8A SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, AUGUST 25, 2006
VOLLEYBALL
Team aims to make NCAA for fourth year
Game against Alabama A&M touches off schedule before Big 12 Conference
BY DREW DAVISON
The jayhawk volleyball team starts its season today with one thing in mind: get back to the NCAA tournament for the fourth consecutive year.
Coach Ray Bechard said this year's senior class wants to be the first class to make the tournament all four years.
"It's pretty unique because prior to them coming here, Kansas volleyball had never been to one," Bechard said. "Now, they've never known anything but NCAA tournament, and they're going to do everything they can to make that happen."
Today, the University of Kansas begins its quest against Alabama A&M in the Crimson Tide Invitational in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Although Alabama A&M might not be a household volleyball name, they have won the Southwestern Athletic Conference five years in a row and have advanced to the NCAA tournament in postseason play.
After the jayhawks take on the Bulldogs today, they have a dou
bleheader scheduled for Saturday, First, Kansas plays Miami and then Alabama, two teams that have a chance to make the NCAA tournament this season.
"As is usual, we've tried to put together a pre-conference schedule that will prepare us in the best wav
possible for what will be the most difficult Big 12 Conference season we've faced," Bechard said.
Bechard said Kansas volleyball has found its way onto the map after its success lately. However, it must
"The biggest challenge is going from good to great in this conference. It's a lot easier to go from good to average."
Emily Brown, junior right side hitter/setter, is ready to take Jyahawk volleyball to the next level after growing up close to Lawrence in Baldwin City.
overcome the hurdle of taking the game to the next level.
"We're ready to make some things happen in the Big 12," she said.
"We're going to do whatever we can
"The biggest challenge is going from good to great in this conference," he said. "It's a lot easier to go from good to average."
RAY BECHARD
Bechard said improving from good to great was very difficult because teams had to avoid thunderbolts like injuries, whereas good to average could happen overnight.
Coach
as a team to get there."
The Jayhawks were picked to finish seventh in the conference this season, one higher than last year's eighth-place finish.
However, Bechard said outside of Nebraska and Texas, who he thinks are National Championship caliber teams, five or six teams will be fighting for an upper-tier finish in the conference.
The team will begin preparing for the challenging conference play today.
Jana Correa, senior outside hitter,
said Kansas wanted to do one thing
at the tournament this weekend.
"Our goal is to win the tournament, of course," she said. "That's what we've been doing the past three years. We expect to win, hopefully."
Volleyball Notes:
Lima Update
Josi Lima, who anchored Kansas volleyball the last four seasons, is heading to Spain to play professional volleyball.
Lima, a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, was a four-time All Big 12 Conference selection during her days at the University.
"I'm really looking forward to moving to another country to play volleyball because I will be doing something that I love for a living." Lima said in a press release from the Athletics Department. "It will also be a great experience to learn a different culture again and adapt to a different environment."
Kansan sportswriter Drew Davison can be contacted at ddavison@kansan.com.
Edited by Shanxi Upsdell
Photo by Megan True/ KANSAN
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CROSS COUNTRY
Runners ready for first meet
BY EVAN KAFARAKIS
At the Fall Sports Media Day on Tuesday in Hadl Auditorium, cross country coach Stanley Redwine took to the podium to discuss how he felt about this season.
"We're definitely excited about this year," Redwine said.
And what's not to be excited about?
Cross Country coach Stanley Redwine talks Tuesday afternoon about the upcoming season. The women's cross country team is a young team with nine freshman this year.
On how he felt about having the target on his back, Chesang said that it was a lot of pressure.
"You can tell at meets by the way the runners and coaches are looking at you," Chesang said. "Everybody is thinking, 'I really have to get this guy'."
Chesang also said that he'd like to make history by winning his third consecutive Big 12 title.
"Benson has the desire, he wants to win," Redwine said of his veteran runner.
"It won't be easy, but Benson loves the competition and he will go out and do a good job."
The women's team also has a lot to look forward to this season.
The team welcomes nine new freshmen to a squad that tied for eighth place in the conference last year.
