SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, October 28, 1992
11
Patrick Tompkins / KANSAN
Volleyball team to face Nebraska
In a game against Iowa State, Shelby Lard, Gardner junior, spikes the ball as Julie Larkin, Wichita senior, and Kim DeHoff, Tonganoxie senior, prepare for the block. The Jawhavas take on the Cornhuskers tonight in Lincoln.
Jayhawks hope to defeat Cornhuskers for the first time ever, get another opportunity to challenge the highly-rated team
By David Dorsey
Kansan sportswriter
For the second time this season, the Kansas volleyball team faces the Nebraska Cornhuskers, and tonight the Jayhawks again will have to contend with the team recognized as one of the top volleyball programs in the nation.
The Jayhawks have never beaten the Nebraska volleyball team, but the last time they met, the Kansas team played hard in a 15-12, 15-8 and 15-10 losing effort.
"I was real pleased with them the first time," said Kansas coach Frankie Albiz. "We started off strong but then we kind of let them come back.
"The only other conference team that has even come close to Nebraska was Oklahoma. Everyone else is getting stomped."
The Nebraska team features Stephanie Thater, who was voted the Big Eight Player of the Year by the
conference coaches last season and is averaging more than three kills a game this season.
Nebraska also is notorious for having strong crowd support. Nebraska currently leads the nation in volleyball attendance, with 3,180 fans a match. The "Huskers already have drawn 22,000 in seven home matches this season.
"It's a great place to play because the crowd is educated about volleyball," Albitz said. "If there's a good play, they'll applaud even if it's the opponent. My team always seems to step up when we play there, so its a great place for an away game."
Barb Bella, a Kansas junior middle blocker, said that the crowd's presence at Nebraska affected the game in two wavs.
"I think the crowd always helps Nebraska because of the atmosphere they create," Bella said. "But in some ways that kind of helps us, too, because it kind of motivates you . . ."
After a good rally, they'll clap just for the rally rather than to get the other team down."
Bella has received little playing time in the last two matches because problems she had with her blocking.
"I've been working very specifically in practice for a couple of weeks, and I think it showed when I went in there that it was getting better," she said. "It was kind of an old habit that I returned to."
Bella played briefly last Saturday against Iowa State, and Albitz was encouraged.
The Jayhawks return to home competition Saturday night against Colorado. The match will be at Allen Field House and takes place before "Late Night with Roy Williams."
"She's working on it, and I hope I can get her in." Albitz said.
It's a long swim from Oregon
Albitz has been using junior Shelby Lard and Cyndee Kanabel up front along with senior Kim DeHoff.
ck of programs at home, recruiting efforts cause eight swimmers from Oregon to become Jayhawk
By David Bartkoski
Kansan sportswriter
Kip Chin / KANSAN
Tim Connine. Roseburg, Ore. senior, comes up for air during a practice swim at Robinson Gymnasium. The Kansas swim team been preparing yesterday for its first meet Nov. 7 against Missouri
The nicknames of teams at Oregon and Oregon State universities are the Ducks and the Beavers.
But some of the best swimmers in
banks are packs of ducks or
bowers, player-bankers.
Eight of the 53 members of the Kansas swimming and diving team are from Oregon, a state with only one Division I swimming and diving program in existence — the women's program at Oregon State.
Kansas assistant coach Chris Doyle swam three years for Oregon before that university dropped its men's and women's swimming and diving programs in 1986.
Doyle, now in his fifth year as a coach at Kansas, is the most primarily responsible for bringing the slew of Oregonians to Kansas.
He said that after Oregon universities began to drop their programs, he knew that swimmers in that state were going out-of-state universities to attend.
"I had a lot of links out there," he said. "It was kind of a natural to make an opportunity for athletes in the Northwest to swim at the highest level at a place like Kansas."
Doyle helped recruit all eight Oregon swimmers on the team.
Senior Tim Corzine of Roseburg, Ore., was one of the first swimmers that Doyle recruited for the Jayhawks.
A strong academic program, good coaching staff and friendly campus atmosphere were other reasons he gave for coming to Kansas.
Since coming to Kansas, Corzine has competed in three Big Eight Championships. Last year, he had won the 100- and 200-meter backstroke.
Corzine said he was proud to be one of the first swimmers from Oregon to come to Kansas.
"I think I hard part of the foundation," he said. "I'm glad when I see people feel like I'm the boss."
Another Oregonian who came to swim at Kansas is Curtis Taylor of Ashland, Ore. He has known Corinne and Jason. "We said that Corinne consistently defeated him when they raced as young. sters.
