SPORTS
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UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, September 7, 1993
11
Susan McSpadden / KANSAN
Jayhawks breeze to victory
But three players are lost to injuries
Rv Matt Dovle
Kansan sportswriter
In injuries not withstanding, Kansas' 46-3 victory against Western Carolina Saturday at Memorial Stadium was an improvement on the performance from the previous week against Florida State.
The aahawks offense moved the ball effectively in gaining 625 yards, and the defense limited Western Carolina's "freeze option" offense to 187 yards for the contest.
"I think we did what we needed to pick up after last weekend," said Kansas coach Glen Mason. "On a day when your defense plays great and your offense plays great, I would take the defense over the offense. We played tough defense."
However, Mason said yesterday that the lashwavs lost three key contributions.
players for the season due to injuries.
The Jayhawk offense also found a familiar target against the Catamounts that it did not against Florida State. Senior tight end Dwayne Chandler caught three passes for 101 yards and a touchdown after being held without a catch last week against Florida State.
Chandler's touchdown could be considered the turning point of the contest. With the Jayhawks leading 60, Western Carolina fullback Harold Hines fumbled at the Kansas 25 yard line with 11:13
Senior tailback George White hurt the medial collateral ligament of his left knee late in the first quarter Saturday. Senior free safety Kwanie Lassiter fractured his left collarbone in the second quarter and freshman cornerback Charles Davis said he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the third quarter while recovering a fumble.
senior defensive linemen Chris Manila-
menta and Guy Howard each suffered
sprained ankles, but both are expected to
play Saturday at Michigan State.
Mason was visibly upset after the game about his team's injury situation. But he said that it was an aspect of the game of which he had no control.
The running game, which at times showed the potential to break big plays against Florida State, was dominant against the Catamounts Kansas totaled 317 yards on the ground Saturday, led by sophomore LT. Levine's 92 yard performance on 22 carries.
"You can't worry about injuries because those things happen," he said. "They're a part of the game. Some years you stay injury-free, others you don't."
With White out for a while, freshman running back June Henley will be asked to contribute more in the coming weeks. Henley made a contribution on his 18th
birthday Saturday with 61 yards on 12
carries and two touchdowns.
"This is what we need to get our con-
fidence back," said Henley, referring to
the victory. "I'm sorry about George, but
we have to pick it up now and keep
going."
Galloway's two favorite targets, junior wide receivers Kerry Hayes and Craig Alken, were held in check by the Kansas defense. Hayes caught three passes for 40 yards and Aiken two for 40 yards. Each player also dropped several passes.
Western Carolina coach Steve Hodgkin said Mason deserved credit for the Jayhawks rebound from their first-game loss to No. 1 Florida State.
remaining in the first half. On Kansas' first play after the fumble, junior quarterback Fred Thomas connected with Chandler at the 50-yard line and Chandler outran the Catamount defense for a 75-yard touchdown.
Western Carolina's "freeze option" offense was frozen for most of the contest by the Jayhawk defense. Quarterback Lonnie Galloway completed only 8 of 24 passes for 94 yards.
"We knew Kansas had a good football team, but it was still a devastating loss," Hodgkin said. "Our offense couldn't get anything going and our defense was holding on for its life."
Senior threw, caught, carried as crucial instrument in victory
By Mark Button
Kansan sportswriter
Coming out of high school, Greg Ballard insisted on taking a shot at playing quarterback for a competitive team.
Four years later, he got that shot, completing a 41-yard pass to sophomore receiver Ashaudai Smith in Saturday's 46-3 Kansas victory against Western Carolina.
Kansas coach Glen Mason utilized Ballard's natural athletic ability, calling for the senior wide receiver to carry, catch and throw the ball. He rushed for 14 yards on two carries, caught one pass for 11 yards and passed for 41 yards on two attempts.
Ballard's completion to Smith, which was followed on the next play by Costello Good's two yard touchdown run, was actually his second-memorable play of the day.
