Weekend pitches NU into Big 12 play I
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Nebraska baseball’s fourth
trip southward adds a little
importance to the weekend - Big
12 Conference play begins.
The No. 12 Comhuskers (6-3)
face Texas Tech Friday through
Sunday in Lubbock, Texas, as
both teams segue from their non
conference slate into league play.
Both NU and Tech had the week
off when the Red Raiders’ (12-6)
doubleheader against Texas
Christian was rained out on
Tuesday.
Shane Komine, coming off a
strong outing in a 6-3 win over
Louisiana-Lafayette, will get the
start in Friday’s 7 p.m. game.
Jamie Rodrigue starts Saturday
after pitching seven relief innings
in a 8-7 win over Wichita State.
Sunday ’s starter is not yet known.
The Red Raiders return only
two starters from last year’s team
and have displayed a strong pen
chant for stealing bases (43 of 51
attempts completed so far) while
hitting .311 at the plate. Tech just
won two of three from New
Mexico; the Huskers beat the
Lobos earlier this season in an
Albuquerque, N.M., tournament
Nebraska hasn’t won in
Lubbock since 1991, but signs
point to a reversal this weekend,
especially’if NU can stay hot at the
plate. The Huskers are hitting .365
through nine games, which is best
in the Big 12 (Tech is second), with
three players. Matt Hopper (.471),
Jeff Blevins (.471) and Jeff Leise
(.429) past the .400 plateau.
Hopper, a Morrison, Colo., soph
omore, leads NU with two home
runs and 15 RBI.
Following the series in
Lubbock, the Huskers will fly to
Cedar City, Utah, and await their
doubleheader with Southern
Utah on Tuesday.
In other college baseball
news, the big series this weekend
pits No. 2 Louisiana State against
one the nation’s hottest teams,
No. 3 Arizona State in a three
game set in Tempe, Ariz. It’s possi
ble the winner could leapfrog
Georgia Tech to the No. 1 spot in
the polls after the Yellow Jackets
lost their top player, John Texteria,
to a broken ankle for eight to nine
weeks.
Huskers find depth
will be an advantage
BY VINCE KUPP1G
The Nebraska women’s tennis
team will once again look to use
its depth to its advantage when it
heads to the court this weekend.
The 59th-ranked
Cornhuskers (8-2, 0-2) will
attempt to pick up its first confer
ence win of the season when they
face Missouri (8-2, 2-2) on
Saturday at 10 a.m. at Woods
Tennis Center. They also take on
Southwest Missouri State (4-3) on
Sunday at 10 a.m. at Woods.
NU’s depth nearly led to an
upset over fifth-ranked Texas last
weekend. Losing at No. 1,2 and 3,
the Huskers picked up wins at the
bottom three singles spots in the
4-3 loss.
Junior Amy Frisch, who usu
ally plays at the No. 4 or No. 5 sin
gles positions, said NU’s depth
helped prepare the team for com
petition.
“Our depth has helped us a lot
through this year,” she said. “It
helps us in the practice because
we’re all good hitting for each
other
“For some teams, once you
get towards the bottom, the play
ers aren’t quite as good. For our
team, we have a lot of strong,
good players no matter where
you go.”
The unranked Tigers, who are
off to their best start in school his
tory, also have that advantage.
Their bottom three singles spots
have a combined 25-5 record.
Also unranked, SVVMS enters
this weekend’s match with four
consecutive wins, including a win
over 651*1-ranked Kansas. All three
of its losses have come from
ranked opponents
Orach Scott Jacobson said he
expected this weekend’s matches
to be good challenges.
“It’s going to be a tough week
end,” he said. “We’ll find out what
we’re made of.”
In men’s tennis action, NU (5
3, 0-1) plays at 17th-ranked
Oklahoma State on Saturday
before heading to Lawrence, Kan.
to play Se^-ranked Boise State on
Sunday morning.
“It’s a big weekend with two
ranked teams,” Coach Kerry
McDermott said. “We need to get
some wins over some ranked
opponents to start making some
noise.”
Mills back at No. 1 spot after injury
Mills from page 10
three-set thriller over the No. 1
player from 20th-ranked
Csongor Bibza from Baylor, 7-6,
5-7, 6-4. He provided NU’s lone
point in a 6-1 loss.
With hopes of cracking the
top 50 individually, Mills will
have his toughest challenge of
the year this weekend when he
likely faces 53rd-ranked Matt
Prentice of Oklahoma State.
But it is the team that Mills is
most concerned about, NU
Coach Kerry McDermott said.
“He’s a great team player,”
McDermott said. “He loves for
the team to win. He’s kind of a
player-slash-coach when he’s
not playing himself. He gets the
team fired up.”
Mills is determined to help
get the Huskers into the top 40
by the season’s end. The ulti
mate team goal for NU’s new
No. 1 is an NCAA Tournament
berth.
