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SportsMonday
Daily Nebraskan Monday, November 6,2000 Page 14
Early goals help NU take tournament crown
BY JAMIE SUHR
■The Huskers continue their Big 12 dominance
with a convincing defeat of Texas A&M. .
The Nebraska soccer team continued its
stranglehold on Big 12 Conference crowns with a
4-1 win over Texas A&M.
The No. 3 Comhuskers won the Big 12 regular
season championship and followed it with a con
ference tournament championship for the third
time in the team’s five
seasons of existence. Nebraska 4
The Huskers swept Texas A&M 1
both crowns in the Big
12's inaugural season of 1996 and again won both
titles last season.
To bring both championships to Lincoln
again, NU (21-1) used early goals from freshmen
Christy Harms and Lindsey Greenwood to jump
out to a 2-0 lead en route to a 4-1 win.
NU Coach John Walker said he wasn’t sur
prised by the production of the freshmen.
"We’ve had good depth all year, and it showed
this weekend,” Walker said. “With freshmen, they
have to become (accustomed) to the program, so
you’ll usually see them step up towards the end of
the year.”
Earlier in the year, the Huskers were forced to
come from behind in a 2-1 victory over the Aggies.
Walker said the difference between the two
matches was obvious.
“This time we scored first and put the onus on
them,” Walker said. "All night we had the advan
tage.”
On the night, NU outshot the Aggies 19-16, but
11 of A&M’s shots came in the second half.
While the Huskers gave up more shots than
usual, Walker said he was pleased with the play of
the defenders.
"Our back three did a good job of not allowing
much penetration, forcing them to shoot a little
PLease see SOCCER on 13
NU to host NCAA Regional
BY JAMIE SUHR
The room was filled with mixed reac
tions as the Nebraska soccer team was
awarded its NCAATbumament fate.
The Comhuskers got exactly what
they wanted - a top four seed. But the
team got die fourth seed, a spot or two
lower than some players felt they
deserved.
NU does get to host NCAA
Tbumament games at the Abbott Sports
Complex, provided they keep winning.
"We’re at home, and that’s what's
most important,” Husker Coach John
Walker said.
At 7 p.m. on Saturday, the Huskers
will face the winner of Richmond and
WsstVirginia -two teamsWalker said he
knew little about
NU’s early draw appears to be favor
able If the Huskers win their first game,
NU will likely see Connecticut, which
they beat 2-0 in file UConn Classic.
But the second highest seed in NU's
bracket is 16-time NCAA champion
North Carolina - the No. 5 seed. The T&r
Heels won last year’s NCAA Tournament
Defender Jenny Benson said she
liked the way the seeding turned out,
even with UNC in the Huskers’ bracket
“We get home field advantage, so
(the Tar Heels) have to come to us,”
Benson said.
While the Huskers will have to face
one of the storied programs of women’s
soccer, Notre Dame will have the easiest
route to file Final FOur after being named
the Na 1 seed.
The undefeated Fighting Irish have
knocked off the Huskers the past three
years in the tournament including last
season’s 1-1 tie where Notre Dame won
in a shoot out
"It’s nice to avoid Notre Dame for die
first three rounds,” Benson said.
If the teams were to square off, it
would be in the semifinals of the Final
Four in San Jose, Calif.
Washington was awarded the No. 2
seed despite losing to Washington State
in its final game of the season. Qemson,
who knocked off then-No. 1UNC earlier
this season, brought home the No. 3
seed.
The tournament brackets were scat
tered with Husker opponents. Overall,
NU beat five tournament teams this sea
son - Southwest Missouri State, UConn,
Florida, Texas A&M and Dartmouth.
The Aggies were the only other Big 12
Conference team to qualify for the Big
Dance.
Texas was likely dropped from con
tention after its first-round loss to
Oklahoma in the conference tourna
ment
MKewarren/UN
Christine Latham, Big 12 Conference Player of the Year,fights off a tackle in the second
round of the Big 12 tournament against Baylor. Latham was named the offensive MVP.
Mixe warren/un
ABOVE: Paige
Phillips cele
brates with
teammates
after time runs
„ out in the final
round of the Big
12 Conference
championship
tournament as
NU defeated
Texas A&M 4-1.
Phillips scored
her first career
goal in the tour
nament as NU
captured the
regular season
and tourna
ment champi- 1
onships.
Cornhuskers survive scare in exhibition against Hungary
BY JASON MERR1HEW
\
The Nebraska women's bas
ketball team played in an unex
pected nail-biter on Sunday,
holding off KSC-Szekszard
(Hungary) 76-74 in its first exhi
bition game of the 2000-2001
season.
The Hungarian team battled
back from a 46-36 halftime
deficit to tie the score with less
than a minute to go in the game.
“We let them back into the
game, and they started to play
with confidence,” NU Coach
Paul Sanderford said. “We
played the score instead of the
game.”
