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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 3, 2000)
Scrimmage shows more trouble with NU defense FOOTBALL from page 16 The three offenses combined to produce eight touchdowns in 15 drives along with the 698 total yards. A 35-yard field goal try was botched on another drive. To put the total offensive output into perspective, the 698 yards were more than twice as much as Nebraska’s most productive oppo nent in 1999, Kansas, gained. The three quarterbacks - Lord, Joe Chrisman and Brett Lindstrom - did much of the damage as they combined to run and pass for five touchdowns. I-Back Chris Butler added 90 total yards. Coach Frank Solich said that the offensive production was in contrast to many years where the offense struggled to even make first downs. Solich added that he would be trou bled if the defense didn’t stiffen by the end of spring workouts in two weeks. “Well, you’d be concerned at the end of spring ball if your defense is not playing to the point where they’re not qllowing ouf offensive team to move up and down the field on them,” Solich said. “We’ll see how it works. I got a lot of confi dence in those guys. They’re work ing hard, and I think it will all come together for them. “I think they’ll continue to improve and be a good defense by the end of spring ball. And we hope they’ll be a very good defensive team by the end of fall camp.” Notes Nine players missed Saturday’s scrimmage. Vanden Bosch missed because of an academic commit ment. Eric Crouch, Matt Davison, Toniu Fonoti, Correll Buckhalter, Loran Kaiser, Jon Bowling, Jeremy Slechta and Chris Kelsey all sat out with injuries. In the scrimmage, Josh Davis, Jason Schwab and Kyle Ringenberg all suffered injuries, but Solich said none of them should miss consider able time. Vanden Bosch was named lifter of the year for the second straight year on Friday. He becomes the third player in Husker history, along with Rik Bonness and Donta Jones, to win the award twice. Three Husker gymnasts gain All-American honors By John Gaskins Staffwriter In a sense, the performances by the Nebraska men’s gymnastics team members at the NCAA Championships reflected the season. There was plenty to be proud of from those who competed, but many will be playing the “what if” game when look ing back days and years down the road. After the team failed to qualify for Friday’s team title, three Huskers earned four All-American honors on Saturday. Senior Derek Leiter finished his career earning two All-Americans by placing fifth in Friday’* all-around competition (57.825) and third on the vault (9.3735) in Saturday’s individual event championships. “I realized it was my last event of m/career and thought it was fine,” said Leiter, who was the nation’s No. 2 all-arounder and No. 1 vaulter coming into the meet. “I won’t look back on being on this team with much regret. I wanted to do well for everybody.” Senior Asher Lichterman, a trans fer from New Mexico, bowed out by tying for fourth on the vault (9.7125), while sophomore Dusty Jakub took home fifth (9.6625) on the parallel bars. Lichterman said winning All American was a nice send-off to a career that saw injuries and the cutting of New Mexico’s program after last season, while Jakub surprised himself I with his performance, which followed a career-high 9.8 the night before. The Lincoln native’s best prior score on the parallel bars was an 8.9. Friday was a qualifying day for the individual event titles. Along with Leiter, Jakub and Lichterman, sopho more Grant Clinton (high bar), senior Blake Bukacek (pommel horse) and sophomore Martin Fournier (parallel bars) qualified for Friday by virtue of Thursday’s scores but failed to make the cut for Saturday. The gymnasts agreed not having the entire team competing made scor ing tougher. That’s where the what-ifs kick in. What if national champions Jason Hardabura and Marshall Nelson were competing instead of watching from the bench with injuries (with the exception of Nelson’s performance on the pommel horse)? What if Clinton and Bukacek had been healthy for most of the season and the meet? “I think we would have made a run for the title with the power that we had,” Coach Francis Allen said. “There’s no doubt the guys who com peted (Friday and Saturday) would have benefited with their teammates out there. But I’m happy with how they did” Penn State won Friday’s team title, edging defending champion Michigan 231.975-231.85. Jamie Natalie of Ohio