So far the Huskers are off to a
decent start at 5-3, with two
losses against top-50 teams.
But Mills said the Huskers
were due to upset a top-ranked
opponent.
With Mills’ work ethic,
McDermott said Mills might be
able to help direct the Huskers
to that upset. He said Mills was
the type of player who gave his
all regardless of the situation.
“He busts his tail off,”
McDermott said. “When he
steps out on the court to play, it’s
always 100 percent and fight to
the end. That, in itself, just
keeps rubbing off on the rest of
the team. That’s what we missed
so much last year.”
But maybe missing last sea
son wasn’t so bad. Mills said he
now appreciated being able to
play even more.
“After sitting out a year, it
really fuels the fire to come out
here and work really hard to
win,” he said.
Men look to regroup
BY KRISTEN WATERS
The Nebraska men’s gym
nastics team is looking to make a
180-degree flip this weekend
after suffering two losses to two
top-ranked teams last weekend,
as it plays host to No. 17 Air
Force at the Devaney Center on
Sunday.
NU swallowed its second
loss of the season after a
206.575-202.575 score against
No. 7 Iowa last Friday in the
Huskers first home meet held at
the Pershing Auditorium.
Nebraska then traveled to
top-ranked Oklahoma on
Sunday where they hit only 48
percent of their routines,
according to Coach Francis
Allen, and scored a 200.950,
marking the lowest team score
of the season.
“Last weekend was a big eye
opener for us," senior Jason
Hardabura said. "We just need to
put that behind us and learn
from it"
Nebraska will look to forget
about last weekend and improve
its record past .500 against a
team they are no stranger to.
NU and USAFA have already
met twice this season, and both
times the Huskers walked away
with a win.
“Air Force is a good team,”
Hardabura said.
Air Force first met NU at the
Rocky Mountain Open Jan 19,
where the Falcons finished third
with a score of 194.100, and
Nebraska finished second to
Oklahoma after recording a
200.050.
In its second meeting,
USAFA finished third at a trian
gular with UC-Santa Barbara
after posting a 198.550, while the
Huskers walked away with the
team title after scoring 207.100.
The focus for NU this week
end is simple: win.
“I’m pretty sure we ll beat Air
Force, but we’re definitely gonna
have to post a high team score,”
Hardabura said.
Gossr'No stopping team' I
BY JASON MERRIHEW_
The HuskerVision boards will
be filled with high-flying action
that hasn’t been seen in the Bob
Devaney Sports Center in quite
some time.
The sixth-ranked Nebraska
women’s gymnastics team will
provide some action in the
Devaney Center for the first time
since Feb. 3, when they go head to
head with lO^-ranked Florida on
Sunday.
Although the Huskers com
peted in Lincoln last weekend at
the Masters Classic, they compet
ed at the Pershing Auditorium
because of a scheduling conflict
“We really enjoyed competing
at Pershing, and it turned out to be
a really good event” NU Assistant
Coach Rhonda Faehn said. “But
Devaney is our home, and we like
to compete there.”
On the way to a Masters
Classic win, the Huskers shattered
the school record, which has been
previously broken twice this sea
son, scoring a blistering 197325.
Despite the fact that Nebraska
scored the ninth-highest score in
the nation this season, the NU
coaching staff believes that there
is room for improvement
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“We can improve on the few
mistakes we made at last week
end’s meet,” Faehn said. “Were
looking to do our best and be con
sistent” :•
The optimistic attitude of the
coaching staff has trickled down
to the gymnasts.
“There is no stopping this
team,” junior Laura Goss said.
“We are going to keep breaking
the record and breaking the
record till the end of the season.”
In order to keep the momen
tum rolling towards the postsea
son, Nebraska must take each
meet one at a time, starting with
Florida. The Gators will host
eighth-ranked Iowa, 23^-ranked
Kentucky, and Ball State at the
Rydell High Reunion today, before
crawling into Lincoln.
“We need to stay aggressive
and stay on top of our game,” NU
Coach Dan Kendig said.
Action begins at 2 p.m. on
Sunday, with the men’s gymnastic
team taking on Air Force at the
same time.
ON Hie Photo
Keyuo Craver and the Nebraska track team have one more chance to qualify for the
NCAA Championships this weekend.
Meet will decide NCAA spots
TRACK from page 10
small fraction of time to any
performance at the NU track.
“What they’ve tried to do is
make it all fair,” Pepin said. “It’s
probably not, but they're getting
as close as possible.”
Pepin explained that a
women's 200-meter qualifying
time at a normal track is 24.45
where a 24.25 is required at
Devaney.
Events at the meet get
underway at 10 a.m. at the
Devaney Sports Center.
Running events starting at 11
a.m.
N.
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