A foul committed by
Hungary’s leading scorer Eva
Strgkovics with 3.4 seconds left
in the game put NU freshman
K.C. Cowgill on the line.
Cowgill hit both free throw
attempts to take the lead and
ice the game.
The late points earned at the
charity stripe were the only
points scored by the highly
touted freshman from Grand
Island.
Husker teammates said
those points won’t be the last.
“Her (Cowgill’s) confidence
with her shot is unbelievable,”
senior guard Amanda Went
said.
Cowgill played 16 minutes
off the bench for the Huskers,
going 0 for 5 from the held and 0
for 3 from behind the arch.
The Hungarian team
showed NU a 1-3-1 zone trap
defense rarely used by
Nebraska's opponents. It led to
30 Husker turnovers.
“We threw the ball to the
wrong color jerseys too many
times,” Sanderford said.
Despite the tentative play by
Nebraska, Sanderford was able
to give everyone on the team
significant playing time.
Eleven out of 13 players
played over 10 minutes during
the exhibition contest.
Sanderford said he attrib
utes the lack of a cohesive rota
tion to NU’s second half col
lapse.
“We need to find a rotation
in a hurry,” Sanderford said.
Freshman guard Shannon
Howell, and senior forward
Monique Whitfield, who both
started, led the Huskers with 13
points apiece.
Whitfield also led the team
with 10 rebounds - six offensive
and four defensive.
Sanderford said he was
relieved the game didn’t have to
play into extra minutes.
“I didn't want to sit through
overtime,” Sanderford said.
Nebraska will play the
Australia Institute next Sunday
in NU’s only other exhibition
game before the season opener
against Oakland in the Time
Warner Cable Classic on Nov. 17
at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center.
No. 1NU holds off CU
BY BRIAN CHRISTOPH ERSON
It was a Final Four-like atmosphere with
some Final Four-like, hard-fought volleys
and SOIOC
Final Four
like compet
itive games
between the
underdog
and the
Final Four
favorite.
The
favorite, No.
1 and unde
f e a t e d
ABOVE: The No. 1
ranked Nebraska
vdeybaH team set
anew NCAA record
for regular season
attendance with
12,504spectators.
RKMT:NU middle
blocker Jenny
KroppputsakM
oner Colorado's
Monique Gedach
Saturday at the
BobDevaney
Sports Center.
Nebraska,
Photos by Scott McCkirg/DN did -ust
enough right to sweep underdog Colorado
15-12,15-3,15-13 before a record-setting
crowd of 12,504 at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center on Saturday night
The crowd was the largest ever to wit
ness an NCAA regular-season volleyball
match, eclipsing the mark of 11,529 set in
1995 in the same building between CU and
NU. Saturday’s crowd was the third largest
in NCAA history.
Nebraska Coach John Cook said he
knew some special attendance numbers
could be set when he saw people backed up
to the street waiting to get in two hours
before die match.
“I told the team after the match that this
was really a part of history tonight - a crowd
like this for a volleyball match,” Cook said.
“In the volleyball world, this will be a big
deal. What was special about this is that
there were no free tickets given tonight. You
had to buy a ticket to get in tonight This was
a paid 12,504.”
And the home fans wouldn’t be disap
pointed, although the Buffaloes' play early
in game one suggested that NU might have
to work beyond the usual three-game
sweep that has become a trademark of the
Huskers this conference season.
The score in game one stood at 9-4 in
favor of the Buffs when CU freshman out
side hitter Sara Villwock capped a five-point
run by lacing one of her 12 kills to the hard
wood.
“At first, we came out a little tentative,
and our serving was not as aggressive as it
has been,” senior right-side hitter Angie
Oxley said. “I think serving sets how we
play.”
Meanwhile, Colorado Coach Pi’i Aiu
said his team’s quick passing pace exposed
openings in the Nebraska block.
“When we pass well and Nebraska has
to respect our middles, I think our offense is
fast enough that we can get some split
blocks and some holes in the block,” Aiu
said. “Early in game one, we passed pretty
well.”
CU consistently set the ball to junior
Please see VOLLEYBALL on13
Devaney
fansset
new mark
BY SEAN CALLAHAN
The Bob Devaney Sports
Center hasn't seen 12,504 pay
ing fans in quite some time -
20 months and the 1999
Nebraska-Kansas basketball
game to be exact.
Despite the fact that
Saturday night’s volleyball
match with Colorado was tele
vised live on NETV, and there
were no free tickets or promo
tions, Nebraskans showed up
in record numbers.
The 12,504 fans in atten
dance made up the third
largest crowd in NCAA
Volleyball history next two
games in the NCAA finals in
1998, which drew 13,194.
The match did manage to
shatter the all-time NCAA reg
ular season mark of 11,529 that
was set by the Cornhuskers in
1995.
Please see ATMOSPHERE on 13
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