6B
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SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 10.2008
SAS KANSAS KANSAS KAN S KANSAS KANSAS KANSAS
Jon Goering/KANSAN
A UMKC player watches as a spike by junior middle blocker Paige Mazor sells out of bounds during Tuesday's match. The team was playing in the absence of coach Ray Chach and was coached for the night by assistant Christine Posey. Bechard will be back for Friday's game.
VOLLEYBALL (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
"It was a little bit of a distraction just knowing what he's going through," sophomore outside hitter Karina Garlington said. "We just wanted to come out tonight and play for the Bechard family."
The rough third set, which saw the javahawks fall 25-16, not only
ended the bid for a sweep of the match but also gave the Kangaroos their first set win against the Jayhawks since 2001.
"I thought they really picked up their game," Posey said. "We're still
"I'm pretty excited. The coaches are constantly going after me, trying to make me play better. So I guess so far so good."
working out the kinks, but sure I'm disappointed that we didn't play well all the way through."
A key aspect after losing that third set was how the Jayhawks responded. Garlington and freshman outside hitter Allison Mayfield tallied their career highs in kills with 18 and 12, respectively. They held off a Kangaroo rally that had them within one point at 11-10 in the fourth set before the Jayhawks put their foot on the accelerator, finishing off the match 25-14.
"It's always fun to play at home, and play my best," Garlington said. "It's been working out."
It's freshmen like Tate and Mayfield who have gone above and beyond the typical expectations for a freshman. With junior middle blocker Brittany Williams having one of the worst nights of her career, their combined total of 17 kills helped fill in the void.
NICOLE TATE Freshman setter
Garlington said freshman setter Nicole Tate, who also had the Jayhawks first double-double of the season with 12 digs and 42 assists, was the reason she hasn't had to experience a sophomore slump.
"I was making really good connections with Nicole," Garlington said. "She plays like she's really experienced."
"I'm pretty excited. The coaches are constantly going after me, trying to make be play better," Tate said. "So I guess so far so good."
As an outside hitter, Mayfield
expects to be put into these situations and rack up the kills, setting her career high on Tuesday.
This night also saw senior middle blocker Natalie Uhart have an off-day with as many kills as hitting errors, with six each.
"We have more opportunities to get kills," Mayfield said. "I don't know if its added pressure, we just have more opportunities and we should capitalize on them."
Once again the Jayhawks' number one nemesis, inconsistency, reared its ugly head as the Jayhawks' hitting percentage lowered considerably with each set, not including the fourth and final set.
Coach Posey said he understood that it was a problem and one that was being worked on, so the Jayhawks could continue to improve for the imposing Big 12 schedule.
"I don't know if we have ever put together the perfect three game match thus far." Posey said. "Any time you drop a set, there's a little vulnerability, and like blood in the water you don't want the sharks circling around it."
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Senior middle blocker Natalie Uhart laughs with teammates during Tuesday's win against UMKC. Uhart had six kills in the game.
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BEECHER (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
sometimes safety Zack Dyer, when football season was useful only for killing time until Late Night in the Phog. Maybe I'm being a bit too harsh. Maybe all those students have good reasons. Maybe they're hockey fans and think games last only three periods. Maybe they worked out a deal with the athletics department that allows them
to pay for only three quarters of a ticket, provided that they leave at that point of the game. Or maybe those students just can't wait to get tanked. I'll give you one guess as to which answer is the correct one.
Your liver is your liver. But can't you wait just a little while to ruin it? The booze will still be there when you arrive.
You expect the football team to provide four quarters of effort and entertainment. Most of all, you expect them to win. Lately, they've been living up to their end of the bargain. So please, do use your powers of fanhood responsibly.
Edited by Mary Sorrick
Lance Armstrong holds the winner's trophy after winning his seventh straight Tour de France cycling race in 2005. Armstrong is determined to win an eighth Tour de France. The Tour "is the intention." Armstrong's spokesman Mark Higginss said, "but we've got some homework to do"
CYCLING
Armstrong determined to capture eighth consecutive Tour de France
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO
ASSOCIATED PRESS
AUSTIN, Texas - Lance Armstrong is getting back on his bike, determined to win an eighth Tour de France.