"We probably overused him," Mason said of Ballard, who also played on kick-off and punt-return teams, "or we didn't use him enough. I don't know which."
"The official ruled that I inadvertently stepped out of bounds while I was running my route." Ballard said. "I felt that the defensive back made contact with me, forcing me out."
On Kansas' second drive of the game, junior quarterback Fred Thomas hooked up with Ballard for a 60-yard pass completion. However, the play was called back because Ballard stepped out of bounds before he caught the pass.
According to NCAA rules, a receiver can come back in bounds to catch a pass if he was bumped out by a defender.
Ballard's multidimensional contributions kept him from dwelling on the great catch that wasn't and allowed him to remember
the great pass that was.
Ballard, who in his senior year at Lawrence High School compiled a 10-2 record as the team's quarterback, was offered a scholarship by Stanford as a wide receiver.
"At the time, playing quarterback was the first thing on my mind."
Greg Ballard
he said. "I figured if I went out and tried to play quarterback and it didn't work out, I could switch then."
Ballard chose Southern Methodist University instead of Stanford and Texas Christian, which offered him a chance to play quarterback.
His switch came sooner than he expected.
After speaking with Gregg, Ballard switched to catching spirals instead of throwing them.
Within two days of practice, SMU coach Forrest Gregg saw three wide receivers go down with injuries.
A tinge of homesickness and the departure of John Jefferson, who was the receiver coach at SMU before to Kansas, led Ballard back home.
Ballard's sophomore season brought yet another switch. He transferred to Kansas and back to his hometown of Lawrence.
Can Kansas nas expect to see more passing from the former quarterback turned receiver? He hopes so.
'it's the best of both worlds,' said Ballard, who now knows receiving is his forte. 'I gave me the opportunity to live out the quarterback dream too.'
Kansas linebacker Terence Sullivan sacks Western Carolina quarterback Lonnie Galloway during Kansas' first home game of the 1990
Volleyball team drops close match
Kansas voneyball players Jenny Larson, left, and Tracie Walt attempt to block a shot during yesterday's game against Baylor. Kansas started the match by winning the first two games, but Baylor won the last three and the match.
Holly McQueen / KANSAN
Baylor comes back after two; reminds Kansas of tourney
By Gerry Fey Kansan sportswriter
What began as a possible three-game victory for the Kansas volleyball team yesterday turned into a five-game defeat at the hands of Baylor.
"They found our weaker blockers and exploited them," Albitz said. "Their blockers and diggers did well. They caused us a lot of trouble, but we caused ourselves trouble."
Kansas coach Frankle Albizt said Baylor played well defensively. Offensively, the Bears found Kansas' weaknesses, but the Jayhawks also made some costly mistakes.
The Jayhawks jumped to a two-game lead, winning 15-7 and 15-8. Then Baylor's defense got tough.
The match started with Kansas taking a 1-9 lead in the first game, led by the front-line play of senior Barb Bella and sonomore Tracie Walt.
Bella and Walt combined for five kills in the first game and six in the second.
The Kansas lead didn't last long, as Baylor won the last three games 15-13. 15-8 and 15-8.
"we started getting sloppy," Albiz said. "We were sloppy with our defense and positioning — the things we can control. And when you give a team like that momentum as we did, you get beat."
Albiz said her team's lack of intensity was the cause.
Lesli Steinert, sophomore setter.
"I don't really know how we came back," Sonnichson said. "We got exceptional play from Brenda Kunz. When we realized that she was playing well we tried to get her the ball as much as we could."
said there was a lack of communication on the Kansas side of the net during the last three games of the match.
Bella said she thought it was Taylor's adjustments after the first two games that caused problems for the Jayhawks, rather than a lack of intensity on Kansas' part.
Kansas took an early lead in game four, winning the first five points with the help of two kills by Walt and one by Bella. But the Jayhawks scored only three more points in that game.
