SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1994
Loosing streak ends for volleyball
SECTION E
Much-needed victory comes against Tigers
By Chesley Dohl
Kansan sportswriter
Wins are all or nothing for the Kansas volleyball team.
Kansas ended a 12-game losing streak last night, taking
*Kansas entered a 12-3 lead losing streak at night, taking three games from the Missouri Tigers. 15-11, 15-11, 15-8.*
The last time Kansas won a match was the upset against the Oklahoma Sooners on Oct. 1.
Kansas coach Karen Schonewise said last night's victory came just in time.
"I keep telling the girls we're doing some great things and
playing with confidence," she said. "But they were getting tired of hearing that. They needed this victory for reinforcement."
The Jayhawks, 2-5 in the Big Eight Conference, executed their game plan well, which included aggressive serving, quick middle hits and down-the-line hitting.
Sophomore Katie Walsh led the Kansas hitting attack with 13 kills, followed by freshman Leslie Purkeypile with 11. Both players had a .333 hitting percentage for the night.
The Jayhawks broke away from the Tigers in the first game at the sixth point. Freshman middle blocker Kendra Kaher helped give the Jayhawks the lead by putting away a quick middle set. Kaher finished the night with five kills.
Missouri coach Disa Johnson said Kansas had played a very focused, disciplined match from start to finish. She said Kansas had played better than what she had seen on video tape from earlier in the season.
"KU played strong in the end of each game," Johnson said. "They were very persistent and very patient."
Johnson, in her first year of coaching at Missouri, said the Tigers had played a good match but that Kansas was more disciplined in finishing each game.
"When they had breakdowns, it was usually because they stopped communicating," Schonewise said.
Schonewise said Kansas' timeouts were very effective in the match. When the Jayhawks gave way to inconsistent play, timeouts got them back on track.
The Jayhawks did not overlook Missouri, 0-8 in the Big Eight and 9-16 overall, and put together a solid match in Allen Field House in front of a crowd of 335.
"We didn't think they'd roll over." Walsh said. "We know we're a great team. We're scrappy, and to win we knew had to play well and work really hard on defense."
John Hendrix,
Kansas
fencing club
president,
lunges toward
Dwon Guvenir,
Lawrence
senior, with
his eppe blade
at a recent
club practice.
The Kansas
fencing club
offers
students the
chance to
learn the
unique skills
of fencing.
Brian Vanden伯利 /
KANSAN
Kansas fencing has long history
Hoops not only love of Naismith
By Kent Hohlfeld
Kansan sportswriter
James Naismith may be famous for being the father of Kansas basketball, but one of his little-known loves was wencing
The sport has had a roller coaster history at Kansas since being popularized by the former basketball coach.
Naismith was a mentor of the Kansas team in its early days around the late 19th century.
Later in the 1950s, fencing enjoyed success as an intercollegiate sport.
"It wasn't a varsity sport, but the fencing club was authorized for intercollegiate competition," said John Dillard, team coach and member of the 1957 fencing
team. "We could also send our fencers to the NCAA championships."
In the early 1970s, the team's status greatly changed due to two developments.
"There really wasn't the money to keep the team going at that level," Dillard said. "There was also a change in the NCAA rules."
In 1972, the NCAA decided that athletes who did not compete for a varsity team could not compete in the NCAA championships.
"That was a real blow to fencing," Dillard said. "A lot of smaller schools ended up dropping their programs."
Today, 22 men's and 24 women's Division I collegiate fencing programs remain, mostly at Ivy league and West Coast schools.
At Kansas, fencers primarily compete in various tournaments in the area.
John Hendrix, freshman and fencing club president, said the club averaged around 15 people each semester. He said
that most of the members came from the classes that are offered in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation department.
"Some people think it's a boring sport. Others think it's violent." Hendrix said. "Its probably somewhere in between those two extremes."
Dillard said that many people's perceptions of the sport were governed by what they saw in the movies.
Foil, saber and eppe are the three types of blades used in fencing. Competitions are named for which weapon is being used each having a different scoring area on the body.
"One style really isn't harder than the other," Dillard said. "It's more a matter of personal preference than anything else."
"I think there is a little bit of Errol Flynn in all of us," Dillard said.
In a competition, called a bout, points are scored when one fencer's blade touches a scoring area of the opponent's body.
The scoring area on the body ranges from the entire body in eppe, to the front of the torso in foil fencing.
Lawrence senior Dwon Guvenir said that people didn't appreciate how demanding the sport was physically.
Fencers need more than brute strength to reach the highest of the five fencing classes. Fencers raise their class by beating people in a higher class and placing well in tournaments.
"A lot of people think it's a flaky sport," Guvenir said. "People don't realize the athletic ability the sport takes."
The classes range from class A, which is Olympic-caliber fencing, to class E, a basic level. Beginning fencers are called unclassified fencers.
The various scoring areas in the different competitions add an element of strategy to bouts.
"Fencing is a sport where experience can make up for lost athletic ability," Dillard said.
Nebraska's defense to test 'Hawks
By Matt Irwin
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas rushing offense, which is ranked third in the Big Eight and ninth nationally, will face a
When Kansas enters its game Saturday against the Nebraska Cornhuskens in Lincoln, the strongest part of the Jayhawks' team — the running game — will run into its toughest test of the season.
defense that ranks first in the conference against the run and fifth nationally. The Cornhuskers have held opponents to an average of 71.1 yards a game, while
the Jayhawks have averaged 261.9 yards a game on the ground.
