Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday September 30,1999
Sports
Section:
Kansas women's tennis player Christi Wagenaar's broken nose didn't stop her from winning last weekend at the Indiana Invitational.
B
Closing the gap
Mark McGwire regained the major league home-run lead with his 62nd and 63rd homers against Cincinnati last night.
SEE PAGE 8B
SEE PAGE 5B
Page 1
Big Loss
Texas Tech running back Ricky Williams will have surgery on his sprained left knee and will miss the remainder of the season.
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SEE PAGE 4B
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Jayhawks fail to shock Big Red fans
By Shawn Hutchinson sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter
LINCOLN, Neb. — The Kansas volleyball team was smothered with a dose of Big Red last night.
The No. 8 Nebraska Cornhuskers, playing in front of a home crowd of red-clad and exuberant fans at the Nebraska Coliseum, defeated the Jayhawks 15-11, 15-6 and 15-7.
The loss dropped the Jayhawks to 10-4 on the season and 1-2 in the Big 12 Conference. The Cornhuskers improved to 10-3 and 2-1 in the Big 12.
"We had opportunities in game one, but I think the Huskers were just looking for something good to happen." Kansas coach Ray Bechard said. "And it did."
turned those opportunities into a game one win.
Kansas quieted the crowd of 3.011 early on, leaving the Cornhuskers wondering if they were on their way to their second
straight home defeat. Last week, No. 17 Kansas State stormed into the Coliseum and took home a 3-2 victory, which was the first time Nebraska had been beaten at home by a conference opponent in a regular-season match since 1977.
Nebraska erased any doubt by rallying from a 9-6 deficit and tying the game at 11. The Cornhuskers scored three straight points, and from there, the Nebraska fans took control.
took control The Jayhawks were drowned out by the crowd noise, Nebraska junior outside hitter Nancy Meendering scored with a monstrous kill and Nebraska won game one.
"It it gets pretty loud," said Mary Beth Albrecht, Kansas senior outside hitter. "But it's still a great
"Momentum is determined a lot by your play at the net, and we didn't block enough. In this conference, you've got to win close games."
Ray Bechard Kansas Volleyball coach
place to play."
Things weren't so great for Kansas in the second and third games. The Cornhuskers dominated, cruising to 15-6 and 15-7 victories. One aspect of the games in particular spelled doom for the Jayhawks — they were outblocked in the match. 16-5.
"Momentum is determined a lot by your play at the net, and we didn't block enough," Bechard said. "In this conference, you've got to win close
games."
games.
The Jayhawks were led by junior outside hitter Amy Myatt, who had 14 kills. Senior middle blocker Amanda Reves added eight and Albrecht had six, which moved her within 12 kills of 1,000 for her career. Sophomore setter Molly LaMere had 33 assists.
With the win, the Cornhuskers improved to 336-24 all-time in the Coliseum, including a 102-1 record against conference opponents.
Next up for the Jayhawks is a home match against Texas Tech at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Horejsi Family Athletics Center.
"We're going to bounce back," Albrecht said. "This is one match, and we've got many matches ahead. We're going to come back firing."
Edited by Kelly Clasen
Offensive line strives for hard-nosed play
Justin Hartwig, offensive tackle, tackles line backer Dariss Lomax at practice. The Jayhawks play host to Southern Methodist at 1 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Photo by Kate Levenson/KANSAN
Rv Mike Miller
It's a rough life for offensive linemen — lots of dirty work and no recognition.
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Take the San Diego State game for example. On 29 pass plays, Jayhawk quarterbacks Zac Wegner and Dylen Smith were sacked a combined four times and hurried 16 times — sometimes with only a three-man rush. Kansas had no yards rushing on 21 attempts. A poor performance by any standards.
Granted, San Diego State is ranked 17th in the NCAA in total defense, the best Kansas has faced yet this season. And Coach Terry Allen did point out that Saturday's loss was a team failure, and probably couldn't be put on just the offensive line.
But that's why being an offense lineman is one of the toughest positions on the football field.
"We don't get a lot of glory," said right tackle Justin Hartwig. "We just go out and do our job every week."
