SportsMonday
■ NU junior Mark Vedral
played in his first game this sea
son after being acquitted of first
degree sexual assault, Sept. 15.
The linebacker recorded two
tackles. Vedral said the reaction
he has gotten
since returning ® For more
to the team has gameday
been mixed. coveraqe.see
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can believe
what they
want,” he said. “People are enti
tled to their own opinions.
“But, hey, I can’t convince
everybody. I have a lot of family
and friends who’ve loved and
supported and prayed for me
through this whole situation. I
love them all to death.”
■ For the 41st time in school
history, NU had two 100-yard
rushers in Dan Alexander (113)
and Correll Buckhalter (100).
Eric Crouch contributed 93 of
the Husker's 331 total yards on
the ground.
The Huskers are 177-5 in the
last 28 years when rushing for
300 or more yards and 12-0
under Frank Solich in that cate
gory. NU had all these rushing
accolades despite the fact it did
not score a rushing touchdown
for the first time since the 1998
Holiday Bowl loss to Arizona.
It was Alexander’s fourth
straight 100-yard game and the
ninth of his career, including
eight in the last 11 games. He
leads the team with 433 yards on
56 carries with three TDs this
season and an average of 7.7
yards per carry.
■ Buckhalter, meanwhile,
hasn’t been too shabby himself,
averaging 6.3 yards per carry
versus Iowa and 7.0 yards per
carry this season. His 100 yards
made him the 18th Husker to
rush for 2,000 yards in his career.
He now has 345 carries for 2,032
yards and 20 TDs to rank 18th at
NU.
■ Another Husker almost
reached the 2,000-yard mile
stone. With his 74 yards, split
end Matt Davison now has 1,192
for his career, third on the all
time NU list and four yards short
of Irving Fryar. Johnny Rodgers
holds the school record with
2,479.
■ So much for the sack prob
lem, at least for a week. The
Blackshirts - who had just two
sacks for a loss of 13 yards com
ing in - recorded a season-best
six sacks for a loss of 41 yards on
Iowa’s Scott Mullen, quadru
plingtheir season sack total.
Five of those sacks came in the
second half.
■ Nebraska lost its first fum
ble of the season in the third
quarter on a pitch from Crouch
to Buckhalter at the Iowa 16
yard-line. NU now has four fum
bles on the season but only one
lost, which is way behind last
year’s pace of 49 for the season.
The turnover marked the first
time this season that the offense
failed to score in the red zone.
■ Saturday's crowd of 78,075
set yet another attendance
record at Memorial Stadium. It
was the first time the mark
topped 78,000.
All of the top-eight atten
dance games in the stadium
have begji set in the last two sea
sons, thanks to the new $36.1
million press box and luxury box
facility.
Compiled by Josh
Camenzind and John Gaskins
Nebraska senior
Angie Oxley
attempts a dig
against
Oklahoma at
the NU Coliseum
on Saturday
night.The
> Huskers made
short work of
the Sooners,
defeating them
in three
straight games
to the delight of
a season-high
crowd of 4,175.
Scott McClurg/DN
Unbeaten NU dominates again
■The Cornhusker reserves get into
the act in an easy victory over Big
12 conference foe Oklahoma.
BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON
Perhaps, it would be more appro
priate for the volleyball pollsters to
rank Nebraska as No. 1-AandNo. 1-B
in this week’s edition.
Because after Saturday night’s
15-5, 15-4, 15-3 manhandling of
Oklahoma, Nebraska’s second
teamers showed that they could be a
dominant force on their own, not too
far behind the starting she.
The Cornhuskers played game
three with four substitutes on the
floor. NU didn’t skip a beat, winning
the game 15-3 and sending the sea
son-high NU Coliseum crowd of
4,175 home after a brief 74-minute
match.
The win moved the top-ranked
Huskers to 11-0, 4-0 in conference
play.
“It was a great match to get expe
rience for other players and work at
developing our depth,” Nebraska
Coach John Cook said.
“And that lineup we had in the
third game gave up the fewest
points," Cook said noting the success
of NU’s lineup, which featured
reserves Pam Krejci, a sophomore,
senior Jill McWilliams, sophomore
Lindsay Wischmeier and true fresh
man Anna Schrad.
Oklahoma Coach Kalani Mahi
was hard-pressed to find a weak spot
in Nebraska's play despite their line
up switches.
“In that third game, there wasn’t a
lot of difference. Their second-team
is as athletic as their first,” Mahi said,
after seeing his Sooner team fall to 5
6 for the season.
One of the backup stars Mahi
spoke of was outside hitter Krejci,
who saw her most extensive action
as a Husker connecting on five kills
and totaling a .625 hitting percent
age.
"It felt really good out there. I’ve
been developing over the last few
years and everything has started to
click for me,” Krejci said. "Tonight
gave me confidence for the future.”
OU’s offensive attack was in
retreat mode all night no matter who
was on the floor for Nebraska. The
Sooners hit a miserable -.011 hitting
percentage for the match compared
to NU’s .351 mark.
Nebraska featured a balanced
attack, with senior outside hitter Kim
Behrends leading the team with
seven kills. Both Behrends and sen
ior Angie Oxley didn’t commit an
error for the second-straight match.
“It’s been one of my major goals
in the last few weeks to cut down on
my errors and hit smart shots,”
Behrends said of her performance.
As a team, Nebraska has only
compiled 13 errors in the last two
matches, an accomplishment Cook
referred to as “phenomenal,”
Cook credited much of his team’s
hitting success to the training they
receive each day from hitting against
the block of players as skilled as red
shirting, former All-American Nancy
Meendering, Krejci and Schrad.
