NU road loss
streak at14
WTTfrompagelO
and missed some high-percent
age shots at times. But I’m proud
of die team and how they hung in
there. We gave ourselves a chance
in the second halt”
That chance came as the
Huskers were down as much as
eight with 7:29 left in the game.
NU battled back, as Wortmann
scored to cut the lead to two with
under two minutes left Bradford
then hit one of two free throws,
cutting the Panther lead to one
point with 51 seconds remaining.
Pittsburgh then missed on its
next possession, but NU was
unable to capitalize as the three
Huskers couldn't find the hoop in
the final seconds.
The Huskers used only a
seven-player rotation, while the
Panthers rotated nine, which
included former Husker Chad
Johnson, who went scoreless in
13 minutes of play.
Collier defended his lineup
after the game, which saw
reserves Craig Wortmann and
Brian Conklin combine for 35
minutes.
uur seven, witnout ioui
trouble, is our best group we can
put out there," Collier said. “But
when you play other teams with
great depth, it gives you prob
lems, and it did tonight"
NU was led by Ffriend's 18
points, while Belcher chipped in
14 on four of 14 shooting. The
Huskers committed only 12
turnovers, but were out
rebounded by Pitt 29-26. Senior
Steffon Bradford led Nebraska
with 11 rebounds.
Nebraska’s front line limited
Pitt’s leading scorer Ricardo Greer
to just seven points - a positive
that Collier noted after the game.
But NU’s nemesis throughout the
game was freshman Julius Page,
who came off the bench to lead
the Panthers with 15 points,
including three of seven shooting
from 3-point range.
The Huskers haven’t won on
the road since Feb. 10, 1999,
when NU defeated Kansas 64-59
at Allen Fieidhouse.
NU's next two games will
come at home in the Husker
Team Classic before taking the
road again on Dec. 16 to face
Miami in the Orange Bowl
flassir.
NU battles
Wildcats
in Alamo
AiAMOfrompagelO
Antonio, which was of no matter,
players said.
“Once you’re in Texas, you're
in Texas," guard Russ Hochstein
said. “As players, we're not too
picky; we’ll play football any
where.”
Citing the Big Red’s success
at the Alamodome, where NU
won the 1997 and 1999 Big 12
championship games,
Hochstein had no complaints
about heading to a site where
NU is undefeated.
“It’s always a great atmos
phere for football there,” he said.
“It’s a great place to play a bowl
game."
Should Nebraska continue
its winning ways, the team has a
season that isn’t bad by any
means, rush end Kyle Vanden
Bosch said.
“We could finish this thing
off 10-2, which is a good record,"
Vanden Bosch said, “and noth
ing to hang your head about”
Huskers hold off Gamecocks to advance to regionals
CAME from page 10
Christopher said.
Behind Williams, South
Carolina found themselves only
three points from victory in
game four.
“It was an accomplishment
just to go five,” Christopher said.
“It’s Nebraska, they’re 29-0 and
at home ... a win would have
been big.”
It may not have even went
five, had Nebraska’s sophomore
Laura Pilakowski not gutted out
a 15-kill performance while
playing only in the last three
games.
It was only two weeks ago
that the sophomore underwent
appendectomy surgery.
Christopher said it seemed
as if Pilakowski had forgotten
that she was injured as the
match progressed.
Pilakowski and team fired a
tenacious attack and block at the
Gamecocks with game four on
the line, running off a 7-0 run to
win 15-12.
The Huskers seemed to feed
off of the ground-shaking noise
that only NU Coliseum acoustics
could manufacture.
“It was amazing,” senior out
side hitter Km Behrends said. "I
gotgoosebumps.”
Nebraska had surged in
game three behind the red sea,
rallying from a 12-2 deficit and
cutting it to 14-13 before falling.
“1116 crowd was so loud that
it really didn’t affect us,”
Christopher said. “We were
almost trying to use them as our
seventh man.”
Cook considered the home
court an asset when game five
rolled around.
Game fives feature rally scor
ing, which awards a point to
teams on every play, not just on a
team’s service.
“When you’re at home and
you got this crowd and you get in
a fifth game, you have to feel
pretty confident,” Cook said.