Opening up holes for the running backs and dropping back in pass protection would be the basic goal of the line, but that becomes difficult with three new starters.
concerned about. But the emergence of left tackle John Oddonetto, along with the solid play of Hartwig and center Chris Enneking make the line one of the most consistent parts of the team. Throw in left guard Dameon Hunt, who has the most career starts on the team, and the line can be one of the most dependable parts of the team.
Three linemen graduated last fall, left tackle Dan Dercher, right tackle Michael Lies and right guard Justin Glasgow, leaving Kansas with an inexperienced line — something that concerned Allen before the season.
Except for last week.
"I thought the offensive line played pretty good until last week," Oddonetto said.
Three San Diego State players did things to disrupt the rhythm of the line, making it difficult to pass block or run block.
It's tough when you have some guys rushing around the outside. It's difficult to
double team them," Allen said.
Some offensive and defensive changes this week could include some different schemes for the line, but the basic idea will be the same — to pass block and run block
"We just need to dominate up front," Hartwig said.
Hartwig said.
"That's what we try to do every week."
"That's what we try to do every week." Offensive line coach Walt Klinker does his best to install good technique and discipline among the linenen. Oddetonto calls him an old school coach — someone who motivates by yelling.
"That's the way it should be because the offensive line has be geared up mentally all the time," Oddonetto said. "He just wants you to play so hard you have snot bubbles coming out your nose."
That's what the Jayhawks will need the rest of the season. Hard-nosed play, not only from the offensive line, but also from the whole team.
"We all have to pull it together and play as a team." Hartwig said. "Simple as that."
—Edited by Chris Hutchison
Cornhuskers honor history through statues
Dismiss those Cornhusker fans, the ones who stay loyal on home and road games. Some of the 3,011 Big Red faithful who made the short drive last night to see their volleyball team are likely to make the three-hour commute Nov. 3 to Lawrence. And don't focus on the diehards that scalp tickets outside the volleyball arena, because every sport in Lincoln is so popular that
LINCOLN, Neb. — Forget about Nebraska's weight room, which covers more acreage than some Kansas farms and should carry its own ZIP code. And Nebraska's volleyball Coliseum, which seats more redcoats than Paul Revere dodged.
there's always a buck to be made, and every ticket is a tough one to get. Don't think about Memorial Stadium and how it holds more folks than Lincoln itself.
Want to know how the 'Huskers keep an edge? Study
Status
No school savors
its past like
Nebraska It loves
Jason Franchuk sports columnist scots@kanan.com
Nebraska. It loves to bronze its athletes and their accomplishments. Football statues abound, and a golfer is immortalized, too. Upon entrance of the Coliseum there are three volleyballers idolized.
Every sport is eligible for enshrinement. There is no statute of limitations.
Kansas has tried to stay on top with honoring its accomplishments. A drive along Interstate 70 is good for discovering more astronaut sightings than a NASA reunion. At Kansas, there's plenty of athletic history, but the same detail is not put into its exposure. Portraits augment the walls of Allen Fieldhouse and the trophies are housed there, too. Important numbers hang in the arena's rafters.
But there's only one statue. "Phog"
Allen stands alone.
Alen Stanley Kansas needs to do something about that. Be proud of what it has given athletics. Bronze Wilt Chamberlain or Lynette Woodard. Honor Roy Williams, Marian Washington or Larry Brown. Jim Ryun certainly made a contribution.
Artistry is nice. Statues are forever. Nebraska carries an arrogance about its history, and it shows in its hardware. Nebraska realizes how much people in the United States love statues. They can be eye-catching and intimidating. Lincoln Memorial and the Soldiers at Iwo Jima are two classic statues and a pair of important symbols of U.S. history.
This campus in Lincoln realizes what inspiration and presence these memorials possess.
Nebraska has had an edge lately on Kansas sports. Its men's basketball team won two of three meetings last winter. Nebraska swept Kansas last night in volleyball, and the Final Four team from last year looks just as good this season, even though the locals scuff that it is a down year. The Huskers likely will trudge over Kansas football team as they contend for their own national championship. Can this all change? Of course, Williams and Washington each have title-contending teams. Ray Bechard's volleyball team has some promising young talent that competed admirably and looked competitive for the majority of the night despite playing the nation's eighth-ranked team in the Big 12 Conference's most raucous environment. Football might take longer to stymie Nebraska, but stranger things have happened.
Can the statue title be reversed?
Franchuk is a Boulder, Colo., junior in journalism.
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