DN File Phot
Greichaly Cepero and the Huskers will attempt to stay undefeated and on top of the
polls as they travel to Missouri for a 7 o'clock contest tonight
Cook: Team's focus
is on mental game
■ Holmquist was named Big 12
player of the week after breaking
school and conference record.
BY SEAN CALLAHAN
When you’re the No. 1 ranked
team in the country, people
expect perfection all the time.
For the top-ranked Nebraska
volleyball team (19-0,11-0), that
means when it plays on the road,
it better come out with a three
game sweep. Otherwise, people
think something went wrong.
By those standards, some
thing has gone wrong in NU's last
two road tests because the
Comhuskers have dropped one
game each to Texas Tech and
Texas.
Tonight, the Huskers travel to
Columbia to take on No. 25
ranked Missouri (17-3,8-3), prob
ably the most improved team in
the Big 12 Conference.
One of the concerns for Coach
John Cook is keeping a high level
of focus throughout die match.
In the past two road matches,
NU has had a few mental lapses
that Cook said could hurt them
down the road.
“I know we didn't get their best
shot when they played here,”
Cook said. “We’ve got to be men
tally prepared to go in there and
play a team that will be inspired
1 and fired up to play for a chance to
be the top of the conference.”
The Huskers will try to kill
early Tiger momentum the same
way they have demoralized other
conference opponents playing at
home this season-with the block.
Against Texas on Sunday, NU
broke a school record for blocks in
a game with 46, a record that goes
all the way back to 1991.
With 16 of those blocks, soph
omore Amber Holmquist broke
both a school and a conference
record for blocks in a single
match.
After breaking the record,
Holmquist was named Big 12
player of the week.
Cook said he was very pleased
the 6-foot-4 Holmquist received
this week’s honor.
“I thought she deserved it a
couple weeks ago,” Cook said.
“Attacking-wise, her numbers are
off the charts.
“What really set her apart this
week was the number of blocks
she had at Texas. In a four-game
match, 16 blocks is incredible.”
This season Holmquist is
averaging both team highs in
blocks (1.85) and hitting percent
age (.417).
Holmquist said she takes a lot
of pride in blocking and felt very
honored to break the record.
“It was nice because my fami
ly was there,” Holmquist said. "I
always get up for the Texas
schools.
“It was a really exciting time
for me, but right now the team
block percentage is what I’m real
ly worried about and focused on
right now.”
Mets beat Yankees in
ninth-inning nailbiter
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - Back in their
raucous den, with its ear-split
ting music and jets roaring over
head, the New York Mets were
right at home - and right back in
this Subway Series.
Benny Agbayani got Shea
Stadium shaking with a go
ahead double in the eighth
inning as the Mets handed
Orlando Hernandez his first
postseason defeat, beating the
New York Yankees 4-2 Tuesday
night to cut their World Series
deficit to 2-1.
A sellout crowd of 55,299
went crazy as Armando Benitez
held on in the ninth inning this
time, helping the Mets end the
Yankees’ record 14-game win
ning streak in the World Series.
John Franco wound up with
the win. Benitez, who blew a
ninth-inning lead in Game 1,
closed it out after giving up a
leadoff single to pinch-hitter
Chuck Knoblauch.
Nothing bizarre about this
one, either. No pitchers throw
ing bats instead of balls, a stunt
from Game 2 that cost Roger
Clemens a $50,000 fine.
Hernandez began the night
with an 8-0 record and a 1.90
ERA in postseason play, and set
a Yankees’ World Series record
by striking out 12, breaking the
mark of 11 set by Bob Hurley in
1956.
Still, in a ballpark where the
Mets thrive on late-inning
magic, it was not enough.
Now, after two one-run
defeats at Yankee Stadium, the
Mets get a chance to draw even.
Bobby J. Jones will pitch Game 4
on Wednesday night against
Denny Neagle and Bill Clinton is
expected to become the first
president in office to attend a
Series game since Ronald
Reagan in 1983.
Hernandez, who struck out
the first three hitters in the
opening inning and took advan
tage of a few extra inches on the
outside corner of Jeff Kellogg’s
strike zone, fanned Robin
Ventura to start the eighth.
But after Todd Zeile singled,
Agbayani doubled into the left
center field gap. Agbayani has
hit in all 12 of the Mets’ postsea
son games this year, including a
13th-inning home run that beat
San Francisco in the division
series.
Pinch-hitter Bubba
Trammell added a sacrifice fly
for insurance.
The Mets improved to 60-26
at Shea this season, the best
mark in baseball. There were
more Yankees fans present than
Mets rooters at Yankee Stadium,
though they were easily
drowned out by the huge speak
ers in center field - the Mets
boosted their sound system
with $30,000 in extra equipment
this October.
Ventura put the Mets ahead
1-0, homering on the first pitch
in the bottom of the second.
Hernandez shook his head
up and down after the shot, as if
to acknowledge he’d made a
mistake, and then struck out
Zeile, Agbayani and Payton in
order.
The Yankees tied it at 1 in the
third on David Justice’s RBI dou
ble.
It came with two outs, as
have several of the Yankees' big
hits in this Series.
Reed singled in the bottom
half, and did a little extra run
ning as Edgardo Alfonzo fouled
off a full-count pitch with two
outs before popping up.
Tired or not, Reed was not
sharp in the next half-inning.
Tmo Martinez led off with a sin
gle and one out later, Paul
O’Neill hit his first triple since
July 23,1999. Scott Brosius was
hit by a pitch, but Reed limited
the damage and the fourth
inning ended with the Yankees
leading 2-1.