State took the all-around title with a 58.375. I Back from break? Need a summer job? look no further. The nation's largest publisher of college and university campus telephone directories is offering paid full-time summer sales and marketing internships. Tremendous practical business experience and resume booster. Positions begin in May with a week-long, expense paid program in Chapel Hill, NC. Interns market official directories locally, selling advertising space to area businesses in specific college markets, including The University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Earnings average $3000 for the 10-week program. All majors welcome! Cal Halt Loecko at 1-800-743-5556 ext. 255 or visit oar webske at wvmjMversity#vectories.co<u for more mformatiM mi to apply. You can also emai Matt at mfoeckeffvicera.coiu. E5 University Directories 88 VilCom Center • Chapel Hill, NC 27514 * (800) 743-5556 • Fax: (919) 968-8513 Huskers lose to Baylor in first sweep of season From staff reports During a chilly weekend in Waco, Texas, the Nebraska baseball team’s offense went cold against Baylor. The Bears (24-10) swept the Comhuskers (18-11), winning by a total margin of four runs. The Huskers (7-8 in the Big 12) hit a frigid .140 in the first two games this weekend, before record ing 12 hits in a 7-6, 10-inning loss Sunday. Fans who huddled under blan kets as temperatures dipped into the low 50s saw a series packed with solid pitching. Baylor ace Chad Hawkins shut down the Huskers 4-2 on Friday, allowing just one earned run and three hits over 7 and 1/3 innings. In the game, NU pitcher Shane Komine (4-3) suffered the loss, allowing three runs and five hits in nearly five innings of work. First baseman Dan Johnson and BEARS 437 HUSKERS2 2 6 third baseman Brant Vlieger drove in the Huskers’ two runs. Saturday, the Huskers suffered another tough loss, falling 3-2 to the Bears. The Huskers jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning after catcher Justin Cowan drove in outfielder Adam Stern and Johnson drove in Cowan. But NU pitcher Jaime Rodrigue couldn’t hold the lead. Rodrigue (4 2) was pulled in the third inning after allowing three runs on five hits. Reliever R.D. Spiehs shut down the Bears from there, allowing four hits and no runs over the final six innings, but it wasn’t enough. The Huskers recorded just three hits and no runs after the first inning. NU Coach Dave Van Horn was disappointed with the loss. “This is a tough loss to take,” Van Horn said. “R.D. (Spiehs) gave us every chance to compete in the game. He was outstanding out of the bullpen, but we just couldn’t come up with the big hits to help him out.” Nebraska’s attempt to avoid their first sweep of the season was erased Sunday, as Baylor rallied to beat the Huskers 7-6 in 10 innings. Baylor jumped to a 6-2 lead in the fourth inning, knocking NU pitcher Scott Fries out of the game. But behind the pitching of relievers Trevor Bullock and Chad Wiles, the Huskers rallied to tie the game by scoring one run in the sev enth inning and three runs in the eighth. Baylor pinch-hitter Steve Dorneman singled to drive in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th. NU pitcher Thom Ott (1 -1) suf fered the loss. Vlieger had a big day on offense going 3-for-5 with four RBI. Stern was also 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored. NU sweeps rival Red Raiders From staff reports The Nebraska softball team con tinued its winning ways this week end with a sweep over conference rival Texas Tech. After an 11-inning, 2-1 victory in the first game, the Cornhuskers took the second game 5-1 to improve their overall record to 28-15 and 4-0 in the Big 12 Conference. The pair of victories over the Red Raiders (12-27, 1-3) helped the Huskers extend their season-best winning streak to 14 games. HUSKERS 2 5 RED RAIDERS11 In the first game, NU benefited from a stellar pitching performance from senior pitcher Jenny Voss. Tech’s Amanda Renfro matched Voss pitch for pitch for much of the contest. The game was scoreless after nine innings. In the 10th, the Huskers pushed across a run, but the Red Raiders also got on the board in the bottom half of the inning, tying the game again. NU freshman Amanda Buchholz scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th off a Tech throwing error, and the Raiders were unable to match the run. In the second game of the dou bleheader, the Huskers dominated the Red Raiders. Two home runs from junior Jamie Fuente and senior Jennifer