Junior Lisa Morrissey said the team had many seniors and juniors
"They are just going to go out and do their best and that is all we are going to ask them to do," Redwine said.
who would step into leadership roles this year.
The Jayhawks host this years Big 12 Championship at Rim Rock Farm north of Lawrence on Highway 40 on Oct. 27.
He said the home field advantage will give people the opportunity to see the team at its best.
"We have a really good product but we just don't have that many opportunities for people to see us."
Running the home course is something both the men's team and the women's team look to use as a huge advantage.
"About half of the girls on the team are from Kansas and the high
school state meet is at Rim Rock, so a lot of us have run there before," Morrise said.
The team will kick off the season running at Rim Rock on Sept. 2 at the Bob Timmons Invitational.
The teams have been doing base work up to this point and as long as the team remains healthy expect both to compete at a higher level than the program has seen in a long time.
Kansan sportswriter Evan Kafarakis can be contacted at ekafarakis@kansan.com.
>> NFL
Edited by Nicole Kelley
Former Bronco faces tough fines
DENVER — Broncos coach Mike Shanahan confirmed Thursday that for Ashley Lelie to be free from the final year of his contract, the recalcitrant receiver agreed to pay the Broncos a hefty sum.
The amount is believed to be $982,000.
Not counting players' days off.
Lelie skipped 23 days of training camp, making him liable for $14,000 daily fines totaling $322,000.
The Broncos also wanted Lelie to repay a prorated portion of his $3.3 million signing bonus, which would amount to $660,000 if divided by five (because his sixth year was voided when he reached certain incentives).
BY ARNIE STAPLETON ASSOCIATED PRESS
In speaking Thursday for the first
time about the three-way deal that sent Lelie to Atlanta, TJ. Duckett to Washington and a conditional package of picks from the Redskins to Denver, Shanahan said at least as important as the draft day compensation was the money Lelie owed the Broncos.
"It wasn't really the pick as much as I just wanted to make sure that they knew whatever the prorated signing bonus was and whatever the fines were that that was going to be a hefty amount. That's a lot of money to pay back," Shanahan said. "And when that was agreed to, then we talked about compensation relative to what we should get for his services and we were able to do that."
Shanahan added: "We would not have released him unless he agreed to it and signed a contract to do it."
Lelie, who led the league in yards per catch the last two seasons, skipped the Broncos' offseason workout program, forging a $100,000 bonus to work out on his own in Arizona.
FOOTBALL
Kansas secondary young, but ready
After losing three key players, one to the NFL, other team members must step up
BY RYAN SCHNEIDER
Aqib Talib has a message for anyone who thinks Kansas' secondary is soft.
Despite losing former All-American Charles Gordon to the National Football League, Kansas' secondary, when healthy, should be improved.
"We play with a mean streak," the sophomore cornerback said. "We just try to fly around, and if you have a different color jersey on, you're not our friend at that point in time."
The defense returns two of its top tacklers and hitters, Talib and senior safety Jerome Kemp. Talib, who was named to the rivals.com freshman All-American team, led the Jayhawks with eight pass breakups and made 54 total tackles a season ago. Kemp is the team's most experienced secondary player, having made 35 starts in four seasons.
Kemp and Darrell Scully
— for at least the last week of
practice because of undisclosed
injuries. Mangino believes Kemp
may be healthy enough to play in
the season opener Sept. 2 against
Northwestern State, but Stuckey
will miss at least the first game.
Because of the injuries to Kemp and Stuckey, several younger players have been added to the mix. Freshman Olaitan Oguntodu, redshirt-freshman Justin Thornton
Kansas loses three key players from last year's secondary: Gordon, Rodney Fowler and Theo Baines, but also returns two starters. The problem for Mangino, at the moment, is that he's been without two potential starters Kerm and Darrell Sturkug
and junior Sadiq Muhammed have all seen additional playing time with the first team.
"He's a true freshman and he's been getting a lot of repetitions and you can see he's a talented guy." Mangino said.
Following last week's open practice, Mangino said he was impressed with the potential shown by Oguntodu, who graduated from his Mesquite, Texas, high school a semester early to participate in spring drills.