"It's the whole scheme," Kansas coach Glen Mason said, referring to the Cornhuskers' defense. "You can't just point to one end of it. They've got the whole package."
Nebraska's pass defense ranks second in the Big Eight and 15th in the country.
"If you've got the ability to play an eight-man front against people and still hold up against the pass, then you're going to be pretty good," Mason said. "When you put that type of pressure on people, sometimes you leave yourself susceptible to big plays. No one is getting any big plays against them."
The Nebraska defense is not big.
Although the Jayhawks have been called a small defense with only two players listed at 260 pounds, Nebraska only has two starters heavier than 225 pounds. Nebraska defensive tackles Terry Connealy and Christian Peter weigh 275 and 285 pounds respectively.
Nebraska defensive coordinator Charlie McBride attributed much of his players success to their team attitude.
McBride said that Nebraska's defense had been improving each week.
"This group seems to be playing together very well," McBride said. "The intangibles — the things you look for as a coach."
In possibly the biggest game of the year for the Cornhuskers, their defense kept Colorado from converting on all 11 third-down situations and all four of its fourth-down situations.
"That's an amazing statistic," McBride said. "That's really unbelievable."
Yet, McBride said it hadn't always been so easy.
Colorado coach Bill McCartney said that Nebraska's defense was very athletic and gave the Buffaloes' offense trouble in Nebraska's 24-7 victory Saturday in Lincoln. Even McBride was impressed by his defense's success at stopping Colorado.
After the Cornhuskers defeated West Virginia in the Kickoff Classic, McBride said that the defense lost its best defender in free safety Mike Minter and several other key players. But he said the other players had improved, becoming healthier and more experienced at their positions.
McBride attributes much of the defense's unity and team play to the injuries to quarterback Tommie Frazier and Minter.
Nebraska senior cornerback Barron Miles also said that the injuries were a rallying point.
"Everyone said the defense was suspect," Miles said. "We want to prove everyone wrong."
Blackshirts dominate
Here are rankings for the Nebraska Comhuskers' defense, nicknamed "The Blackshirts";
Big Eight National ranking ranking
Scoring: 12.6pts/game No.1 No.8
Rushing: 71.1 yds/game No.1 No.5
Total:271.6yds/game No.1 No.11
Source: Big Eight Conference service bureau KANSAN
Letters from readers needed for preview
Women's tennis to attend regional tournament
The Kansan will publish a basketball preview section to tip off the men's and women's seasons. The section will run in the Nov. 17 paper.
The sports staff is asking readers to write letters between 100-150 words long predicting the outcome of the college basketball season.
Letters must be submitted no later than Nov. 10 with the author's name and phone number included. If that information is left off, the Kansan will not accept the submitted letter.
Letters should be turned in to the Kansan newsroom, Room 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. A box for entered letters will be provided in the newsroom.
Readers should predict what team will win the NCAA championship. They also can pick the teams they consider overrated or dark horses
Any questions concerning reader's letters should be directed to Brian James, sports editor, or Gerry Fey, associate sports editor, at the Kansan, 864-4810.
By Jenni Carlson
The Kansas women's tennis team saved the most important tournament for last.
Kansan sportswriter
By reaching the singles final or winning the doubles competition, players will advance to the Rolex National Indoor Championship next spring in Dallas. The regional tournament starts today and concludes on Sunday.
The team closes out its fall season at the Central Region Rolex Championships in Tucson, Ariz.
Kansas women's tennis coach Chuck Merzbacher said that Kansas and Brigham Young University have traditionally been the strongest teams in the tournament.
Merzbacher also said there were several other teams competing in the tournament. Players from Utah, Kansas State, Nebraska, Wichita
The Kansas players that will compete in the regional tournament are junior Kim Webster, sophomores Jenny Atkerson, Chessa Bleri, Bianca Kirchhof and Amy Trytek, and freshmen Maria Abatjoglou and Christie Sim.
State and Oklahoma State will challenge Kansas.
Senior Nora Koves will not compete as she qualified for the national indoor tournament when she won the SkyTel Clay Court Championship earlier this fall.
For many members of the team, this weekend marks the first action since early in October. Abatjoglou said her last competitive tennis match was in the Notre Dame Invitational, but that the time she had off was productive.
"I think it's good we had a break." Abatjoglou said. "The last couple of weeks we've had really good practices. We've hit lots and lots of balls."
One player that did not have a break
However, Atkerson said she was glad to play several extra matches. After being redshirted last year, she was working to regain her competitive mentality and form.
"It's helped me because I've played more matches," Atkerson said. "I think I learned to play smarter."
was Atkerson. She and Koves played in the Riviera All-American Championship in Pacific Palisades, Calif. two weeks ago.
The draw for the Central Region Rolex Championship is the biggest of the year, Merzbacher said. The singles draw includes 100 players, while the doubles competition has 40 teams.
Since there is no women's qualifier for the National Team Indoors, Kansas hopes to have a strong team showing this weekend.
"We're taking it as a team event," Merzbacher said. "We want to do well."
Jay Thornton / KANSAN
Kansas sophomore Chessa Bieri returns the ball during the last tennis practice of the fall.