Williams keyed the Husker victory. Junior Penny Cope earned the win for NU. Nebraska will next be in action April 7 against in-state rival Creighton. Spartans, Gators to meet in final INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Michigan State and Florida both start ed the season in the Top 10 and never dropped far below. Now they’re the only teams left. Similarities over. While the Spartans are most effec tive in a half-court game, where they can crash the boards and be physical, the Gators prefer to play at warp speed, using a 10-man rotation and ftill-court pressure. Michigan State (31 -7) was the only No. 1 seed to reach the Final Four and has lived up to the role in its bid for the national championship. The Spartans won every game in the NCAA tourna ment by at least 11 points, including Saturday night’s 53-41 victory over Wisconsin. Florida, seeded fifth, got a first round scare from Butler before wear ing down higher-seeded teams - Illinois, top-ranked Duke and Oklahoma State - with its hectic pace. The Gators (29-7) used the same style to end North Carolina’s surprising run with a 71-59 win Saturday night. “We like to run, too,” Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo said. “Maybe some of that is our style also.... I think we have an understanding for that. I think these guys want to run, too.” The Spartans can get up and down the court, having scored more than 80 points nine times this season. In the tournament, however, they have aver aged 68.2 with the five starters averag ing between 27 and 35 minutes a game and only two reserves averaging more than 10. Florida has averaged 79.4 points in the five tournament games, just off its 84.1 mark for the season. The 10 Gators who create all that havoc on the floor average between 13 and 31 min utes a game. Michigan State starts three seniors, while Florida has one on the team and U Were going to play our guys like we normally have, and I don V know if we 71 be able to wear Michigan State down. We have to just try and play our style.” Billy Donovan Florida basketball coach plays seven sophomores and freshmen in the rotation. “Our youthfulness has won us a lot of basketball games this year,” said Kenyan Weaks, Florida’s lone member of the Class of 2000. “I don’t know if that’s going to be a big problem in this game.” The Spartans were going to use an age-old method to prepare for Florida’s full-court press on Monday night. “We always go against six or seven guys in practice, and I’m sure we’ll have a bunch of players out there today,” Michigan State forward Andre Hutson said Sunday. Florida Coach Billy Donovan believes people are getting the wrong impression about his team. “People think it’s just running and jacking up 3-point shots,” Donovan said. “We put a tremendous emphasis on guarding the 3-point line. Basically, every team in the country, when they go to practice, is going to practice th|ir half-court offense. We try to be as dis ruptive as possible and take teams out of what they practice on a regular basis.” One of the keys to breaking Florida’s press will be senior point guard Mateen Cleaves. “You never have a chance to relax,” he said. “The main thing for the game is you can’t change your attitude.” Florida’s subs have scored 175 points in the tournament, 132 more than Michigan State’s. “I do think we need to get more scoring out of our bench, and I think we have the potential,” Izzo said. “As far as wearing us down, I think we’ll utilize our bench enough so it doesn’t.” Donovan won’t change a thing. “We’re going to play our guys like we normally have, and I don’t know if we’ll be able to wear Michigan State down,” he said. “We have to just try and play our style.” Michigan State is trying to become the fust Big 10 team to win the nation al championship since Michigan in 1989. The Spartans’ only national championship came in 1979. The Spartans are in the Final Four for the second straight year. They lost to Duke in the semifinals last season. “That was cool, but we went home empty-handed,” Cleaves said. “It’s great to get here, but you’ll always be remembered as a national champion.” Florida is looking for its first national championship while keeping alive the Southeastern Conference’s even-year streak. Arkansas won in 1994 and Kentucky won in 1996 and 1998. Donovan, one of six men to play and coach in a Final Four, will try to join even more select company. Only Bob Knight and Dean Smith have played in a Final Four and coached a national champion.