With the secondary expected to be thin for the Northwestern State game, it's possible that at least one of the younger players could start on opening night. But it doesn't concern Mangino.
Teammates aren't worried playing alongside their younger counterparts. They say they're not concerned because it's a problem that every team deals with each season at numerous positions.
"I expect these young kids that are coming in, they're going to play well, they're talented," Mangino said. "We'll have some growing pains, we're going to make some mistakes here and there early on, but at the end of the day, we're going to have a good defensive unit again."
"They're going to move players. They might be younger, they haven't had any game experience, it just takes pure motivation as far as being mature and stepping up and doing the job," Kemp said.
Kansan senior sportswriter Ryan Schneider can be contacted at rschneider@kansan.com.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
— Edited by Erin Wiley
BY CASE KEEFER
Competition level soars this season
The University of Kansas women's basketball team got off to a record-breaking start last season by winning 11 straight games in non-conference play.
Those results are going to be harder to duplicate this season with tougher non-conference games ahead for the Jayhawks. The team's schedule for the 2006-07 season was released Thursday,
The competition level is not the only thing to change in this year's non-conference schedule. Kansas will also play three of its 13 games on the road. Last season all 11 non-conference games were at Allen Fieldhouse.
The Jayhawks' first road game will be Nov. 20 against Creighton of the Missouri Valley Conference. Following a twogame home stand, the team will then travel to Madison, Wis., to face the Wisconsin Lady Badgers.
The game against the Badgers will be a rematch of last year's thriller that Kansas won in double overtime.
The final non-conference road game will take place Dec. 21 against Indiana. Games against two Big 10 Conference teams will introduce Kansas to the type of competition it can expect to be up against all season.
"The non-conference schedule will test our young team. We are anxious to see how we are able to grow and are able to prepare for a tough Big 12 schedule," coach Bonnie Henrickson said in a statement.
The first opportunity to see the team will be in early November with exhibition games against Fort Hays State and Washburn.
The regular season will begin with an appearance in the WBCA Classic in Kansas City on Nov. 11.
Kansan sportswriter Case Keefer can be contacted at ckeefer@kansan.com.
Edited by Elyse Weidner
2006-2007 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
Nov. 1 — vs. Fort Hays State.
(Exh.) 7 p.m.
Nov. 5 — vs. Woshiburn (Exh.)
2 p.m.
Nov. 11 — vs. Seton Hall (WBCA
Classic), 2 p.m.
Nov. 12 — vs. Iowa/Missouri St.
(WBCA Classic), TBA
Nov. 16 — vs. UMU, 7 p.m.
Nov. 29 — at Creighton, 7 p.m.
Nov. 2f — vs. IBA, 2 p.m.
Nov. 29 — vs. Wisconsin Illinois,
7 p.m.
Nov. 30 — at Wisconsin Illinois,
Cleveland, Ohio.
Nov. 30 — vs. Wisconsin Oregon State,
7 p.m.
Nov. 30 — at Wisconsin Oregon State,
7 p.m.
Dec. 41 — vs. Xavier, 12:30 p.m.
Jan. 3 — at Iowa State, 7 p.m.
Jan. 6 — va. Baylor, 7 p.m.
Jan. 10 — at Oklahoma State,
6 p.m.
Jan. 14 — vs. Nebraska, 7 p.m.
Jan. 20 — vs. Iowa State, 7 p.m.
Jan. 24 — at Kansas State, TBA
Jan. 22 — at Nebraska, 7 p.m.
Jan. 31 — vs. Texas Tech, 7 p.m.
Feb. 3 — at Texas A&M, TBA
Feb. 6 — at Colorado, 7 p.m.
Feb. 10 — at Texas TBA
Feb. 14 — vs. Missouri, 7 p.m.
Feb. 18 — vs. Kansas State, 7 p.m.
Feb. 21 — vs. Oklahoma, 7 p.m.
Feb. 24 — at Colorado, 7 p.m.
March 8 — at Missouri, 6:30 p.m.
March 10 — big 12 Chicago
Missouri, Oklahoma City, OK