Nebraska jumped to an 11-5
lead in the final stanza, and
seemed primed for the win
when the Huskers made it 14-10.
However, Plummer served
three-straight points for the
Gamecocks to cut it to one,
before a South Carolina net vio
lation finally gave Nebraska the
win.
“Anytime you put your heart
on the line and lose a three hour
match, it's disappointing,”
Plummer said. “But we left it all
on the court”
Nebraska, meanwhile, was
happy to still be dancing in this
year's tournament
“We didn't play well tonight,”
Cook said. “We were out of sync,
but we hung tough, the crowd
kept us in it and we pulled it out" 1
It may even serve as a good 1
wake-up call for Nebraska, who
Wrestlers second in Cliff Keen
BY VINCE KUPPIG
Led by its three All
Americans, the Nebraska
wrestling team took second
place at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas
Invitational this weekend.
The No. 6 Cornhuskers fin
ished with 113.5 points, behind
only No. 5 Illinois, which domi
nated the 52-team field with 156
points.
After defeating lZ^-ranked
Joe Carr of Michigan at 157
pounds in the semifinals, junior
Bryan Snyder, ranked second,
escaped with a 6-5 victory over
third-ranked Kirk White of Boise
State in the finals. Snyder went
6-0 in the two-day tournament
to up his record to 9-0 on the
year.
At 133 pounds, second
ranked Todd Beckerman
cruised to the individual title
with his closest match a 4-2
decision in the final.
NCAA Champion Brad
Vering narrowly came away with
a victory in the finals. His match
against fifth-ranked Pat Quirk of
Illinois went to the 30-second
tiebreaker. Vering chose the
down position and escaped six
seconds in for the individual
title.
Nebraska’s most pleasant
surprise came from redshirt
freshman Jason Powell. The
lS^-ranked 125-pounder start
ed the tournament with two
pins on Friday morning. Then
Powell got two major decisions
against the eighth and 10th
ranked wrestlers to advance to
the semifinals on Saturday
morning. \
In his next matches, Powell
fell to the first and fourth
ranked wrestlers before earning
a pin in the fifth-place match.
Overall, Powell went 5-2 at the
invitational to improve to 7-3 on
the year.
“Jason Powell performed at a
very high level,” NU Coach Marie
Manning said. “He came in
unseeded, which probably was
n’t right, but we don’t care. We
wrestle to be our very best, and
he did a good job of that”
Nebraska returns to the mat
next Saturday when it plays host
to No. 19 Oregon State at 1 p.m.
and No. 14 Ohio State at 7 p.m.
The two duals will be at Lincoln
Northeast High School.
Nil ritle team wins home invitational
BY VINCE KUPP1Q
Competing in its only home match of the sea
son, the Nebraska rifle team dominated Wyoming
on Saturday, defeating the Cowboys 6,134 to 5,600.
With the victory, NU now has six match victo
ries on the year, with its only blemish a fourth
place finish at the Walsh Invitational.
Competing in their second match ever at the
Nebraska Indoor Rifle Range, the Cornhuskers
shattered many range records. The team's small
bore total of 4,593 and air rifle total of 1,541 each
eclipsed range records.
NU Coach Karen Anthony said being able to
host a home meet is helpful.
“It's real nice to be able to have one here,” she
said. “I actually wish we could shoot at least one
more match at home per year. Shooting at your
home facility is always an advantage.”
Sophomore Amanda Trujillo used that advan
tage to her benefit, leading the way individually for
the Huskers.
She fired a personal-best smallbore score of
1,173 to finish in a tie for first with fellow teammate
junior Nicole Allaire. Trujillo also led the air rifle
team with a score of389.
“I've been trying to put good scores in all posi
tions, which has been my biggest challenge this
year,” Trujillo said. “It still didn’t come together the
way I wanted it to, but it came together just
enough.”
Anthony said Trujillo’s consistency has
improved this year.
“She is actually shooting near her capability
level now. She is a very good shooter,” Anthony
said. “Last year, she was probably not shooting at
her capability. Amanda is doing very well this
year.”