“I’ll tell you why teams aren’t
blocking us. The team we go up
against everyday... that’s a big block
to go against everyday,” Cook said.
"We’re learning how to hit smart.”
Krejci said it’s always a goal in
practice to make the starters work
for everything.
“Our most important job is to
make them go out there and make
shots and make them run for every
point,” Krejci said.
For certain, they left the OU
coach impressed.
“I haven’t played a whole lot of
No. 1 teams, but they played like a
No. 1 team,” Mahi said. “They have
the complete package.”
Play ball: NU opens fall baseball in cold
BY DANE STICKNEY
Cold temperatures may have forced the
Nebraska baseball team inside on Sunday, but
it didn’t chill their burning passion to get back
onto the field.
Fall baseball practice started Sunday, as
the Cornhuskers took batting practice in
Schulte Fieldhouse and went through defen
sive drills in Cook Pavilion as temperatures
dipped into the 40s outside.
NU Coach Dave Van Horn said he was
pleased with his team’s first practice of the sea
son even though it was indoors.
“We would have liked to get out on the
(Buck Beltzer) field, but this was all right,” he
said.
“We were able to do a lot of things that will
help us. All in all, it was good that we could
move inside and keep on schedule.”
Sunday’s practice marked the first of 24 fall
practices, which ends with the Red-White
.
World Series on OcL 18.
It also marks the first time the team has
played baseball since last season, when they
came within one win of the College World
Series.
“They know how close we were,” Van Horn
said. "And they know how close we are.
They’ve got a lot of motivation and that helps.”
Van Horn said fall baseball provides a
forum for younger players to learn the NU sys
tem and for coaches to evaluate the new play
ers’ talent.
“This is the first opportunity that we get to
answer some of the questions we have about
the team,” he said.
“We’ve got some quality new players who
have talent, and we have an idea of how
they’re going to contribute, but this gives them
the opportunity to prove it”
Veteran players play an important part in
fall baseball by mentoring the younger play
ers, Van Horn said.
Junior pitcher Shane Komine, Big 12 play
er-of-the-year last season, is one of the key
veterans on the squad.
“My main goal is to get some of the new
guys acquainted with what goes on here and
what they can expect,” Komine said. “We want
to get them to take the same kind of pride we
do in this program.”
Drew Anderson, a freshman outfielder,
said he was hoping to catch the coaches’ eyes
with his talent
“I want them to notice me for my speed
and my hitting,” Anderson said. “If I show that
I can play in fall ball, then maybe I can be a
backup when the season starts.”
Anderson said that may be tough because
he is still in an adjustment period.
“I’m trying to get accustomed to how the
team operates,” he said.
“More than that, I’m just trying to adjust to
the differences between high school and col
lege baseball.”
‘This is the first
opportunity we have
to answer some of the
questions we have
about the team. We’ve
got some quality new
players who have
talent. ”
Dave Van Horn
NU baseball coach
Mike Warren/DN
Creighton defender Lude Howe tries to steal the
ball from Nebraska forward Christine Latham.
. _ s»'«w
NU soccer struggles a little with Creighton
BY JAMIE SUHR
A score can be deceiving.
The Nebraska soccer team’s 2-0 win
over Creighton wasn't as close as the
score may have indicated.
The Bluejays were held to one shot
on goal and didn’t have a single corner
kick, but stayed as close to the
Cornhuskers as any team has this sea
son.
Only on the scoreboard though, jun
ior midfielder Meghan Anderson said.
“People who don't understand soc
cer will look and see 2-0 and think we
didn’t play great,” Anderson said. “They
only played a third of the field. We out
shot them 15-1. That should be added to
the story.”
The Cornhuskers had plenty of
chances to score with a shot by Najah
Williams deflecting off of the cross bar as
well as other breakaway opportunities.
Creighton goaltender Jaimie
Thompson had 13 saves - not bad for a
freshman against the No. 3 team in the
country.
“She played well," Coach John
Walker said. “We have to do a better job
of finishing.”
Breanna Boyd scored her second
goal of the season when she headed a
ball off of the corner kick by Anderson
18:03 into the game.
Anderson would add her seventh
goal of the season just 11 minutes later.
The midfielder hit a laser beam from 35
yards out.
“Their defense played well,"
Anderson said. “Every shot we took,
someone was in our face.”
NU (10-0) kept the ball deep in
Bluejay territory for most of the game.
When Creighton (3-7) did have the ball,
four defenders stayed back.
Walker said the team played well, but
Thompson made some excellent plays.
“It was just one of those nights,”
Walker said. “Sometimes it doesn’t mat
ter how many shots you get, you just
don’t score."
The Huskers out-shot the visitors 33
2. The Jay’s only shot on goal didn’t come
until 53 minutes into the game.
“It’s a moral victory for them,”
Anderson said. “They played the No. 3
team in the country. We didn’t play any
different. The shots didn’t find the net."
Brooke Jones, who has been out with
an ankle injury, started the second half
in place of starter Najah Williams.
“I want to put who I think the best
team is on the field,” Walker said.
Friday, the Huskers proved to Baylor
who was the best team on the field was.
NU opened up conference play with
a 3-0 win over the Bears.
Defender Jenny Benson started the
scoring off with a goal nine minutes into
the game. Forward Christine Latham tal
lied her ninth and 10th goals of the sea
son to increase her conference-leading
goal total.
Preseason All-American goaltender
Karina LeBlanc out-dueled Dawn
Greaterhouse, who along with LeBlanc
was tabbed as the preseason All-Bigl2
goalie.
LeBlanc now has seven and a half
shutouts on the season and hasn’t
allowed a goal in 420 minutes.
NU has now posted four shutouts in
a row and has blanked an opponent
eight times in 10 games.