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.”
