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Thursday, March 23,2000
Page 16
Editor: Samuel McKewon
(402)472-1765
NU takes Jays
in two games
By Jamie Suhr
Staff writer
OMAHA - For a rivalry, it sure is
one-sided
The Nebraska softball team swept a
double header against instate rival
Creighton on Wednesday, improving its
record to 18-15 and giving the
Comhuskers a seven-game winning
streak over die Bluejays.
In NU’s 5-0 victory in game one of
the double header, NU scored all the
runs it would need with one swing of
HUSKERS 5 3
BLUEJAYS 0 2
the bat by second basemen Jamie
Fuente, who belted a solo home run
over die leftfield wall in the top of the
first.
That was all the run support pitcher
Jenny Voss (6-6) needed. Voss baffled
hitters all night, gaining her second
straight shutout by pitching a complete
game one-hitter.
“Jenny had outstanding command,”
Coach Rhonda Revelle said.
After striking out the side in the
third inning, Voss stepped to the plate
and drove in an RBI to give NU a 3-0
lead.
However, NU would struggle to
find runs in game two of the twin bill.
The Huskers failed to capitalize on
numerous scoring opportunities by
leaving seven runners stranded in scor
ing position and having a runner
thrown out at home.
Creighton held a 2-0 lead after an
unearned run crossed the plate in the
second and third innings. NU answered
the Jays with a dun of its own when
Fuente hit a sacrifice fly to deep right
field to score Jennifer Lizama.
Despite the poor production with
runners in scoring position, Revelle
was happy with her team’s offense.
“We’re still having good at bats,”
Revelle said. “I’m pleased with how we
competed at die plate.”
NU starting pitcher Penny Cope
didn’t give up any earned runs, but last
ed just four and one-third innings. She
left with runners on second and third
and just one out in a 2-2 game. Leigh
Ann Walker was brought in from the
bullpen and set the Jays down in order
by forcing a pop out on a bunt and then
striking out designated hitter DeAnn
Raster on three pitches.
Walker (8-4) spellbound the Jay
hitters with her rising fastball and knee
buckling change-up. In her perfect 3
2/3 innings pitched, Walker struck out
nine of the 11 batters she faced.
“When we’re all on our game, we’re
unhittable,” Walker said. “(Bluejay bat
ters) were frozen out there.”
Bentz likes team’s
chances at NCAAs
By Brian Christopherson
Staff writer
The Nebraska swimming and div
ing team just wants to sit at the same
table with the elite college swimming
programs, and maybe tally up an indi
vidual title before dessert.
Nebraska Coach Cal Bentz wants
to join the party as a top-10 team at the
NCAA Championships, which starts
today and runs through Saturday in
Minneapolis, Minn.
“We have a lot of leadership on
this team,” Bentz said. “We have been
knocking on the door of the of the top
10 for a long time now, and now we
have the opportunity to get in.”
Bentz has reason to be optimistic
that this team could finish higher than
any other Comhusker team in history.
The highest finish right now came in
1988 and 1989 when NU finished
10th.
The Huskers head to the Twin
Cities with 10 athletes competing, six
of whom competed at last year’s
Championships, helping lead the 1999
NU squad to an 11th place finish.
Seven of those 10 swimmers claim
«*r'
All-American status, with one of
those stars looking to write his name
in Nebraska swimming history.
Senior Adam Pine enters the 100
meter butterfly as the top seed in the
country, laying claim to the nation’s
fastest time with an unshaven time of
46.26 at the Big 12 Championship
(fourth fastest mark in event history).
“Adam is an experienced swim
mer both collegiately and internation
ally, and I think he knows how to han
dle the situation he is in,” Bentz said.
Pine also will be kept busy swim
ming the 100-meter freestyle (7th
place finish in 1999) and the 50-meter
freestyle, as well as the 400-meter
freestyle and 400-meter individual
medley relays.
Other returning senior All
Americans will be Michael Windisch
and diver Erik Cook.
Windisch figures to be the biggest
threat in the 400-meter individual
medley, a race that he qualified for in
the consolation fmal the previous two
seasons.
Cook gives the Huskers a fighting
Please see SWIMMERS on 15
Mike Warren/DN
SENIOR WINGBACX Bobby Newcombe will be one of the main punt and kick returners for NU along with junior Joe Walker.
Newcombe has been returning kicks since his freshman season.
Newcombe leads solid return cast
By John Gaskins
Staff writer
Long forgotten in Nebraska’s 12-1
record and seven-game winning streak
to end its impressive 1999 season was
just how close the Comhuskers came to
disaster.
After already hitting a low and see
ing their national title hopes sink in the
Oct. 23 loss to Texas, the Comhuskers
were drowning even deeper the next
week. For nearly three quarters against
lowly Kansas, they were sinking toward
rock bottom.
Down 9-3 late in the third quarter,
with its offense going nowhere, NU
received a life preserver from just the
right person at just the right time. The
Jayhawks were forced to punt, and they
punted to Bobby Newcombe.
Big mistake.
The junior wingback-turned-quar
terback-tumed-wingback again turned
the fortunes of NU’s game and season
around with one explosive 86-yard
touchdown dash that happened to be the
deciding outcome in a 24-17 win.
Within seconds, he had taken the
Huskers off life support and started a
charge that didn’t end until they beat
Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl and fin
ished No. 3 in the polls.
Such is the power of one punt
return.
“That gave the team a lot of motiva
Please see RETURNERS on 15
Self, Hamilton head list of possible NU coaches
By Joshua Camenziiid and Matthew
Hansen
Staff writers
Tulsa Basketball Coach Bill Self and Miami
Coach Leonard Hamilton easily can understand
the other’s situation heading into their teams’
Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament showdown on
Thursday night.
Both have guided their squads to unprecedent
ed success this season. Both are recognized as
among the hottest coaches in the country.
And, as a result, both have spent much of their
time recently deflecting spec
ulation that they may be pac
ing the sidelines for Nebraska
or another school next sea
son.
Accrording to NU
Athletic Director Bill Byrne,
neither coach has been con
tacted by tiie school and will
not be until their seasons are
Self over
But that hasn’t stopped
the rumors. Self said that the mention of his name
in conjunction with other coaching jobs has
become a distraction for his team.
And Hamilton said the speculation was unfair
to his team.
“I enjoy doing what I do,” he said in an
Associated Press story. “I enjoy my relationship
with my players. The strength of the pack is in the
wolf, and the strength of the wolf is in the pack.
That’s our philosophy here at Miami.”
The speculation will continue, though, mainly
because of the success Hamilton and the
Hurricanes have had this year.
The Miami coach hasn’t always had to worry
about coaching rumors involving his hiring. A
decade ago, Hamilton, 51, was picked to try to res
urrect the Hurricane basketball program after leav
ing Oklahoma State, where he coached 1986-90.
In the fust half of the ’90s, the results weren’t pret
ty
In his first four seasons, Hamilton’s teams won
only 34 games, losing 80. But the 1995 season
would prove to be the beginning ofMiami’s, and its
coach’s, ascent
That year, the Hurricanes went 15-13 and
reached the NIT. Hamilton was tabbed as the UPI
National Coach of the Year and the Big East Coach
of the Year.
Please see COACHES on 15
