (games),” Nee said. “It is a big weekend for us; we have to take care of business.”