"Their coaches altered a lot of their plays after the second game to find our holes. They made adjustments," Bella said. "It's very hard to come off two games and lose the next one."
Baylor coach Tom Sonichomson said the play of senior Brenda Kunz on the Baylor front line surprised him.
"The trouble with Kansas is they're so quick at what they do," Sonnichson said. "If we don't technically do well with our blocks, a team like Kansas will kill you."
Kansas needed to stop giving up victories after winning the first two games, Albizt said. The team won the first two games against Colorado State in the Northern Illinois tournament Friday but lost the match.
won the next three games and the match 16-14, 15-11 and 16-14.
A team with Kansas' speed usually gives Baylor trouble, Sonnickson said. That speed was one of the reasons Baylor lost the two games.
Kansas lost in three games to Northern Illinois and lost in four games to Northwestern.
"We had streaks," Albizt said. "We gave teams a lead and back we showed a lot of character coming back, but we have to work on not giving the teams those leads in the first place."
Colorado State was the Jayhawks' first opponent in the round-robin tournament. Kansas won the first two games 15-6 and 15-10, but the Rams
Despite losing all three matches Kansas played at the tournament, Coach Albiz said that traveling to Dekab. Ill., was worthwhile.
Senior Cyndee Kanabel said that playing high-caliber teams was an advantage early in the season.
"This will get us ready to play Colorado and Nebraska," she said. "It's good to see this kind of competition early."
Jayhawk runners take first second at Southern Illinois
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas cross country team had mixed results at the Southern Illinois Invitational Saturday in Carbondale III. The men's team finished second out of three teams, while the women's team defeated its only opponent, Southern Illinois.
By Kent Hohlfeld
The women's team defeated the Southern Illinois Salukis with seven Jayhawk runners finishing in the top nine spots. The Salukis finished 31 points higher than the Jayhawks, 46-15.
Juta Saul, senior cross country runner, said that it would be hard to draw conclusions from the early-season meet. She said the fact that Kansas was made up of veteran runners who knew the different styles of one another helped the team in the meet.
The team's finish wasn't much of a surprise to players or coaches. Kansas coach Gary Schwartz said Friday that he would have been surprised if the women's team had lost the meet to the Sulukis.
Saul also said that the meet gave the team a good indication of where the team was physically as members prepared for the top-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks, which will compete $^{10}$
The low score wins at cross country meets.
One of the few surprises of the meet came when junior Kristi Kloster finished first, upsetting Saul, a returning All-American, by 12 seconds.
Saul said her second-place performance showed she wasn't in as good of condition coming into the season this year as she was in previous seasons. She said that her second-place finish would take some pressure off of her to win every race.
the Jayhawk Invitational this weekend.
Assistant coach Steve Guymon said he was surprised by the Kansas women's domination of the Southern Illinois team.
"Southern Illinois told the local media they were going to beat our women's team." Guymon said. "So they were pretty confident."
Guymon said he was especially encouraged by the men's performance, even though it had a string of six straight victories against Southern Illinois broken Saturday.
The team finished with two runners, Bryan Schultz and Bobby Palmer, placing in the top five. Kansas came in second to Southern Illinois 41-31, but defeated Southwest Missouri State 41-48.
Palmer, a senior runner, said the team wanted to build on its performance for next week's home meet. He said that with the high number of new runners on the team, the coaches decided to have runners start out in a pack for the first two miles as opposed to letting everyone run their own races for the entire five miles.
Palmer said that the tactic was used to intimidate the other team as well as help the new runners gain confidence in their first collegiate meet. He said teams they would face later in the season use similar tactics.
"Air Force uses similar strategies when they run," Palmer said. "Obviously the strategy didn't work as well as we would've liked, but with practice it will work."
Guymon said the team planned to use the strategy or some slight variation of it next weekend when the team plays host to the Jayhawk Invitational at Rim Rock Farm, which is northwest of Lawrence.
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