The Huskers will next be competing in El Paso,
Texas, on Jan. 13,2001 against UTEE Nebraska will
take on defending national champion Alaska
Fairbanks on Jan. 14.
Small-school Jays triumph over big NU
BY LINCOLN ARNEAL
With the clock running
down Creighton's Krissie
Spanheimer stood near half
court with a large smile on her
face. NU's 6-foot-2 Stephanie
Jones took a few steps towards
the 5-foot-8 Spanheimer, trying
to intimidate her. The Creighton
guard flinched, yet held her
ground against the much bigger
Jones.
It was a fitting metaphor for
women’s basketball in die state
of Nebraska. Creighton, the
small underdog, had withstood
the big mighty women’s basket
ball team from Nebraska.
“It was great to get the win
especially because Nebraska is a
quality team,” Spanheimer said.
With Crieghton's 66-57 win
they earned the imaginary title
of best women’s team in
Nebraska
But, Creighton Coach
Connie Yori isn’t quite ready to
claim that title quite yet
She said, “Each game is
important. This just gives us
bragging rights for one year.”
The Huskers (4-2) had beat
en Creighton (3-1) for the past
five years, much of their success
coming because of in-state
players that chose NU over
Creighton among others.
“I was looking out on the
court before the game today and
I talked to five different
Nebraska players,” Yori said, “all
kids that we recruited and all
kids that chose Nebraska over
Creighton.”
Even though Creighton has
fallen short of Nebraska in the
recruiting department recently,
Yori thinks that this win may
help.
“You understand (the choic
es of recruits) in our situation.
But you hope that maybe this
helps us a little bit to get an
inroad with the quality of
Nebraska kids.”
Despite his team’s loss, NU
Coach Paul Sanderford said that
nothing but positives can come
out of an in-state rivalry.
“It is good for the state of
Nebraska and high school bas
ketball in the state,” he said.
Scott McdurgTDN
Nebraska defensive specialist Lindsay Wisdimeier lays out for a dig Friday evening
igainst Princeton in the first round of the NCAA volleyball tournament
vill host 26-6 Ohio State next t
Friday. a
“This was good forus, and v
here will be a recommitment
nd refocus for the team and
/hat we need to do,” Cook said.
Pilakowski sparks NU
riumwwjiu iium pqyc iu
on,” Christopher said.
Pilakowski herself said she felt
great on the floor.
“I just wanted to go out there
and play with a passion and work
hard,” she said.
But still, Pilakowski isn’t in
prime shape. Any hard contact
with the floor is prohibited, so
Coach John Cook substituted
freshman Anna Schrad into the
lineup during Pilakowski’s rota
tions in the back row.
Pilakowski couldn’t disagree
with the decision.
“It’s really hard, but in the
front row you don’t have to deal
with that,” she said.
But Pilakowski made the most
of her time at the net Cook said
Oliu WOO U1C apcUK Uldl licipcu
turn the game around. He said
there wasn’t one specific turning
point in the game, just that
Nebraska began playing better,
and a lot of that play involved
PilakowskL
“As long as she was successful
and doing well,’’ Cook said, “we
were going to go with her."
That meant utilizing
Pilakowski the majority of the last
three games, games that could
have been the last three games of
NU’s season had the Huskers not
turned die match into their favor.
They did, andintheeyesofthe
opposition, win No. 30 for NU had
a lot to do with another number,
Christopher said.
“That No. 9 was the difference
in the match,” she said.
Swimmers struggle at Texas Invite
FROM STAFF REPORTS
The NU men’s and women’s
swimming and diving team fell
short against some of die nation's
best at the Texas Invitational in
Austin,- Texas, this weekend.
The women finished 13th out
of 14 teams. The men’s team fin
ished only slightly better, placing
themselves 10th out of 12.
UCLA, tookhome the women’s
title with a score of553.5.Home
team Texas blew away the compe
tition on the men’s side with a
score of 751.
NU freshman Jerilyn
Drummond, claiming fourth
place on the one-meter dive.
Senior Bert Lockiln claimed a
sixth-place finish on the men’s
three-meter springboard.
^A/EIV Karaoke! &-12 Ev&ry Tu&sdayJ
1 S i? 1
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