Armstrong's return from cancer to win the Tour a record seven consecutive times made him a hero to cancer patients worldwide and elevated cycling to an unprecedented level in America.
The 36-year-old Armstrong told Vanity Fair in an exclusive interview posted on its Web site Tuesday that he was inspired to return after finishing second last month in the Leadville 100, a lung-searing 100-mile mountain bike race through the Colorado Rockies.
The sport and particularly the Tour have missed his star power, even though skeptics refused to believe he could win 7 Tours without the help of illegal performance-enhancing drugs.
"This kind of obscure bike race, totally kick-started my engine," he told the magazine. "I'm going to try and win an eighth Tour de France."
The 2009 Tour "is the intention," Armstrong's spokesman Mark Higgins told The Associated Press, "but we've got some homework to do over there."
Tour director Christian Prudhomme did not return messages seeking comment on Armstrong's decision. His staff said he would not comment before Wednesday morning, if at all.
Armstrong's close friend and longtime team director, Johan Bruyneel, now with team Astana, sent a text message to an AP reporter in Paris saying he did not want to comment now.
In a video statement on his foundation's Web site, Armstrong said details — such as a team and schedule — would be announced Sept. 24 at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City.
"I am happy to announce that after talking with my children, my family and my closest friends. I have decided to return to professional cycling in order to raise awareness of the global cancer burden," Armstrong said in a statement released to The Associated Press. "This year alone, nearly eight million people will die of cancer worldwide... It's now time to address cancer on a global level."
In the Vanity Fair interview, Armstrong told the magazine he was 100 percent sure he was going
to compete in the Tour next summer.
"Here not going to try to second place," Bill Stapleton, Armstrong's lawyer and longtime confidant, told the AP.
"I think it's great," said long-time teammate George Hincapie, who added he spoke to Armstrong on Tuesday morning. "Like I said earlier today, without Lance half the teams in this race probably wouldn't be around. He's done more than anyone for the sport especially in America and around the world.
"On a personal note, I like that he's going to be back in the peloton. He's a great friend of mine, and I also think for the sport it's good, too."
Armstrong noted in the magazine interview that other athletes in his age range were competing at a high level, specifically 41-year-old Olympic medalist swimmer Dara Torres and 38-year-old Olympic women's marathon champion Constantina Tomescu-Dita, of Romania.
"Older athletes are performing well," he said. "Ask serious sports physiologists and they'll tell you age is a wives' tale."
Age will be an issue for Armstrong in the Tour de France.
He'll be 37 next week, ancient for such a grueling competition. Only one rider older than 34 has ever won the Tour — 36-year-old Firmin Lauter in 1922.
On Monday, the cycling journal VeloNews reported on its Web site that Armstrong would compete with the Astana team, led by Bruyneel, in the Tour and four other road races — the Amgen Tour of California, Paris-Nice, the Tour de Georgia and the Dauphine-Libere.
But there are no guarantees Astana would be allowed to race in the 2009 Tour. Race officials kept the team out of the 2008 Tour because of previous doping violations.
If Armstrong and his team aren't invited in 2009, he plans to appeal directly to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
"Ive already put a call in to him," he told Vanity Fair.
Armstrong's return to competition raises the question of whether he risks damaging his athletic legacy. And his own words likely will cause some to wonder if he'll approach his return with the same steely-eyed determination and passion.
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In an interview published in the October issue of Men's Journal, Armstrong said, "I'm glad I'm not cycling anymore ... It was fun while it lasted, and I liked it, but I'm so focused on other things now that I never think about it."
You're not around for 55 years unless you have something amazing to offer
He's certainly thinking about it now.
Just 'cross the bridge
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With his riveting victories over cancer and opponents on the bike, to his work for cancer awareness and gossip-page romances, Armstrong has become a modern-day American icon.
THE UNIVERSITY SPECIAL DAILY KANSAN
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