O’Neill doubled and tripled,
giving him five straight hits -
two short of the Series record set
by Cincinnati's Billy Hatcher in
1990 - before grounding out his
next time up.
The sixth inning saw the
Mets tie it at 2, and showcased
all this Subway Series has to
offer - big stars delivering in big
spots, dueling fans and drama
with every pitch.
Mike Piazza, made to look
foolish in striking out his first
two times up, led off with a dou
ble and Ventura, who homered
earlier, drew a full-count walk.
Zeile followed with a tying dou
ble and the Mets' crowd got
loud, raising the decibel count
more when Agbayani eked out a
walk.
Bases loaded, no outs. And
no worries from the Yankees
bench - manager Joe Torre
never even had anyone warm
ing up, leaving it all to
Hernandez.
El Duque did not disap
point. He fanned Jay Payton,
hopping off the mound to punc
tuate his 10th strikeout, and
then got Mike Bordick to swing
through a 3-2 pitch, shouting to
celebrate the strikeout.
With reliever Dennis Cook
warming up in a hurty, Mets
manager Bobby Valentine gam
bled. He put up Darryl Hamilton
for starter Rick Reed, yet the
pinch hitter was no match for
Hernandez and grounded out.
www.dailyneb.com
OU coach
learns from
watching
McKEWON from page 10
Steve's done the best, and at
best, he’s only done OK. He
lucked into that national cham
pionship, didn’t he? Lately,
though, the big games, short of
Tennessee, they just fall by the
wayside. Even Mississippi
State's in on it.
Hayden always played at
this disadvantage with talent
with the Michigans, the Ohio
States. He had a run, all the way
to No. 1 in fact, in 1985 stuffed
by the Buckeyes. OSU stopped a
amazing streak in 1991. In 1997,
guess what? Same thing.
Snyder hasn’t won a big
game in his tenure at Kansas
State, unless a meaningless
Fiesta Bowl win matters to you.
Hell, I beat him two weeks ago.
The pedigree was in a win/lose
situation that day.
The picture seems fairly
clear. Maybe my team shows up
Saturday, maybe not. Our
defense, my defense, hasn’t
been particularly grand at any
one time this season.
Admittedly, our offense
depends on one man. If his
brain farts, or his arm under
throws two passes, we lose.
These shaky things are what our
No. 3 ranking is built on. I think,
though, the same can be said of
most teams who win these very
same games.
I’ve got this chance to better
the pedigree, the way I figure it.
My team has less talent, a disad
vantage. Less big-game experi
ence figures to be the same. But
I’ve got the home crowd, I’ve got
grass to slow down Nebraska’s
rush, and I’ve got a quarterback.
Quarterbacks, you know,
they really, really matter these
days. I remember this time,
right before I got to Florida, I
was watching Danny Wuerffel -
choir boy, that guy - in the
Fiesta Bowl, against Nebraska
and he...
Never mind.
Pla Mor
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Defense not
overlooking
OU offense
DEFENSE from page 10
award finalist.
“We can't leave the corner
backs on an island with those
receivers. We have to tackle
well.”
Statistically, it may seem
that OU's offense has a bit of an
edge on Nebraska’s defense.
The Huskers’ pass efficiency
defense ranks 33rd in the coun
try, while Heupel and Co. boast
the fourth-best passing game.
Don’t tell defensive tackle
Jeremy Slechta about numbers
on paper, though.
The junior said the Husker
defense just needs to do what it
knows it can do to be successful.
“We have a lot of confi
dence,” he said. “We know we
can do it; the thing is just to get
out there Saturday and do it.”
Recycle your
Daily Nebraskan
**
> » ...or else
■ '• ;f 'SpPL
Bohl finding his niche
BOHL from page 10
in 1995.
Since then, not one Blackshirt
unit has finished below 22nd
nationally against the run.
But being defensive coordina
tor at Rice and Duke and line
backer coach at Nebraska don’t
quite carry the same baggage that
being the NU defensive coordina
tor does.
Bohl said he’s learned a lot
“I don’t know if smarter is the
right word, but what (the defen
sive coaches) have learned is part
of (the improvement),” Bohl said.
"We just take things step-by
step. Every year, you never know
how a defense is going to unfold.
The sooner our coaches recognize
what kind of defense we have and
capitalize on what we can do well,
the better. I think we’ve done that
well.
“Our practice habits have not
changed. Our routine in practice
hasn’t changed. The things we
want our guys to do have not
changed.”
like Solich's tutelage under
Osborne, Bohl learned from a bat
tle-tested pro in McBride, another
straight-forward, fiery field gener
al
“Their styles and personalities
are very similar,” Polk said. “So
similar that sometimes in games
this year, I forget who is calling the
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plays.”
Through the Blackshirts’ good
times and bad, Bohl said he's con
fided in McBride, who has been a
guiding force for him.
“We have talked a great deal,”
Bohl said. “I appreciate Charlie,
and I’m happy that he seems real
happy. I know he's our greatest
cheerleader.”
But Bohl said he will not need
extra help and advice from Old
Mac - who led troops in a lifetime
worth of NU-OU battles - for such
a high-caliber game as this week’s.
“The thing that we’ve done at
Nebraska is treat every game as a
big game. You’re not going to see
the guys go, ‘Boom, it’s Oklahoma
week,’ and change. We’re going to
stay the course and keep doing
what we’ve been doing.
“I do realize that we’re going to
go against a perennial opponent,
and so what you realize is that
every play is going to count, exe
cution is going to count, tackling
is going to be critical... all those
things.
“But I know our guys are excit
ed about this opportunity. I'm
excited about this opportunity.”
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