Jacobson finds Mexican
gem for NU tennis team
■ Maria Fernandez has shot
herself up the Husker ranks
with a 9-1 record so far.
By Mike Callahan Jr.
Staff uniter
Scott Jacobson landed the No. 2 high
school tennis player in Mexico by check
ing his e-mail.
In the fall of 1998, the Nebraska
women’s tennis coach received a message
from Maria Laura Fernandez, a talented
young woman from Puebla, Mexico, about
90 miles from Mexico City.
Fernandez sent out an e-mail to a num
ber of colleges looking for a place to play
tennis. Jacobson answered. And eventually
Fernandez chose Nebraska.
Now, 10 matches into the 2000 cam
paign, Fernandez is sporting a 9-1 singles
record at the No. 3 slot for the Husker
women’s tennis team and a 9-1 doubles
record to boot.
Jacobson is ecstatic about the play of
his young, rising star.
“Maria has great work ethic and is
always there,” Jacobson said. “She is obvi
ously playing at a very high level.”
How good is 9-1 at the No. 3 slbt? Take
into consideration who she’s played thus
far.
Jacobson mentioned Fernandez has
battled two opponents that NU’s No. 1
player, Sandra Noetzel, has challenged in
previous years.
“The young lady from Texas Sandra
lost to last year, Maria split with,”
Jacobson said, “and the girl from
Southwest Missouri that Sandra had a
tough three-set win against, Maria beat her
6-3,6-2.
“We don’t want to take anything away
from Sandra - she’s the best we’ve ever had
- but these outside comparisons are the
best judge for where Maria’s at.”
In her most recent singles match,
Fernandez defeated Oklahoma City’s
Melisa Lemus 6-4,6-1.
Fernandez, who has been playing ten
nis since she was 6 years old, is from a city
^ I think we can
win a Big 12
championship or
even a national
championship
while I’m here.”
Maria Fernandez
UNL tennis player
with a population of about two million.
She claimed it was an easy decision com
ing to Nebraska.
“The coach and the assistant coach
were very nice, and Nebraska has a good
program,” Fernandez said. “I love Lincoln
because, to me, it’s very calm.”
With a solid young crop of women sup
porting this year’s Huskers, the future
looks bright for Fernandez-led teams. NU
has just landed two of the top players in
California for next year’s recruiting class.
Complimenting Fernandez’s winning
ways and competitive flair is a champi
onship mentality. She believes the Huskers
can win the national championship while
she’s here.
“I think we can win a Big 12 champi
onship or even a national championship
while I’m here,” Fernandez said.
Jacobson said he loved that attitude.
When asked about her national champi
onship ambition, Jacobson giggled in a
way that only a coach can giggle after
expectations are bom.
“The great thing about Maria is that the
sky’s the limit,” Jacobson said. “She recog
nizes the gift that we have in our program
and if Maria says it, I’m up for a national
championship in good old Lincoln,
Nebraska.
“It’s going to take some great strides,
but hey, you never know.”
You might say Fernandez is shooting a
little high. But the first step towards win
ning a championship is believing.
Fernandez believes.
Baseball
team slams
UNO Mays
NU wins in sloppy contest
By Jason Merrihew
Staff Writer
The Nebraska baseball
team turned a sloppy game
into a one-sided, 18-2
blowout over in-state foe
Nebraska-Omaha on
Tuesday.
The Cornhuskers (8-5
overall) converted 18 runs
off of just nine hits in their
home opener at Buck
Beltzer Field; only five of
the runs were earned.
“We didn’t do much
offensively,” NU Coach
Dave Van Horn said.
The Mavericks (1-6)
commited six errors,
including two key errors by
shortstop Jason Herzog.
Nebraska struck blood
first in the bottom of the
third inning, when Herzog
was unable to field a Jamal
Strong ground ball. Senior
Jim Bailey scored on the
error, and Aaron Gozart was
able to advance to third
base. Adam Shabala fol
lowed Strong, hitting into a
fielder’s choice to the pitch
er, allowing Gozart to score.
The UNL pitching staff
was able to keep UNO hit
less for three and two-thirds
innings, until John
Shoemaker hit a double,
setting up Eric Gordon’s at
bat with a man in scoring
position. Gordon belted
Brandon Penas’ pitch over
the left-field wall, tying the
ball game 2-2.
HUSKERS 18
MAVERICKS 2
The bottom of the
fourth was when the wheels
fell off for the Mavericks.
After the first two
Cornhuskers were walked
in the fourth, Bailey hit an
RBI triple that hit the top of
the center-field wall.
The Huskers continued
to pour on the runs, scoring
four runs in the fifth, five in
the sixth, four in the seventh
and one in the eighth.
Shortstop Brandt
Vlieger led Nebraska offen
sively with five RBIs on
two hits. Senior Justin
Cowan added three RBIs on
two hits.
Van Horn used the game
to allow his pitching staff
some valuable work on the
mound. The Huskers used
five pitchers in all.
“We got some pitchers
in who needed to throw,”
Van Horn said.
Sophomore R.D. Spiehs
struck out five of six batters
he faced in the two innings
of action he saw.
“Coach (Van Horn) told
me that I was only going to
pitch two innings,” Spiehs
said. “I just went out there
and threw hard.”
Junior right-hand pitch
er Andy Bent picked up his
first victory of the season
after pitching two scoreless
innings and striking out two
batters.
Huskers
beat Bears
in tourney
WOMEN from page 16
job handling the pressure. Once we got the
ball over halfcourt was when we turned it
over. We just didn’t take very good care of
the basketball.”
Baylor committed 15 first-half
turnovers while shooting 29 percent (8-18
from the field). For the game, the Bears
turned the ball over 24 times, 18 of which
were NU steals.
Center Casey Leonhardt, who had
been in a late-season slump full of foul
trouble and poor shooting, bullied the
Baylor posts with 19 points and 11
rebounds. NU was 6-0 when the junior
transfer from Illinois earned a double-dou
ble.
“When Casey plays well, the team
plays well,” Went said.
Went also had one of her better games,
scoring all 12 of her points off four three
pointers, tying a season high.
Lost in all of Nebraska’s high scoring
glory were off nights from senior guards
Brooke Schwartz (nine points) and
Nichole Kubik (six points). It was the first
time in 57 games that either of the two
scored in single figures.
Went said the Huskers expect a close
and physical game with Kansas and a
fired-up Jayhawk team that was swept by
NU during the regular season for the first
time since 1988. A third victory over KU
and an 18th win would probably ensure
Nebraska an at-large bid to the NCAA
tournament.
But Sanderford refused to say if
Tuesday’s victory - NU’s fifth in a row -
was already enough.
“I have given up trying to figure out
the NCAA committee,” Sanderford said.
“All I have control of is my basketball
team. We’ve been playing with our backs
against the wall for about a month, so
tomorrow will be nothing new to us.”
“I’ll believe we’re in the NCAA tour
nament when we win Saturday night (the
championship game) or when we see our
name on television on Sunday afternoon.”
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