SWIMMING Javhawk swimmer Amy Gruber became the first Kansas swimmer to garner a national honor. PAGE GA
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2004
Revenge drives Kansas
Javhawks aim to avenge last year's loss to the Wolfpack
John Tran/KANSAN
Aaron Miles, senior guard, by St. Joseph's guard Dwyane Lee. The Jayhawks breezed through Tuesday night's game at Allen Fieldhouse with a 91-51 victory.
BY JESSE NEWELL
jnewell@kansan.com
KANSAK SWIPTERWITER
Ask Kansas players and coaches, and they won't tell you about the Nevada Wolfpack's first tournament appearance since 1985 last year or its run to the Sweet 16.
No, the Jayhawks will only tell you about Dec. 21.
"We can talk about their run in the NCAA Tournament," Kansas coach Bill Self said, "but what we remember is g waxed in Reno."
Memories remain strong for the Jayhawks of last year's 75-61 loss to the Wolfpack in the championship of the Dodge Holiday Classic last season on Nevada's home court. Now, Kansas has the opportunity for some pay back with an 8 p.m. tip-off against Nevada tonight in Allen Fieldhouse.
"We're definitely looking forward to the game," senior forward Wayne
Simien said. "They whooped us pretty good out there last year. They definitely they outplayed us, and we're excited to get another shot at them this year."
Kansas trailed by 20 at halftime last season and never made a serious run at Nevada.
Guard Kirk Snyder, who was drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz, led the Wolfpack with 29 points.
"It was a pitiful performance by us, and at that time we didn't know how good of a team they were," Self said. "They were obviously really good, and they basically have their whole front line back."
The Wolfpack returns two starters: senior forward Kevin Pinkney and current Western Athletic Conference player of the week Nick Fazekas.
In three games, the sophomore forward Fazekas has averaged 23.3 points and 6.7 rebounds.
SEE REVENGE ON PAGE 6A
Volleyball ends season on fire
BY BILL CROSS
bcross@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
The Kansas volleyball team, which was ranked 10th out of 11 volleyball teams in the Big 12 Conference less than two months ago, finished the season tied for sixth after winning its last two matches during Thanksgiving break.
Coach Ray Bechard said the team, which has won five of its last seven matches, is playing as well as it had all season.
www.kansan.com
RELATED NEWS
See the story on seniors' night on page 6A.
"We're play-
we're play ing like a top-20 team" he said.
The team swept Texas Tech for the second time this season on Wednesday before defeating Colorado in four games on Saturday to tie the Buffaloes for sixth place.
The team's improved blocking, as exhibited Saturday when the team notched a season-high 18 blocks against Colorado in 3-1 victory, was a big reason for the improvement, Bechard said.
Against Texas Tech, blocking and defense dominated game one, as both teams hit less than .100, meaning they scarcely scored more kills than attack errors. The Jayhawks hit an impressive .395 in game two and were led by senior middle blocker Ashley Michaels, who had 13 kills during the match.
The Jayhawks had just four attack errors in each of the last two games as they defeated the Red Raiders. 30-25, 30-24 and 30-25.
Senior libero Jill Dorsey, who tore ligaments in her left elbow Nov. 12 against Nebraska, had another solid performance as she led the team with 21 digs. It was the first time this season she recorded more than 20 digs in a three-game match.
"Dorsey was flying all over the place and gave us a lot of opportunities to keep the ball in play," Bechard said.
The layhawks led for most of the first game and set a trend for the night by outblocking the Buffalooes four to zero. They would dominate that statistic the rest of the night, 18 to three.
She was a key part of the defense again against Colorado Saturday night, when she notched 20 digs during four games.
"Eighteen blocks, wow, I'm just really excited about that," Beard said. "We've been on the other end of that a little bit, so it was great to turn that around."
After winning the first game 30-22, Kansas had five more blocks in the second set, but lost 31-29. Kansas never led, but it fought back from a five-point deficit to tie the game at 29 before two straight Colorado kills ended the set.
The Jayhawks trailed for all of the third game, as well. A service ace by junior setter Andi Rozum gave Kansas its first lead, 28-27. Senior middle blocker Ashley Michaels and junior outside hitter Paula Caten combined for a block, the team's 12th of the match, to end the game, 51-29.
SEE VOLLEYBALL ON PAGE 6A
Kit Leffler/KANSAN
Junior Josi Lima blocks during the game against Colorado Saturday night at the Horseslail Family Athletics Center. Lima had eight blocks total, with four solo and four block assists, marking a career best as the Jayhawks overcame the Buffersal, 3-1.
Rodrick Stewart, a 6-foot-5 guard from Seattle, said he planned to commit to Kansas after the semester ends.
BASKETBALL
Currently at the University of Southern California, Stewart has not officially given a commitment to the Jayhawks but told rivals.com he would announce his transfer at the completion of the fall semester.
Stewart visited Kansas Tuesday for the game against St. Joseph's. He was also scheduled to visit Gonzaga this week but canceled after saying he was sold on the Kansas program.
"I had the time of my life during my visit," Stewart told rivals.com. "It was the best time that I have ever had. I will go back to USC after Thanksgiving and finish up the semester. Once I have completed all of that, I plan to enroll at Kansas in January."
Transfer player commits
Stewart was named to the Parade All-American third team in 2003 along with current Kansas guard J.R. Giddens.
He played for USC last year with his twin brother, Lodrick. Rodrick averaged 4.4 points last year then was ruled academically ineligible for this season. He announced plans to transfer Nov. 6.
Ranked the 25th-best player overall by rivals.com in 2003, Rodrick must sit out a full season because of NCAA rules. If all academic issues are cleared, he will be able to play second semester of next season.
High school guards Micah Downs, Mario Chalmers and forward Julian Wright signed with Kansas earlier this month.
Jesse Newell
Jayhawks overcome struggles win 47-36
BY PAUL BRAND
pbrand@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
The Jayhawks mustered enough defense and timely shooting to come away with the victory.
The Jayhawks (2-1) overcame a long scoring drought in each half to defeat the Kangaroos Saturday, 47-36.
All the Kansas women's basketball team needed to end its two-game losing streak to UMKC was a little recovery.
Senior guard Aquanita Burras, junior guard Erica Hallman and junior forward Crystal Kemp played all 40 minutes for the lavwhaws.
"It felt like my legs were going to fall off in the first half," Burras said. "The timeouts do help and even if we didn't have those timeouts, we just have to control the offense. That's where we get our rest."
Although Kansas' starting lineup handled the duress of logging heavy minutes, the offense still sputtered through two long offensive droughts.
After a Kemp jumper put Kansas ahead 2-0 at the 19:09 mark, the Jayhawks did not score another point for seven minutes. This span included four turnovers and one-for-10 shooting spread over 10 possessions. Kemp once again sparked the offense with a put back from an offensive rebound that ended the 10-0 UMKC run and made the score 10-4 with 12 minutes remaining.
For the rest of the half, Kansas moved the ball well offensively and took advantage of 10 UMKC turnovers to assume a 26-19 intermission lead.
"We got good shots early," UMKC coach Bo Overton said. "But we didn't get any easy shots the rest of the game."
SEE STRUGGLES ON PAGE GA
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