"He used to beat me in everything when we were kids," he said.
Last year, he earned All-American honors as part of the 200 and 400-meter freestyle relays that placed 11th and 15th, respectively, at the NCAA Championships.
they're team players," he said.
"They are very good under pressure and will do what it takes to help the program. That's what a coach looks for."
Kansas coach Gary Kempf said Taylor and Corrine were quality athletes
Freshman Ryan Lowe of Gresham,
Dore, Derek Spirits of Sandy, Ore, and
Maryland.
Three freshmen from Oregon are on the team.
She said that keeping herself busy and having some relatives in Lawrence have made the move from Oregon easier.
Davis will compete with the women's team that finished 15th at the NCAA Championships last year.
and individuals.
have joined the team
A close relationship with her teammates and coaches has helped, too.
Missouri senior Jeff Jacke is the other Bie Eight semi-finalist.
Five finalists for the award will be named Nov. 16, and the winner will be announced Dec. 3.
"Ive only been here two-and-a-half
months, and I feel like I already know these people," she said.
One of Davis' teammates, junior Ronda Lusty, hails from Pendleton, Ore.
Selection honors Eichloff's efforts
Eichloch entered the season as a
Playboy All-American. He has connected on 10 out of 12 field goals and scored 62 points.
She said she enjoyed being with her fellow Oregonians.
"There are so many people from Oregon here. It's like a family," she said. "It's almost like a home away from home."
Junior Marshra Trachi of Lake Oswego, Ore., and Scott Townsend of The Dalles, Ore., are Kansas' other swimmers from Oregon.
Kempf said that Kansas always would be interested in swimmers from Oregon
Kansan staff report
"It's an opportunity we pursued, and it opened up a new door," he said. "It's been a great relationship."
The award, which is given to the nation's top collegiate place kicker, is named after Hall-of-Fame kicker Lou Groza, who helped charge place-kicking from a part-time to full-time position.
Kansas junior kicker Dan Eichlöh was named one of 20 semi-finalists for the first Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award yesterday.
Injuries, substitutions shake up Big Eight teams
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — News from the medical front is bad on one hand, but maybe not so bad on the other hand for the hobbled, troubled Oklahoma Sooners.
Defensive back Drew Christmann is lost for the season with an injury he suffered on Saturday's 27-10 loss to Kansas, Oklahoma coach Gary Gibbs said Monday. But quarterback T.J. McLean, who left the game in the third quarter, became the Sooners' all-time leading leader, is not as seriously injured.
"Cale had a slight separation on the inside part of the shoulder."
Gibbs said Gundy's status for Saturday's game against Kansas State was doubtful.
"We'll continue to evaluate him day to day," Gibbs said.
While Gundy struggles to stay healthy, a true freshman named Tommie Frazier has Nebraska fans buzzing.
Frazier replaced senior Mike Grant last weekend and rushed for three touchdowns while showing uncommon poise for one so young in a 34-24 Cornhusker victory at Missouri.
It led to immediate speculation that Frazier would start Saturday in the showdown between Nebraska
and Colorado, which are tied for eighth place in this week's Associated Press 25 poll.
There seemed little doubt in the mind of Nebraska running back Calvin Jones who would get the call to start.
"I think he did a marvelous job," Jones said. "One of the concerns that I had, and the rest of the team, was how he would execute and how he would audible, how he would respond to being named the starter. He was smart enough to make that out of everyone's mind. We all had to take our hats off to him."
Frazier hit 9 of 20 passes for 157 yards and threw no interceptions.
"He has a great deal of confidence out there," Jones said. "Everyone was telling him, 'Go out and have a good time.'
As a team, you're kind of leery of those mental breakdowns a freshman may have, but Tommie showed great composure out there."
A veteran won't exactly be taking snaps for Colorado. Sophomore Cordell Stewart, who's been batting wrist and ankle injuries, will start, with true freshman Koy Detmer on call.
"He's not 100 percent healthy."
Colorado coach Bill McCarthy said of Stewart, "We'll have to watch him day to day and see how he's doing."
He just doesn't have the mobility he had earlier in the year."
No. 18 Kansas' 27-10 victory against Oklahoma has vaulted the Jayhawks right into battle game against Nebraska Nov. 7 on ESPN.
Through the years, nobody has beaten Kansas more savage than Nebraska. So Kansas coach Glen Mason was philosophical when athletic director Bob Frederick asked him to mind killing on that night.
"I said no," Mason said. "We haven't been very successful against Nebraska in the light of day, so why not something different."