THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2007
SPORTS
VOLLEYBALL
9A
Uhart returns after surgery
BY RUSTIN DODD
rdodd@kansan.com
Natalie Uhart is back. Again.
Those five words have become a familiar chorus to Uhart, a senior Uhart.
Uhart
Injuries and medical issues have plagued a career that has spanned five years and two schools - Uhart played her first three years at
Long Beach State University, starting in 2003.
The latest medical episode ended last Wednesday when Uhart returned to the floor after missing ten matches to receive treatment for a congenital heart defect. Uhart made an immediate impact during Kansas' loss to No. 1 Nebraska. The Lansing native had 7 kills and 2 digs against the Huskers.
"I am excited about putting this all behind me," Uhart said in a statement issued by the Athletics Department.
Uhart first became ill during Kansas' match at Michigan State on Aug. 31. According to the press release, Uhart suffered from dizziness and weakness, and she was hospitalized in Lansing, Mich. Doctors diagnosed Uhart
with a congenital heart defect called a patent foramen ovale, or PEO.
Uhart underwent surgery on Sept. 12 to repair the heart defect.
"I made the decision to have the surgery because I wanted to be able to play to my full potential during every match without reservation," she said.
The heart defect is the third medical obstacle Uhart has overcome in the past four years. After transferring before last season, Uhart suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament during the team's preseason alumna match and missed the entire season. Uhart also ruptured her patellar tendon during her sophomore season at Long Beach State and missed eight months.
Uhart still has another year of eligibility after this season. She was granted a medical hardship waiver by the Big West conference after only playing in five games in 2005 and was issued a medical redshirt after not playing last season.
"She has overcome a lot since joining us, and we know she will be a force for us in Big 12 action," Kansas coach Ray Bechard said in the statement.
Kansas is 9-6, 2-3 in the Big 12, and Uhart's presence at middle blocker should help Kansas during its final 15 conference matches as the Jayhawks try to return to the NCAA tournament for the fourth time in
what's a PFO?
Uhart suffered from a patent foramen ovale. It's a hole in the heart's septum, which is the membrane dividing the upper chambers of the heart, said Larry Magee, team physician for Kansas Athletics. Uhart's Sept. 12 surgery closed the hole.
"Everyone has the hole before they are born. It usually closes at birth or soon after; for about 20 percent of the population, it doesn't. Most people who have a PFO have no symptoms or problems." Magee said in a statement issued by the Athletics Department.
Magee said that a small percentage of people with a PFO would experience symptoms that could be made worse with intense exercise. Symptoms include dizziness and weakness.
five years.
"There's nothing I want more than to help this team get back to the NCAA tournament," Uhart said.
— Edited by Matt Erickson
sisters played the game. Martinicinjoined a club team in fifth grade, but it was at about the seventh or eighth grade that her father noticed something different about his daughter.
Martinicch played nearly every sport growing up, but after awhile, softball and basketball starting taking a backseat to volleyball.
"Even though it was softball or basketball season, she was still picking up the volleyball and saying 'Dad, let's go play.' Eric Martinicch said.
MARTINCICH (CONTINUED FROM 12A)
By the time she reached Bishop Miege High School, she began to realize that her future would include playing college volleyball. And that meant Kansas was her No. 1 choice.
Martinicich led Bishop Miege to three-straight Kansas 5A volleyball titles during her sophomore, junior and senior seasons. But Martinicich decorated high school career reached far beyond her volleyball accolades. Martinicich was named the Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year during her senior season but also excelled in the classroom, finishing fourth in her senior class with a 4.57 GPA.
So it makes sense that her father has a hard time finding a single flaw in his daughter.
"She's pretty close to perfection. She strives so hard in everything she does," Eric Martincich said. "She's so competitive, maybe to a fault."
When Martinicch arrived on campus in 2005, she quickly found out that she would have to wait
FRESHMAN GROWING PAINS
one more year for her dream to become reality. Martincich, a setter, was behind senior Andi Rozum, Kansas' all-time leader in assists, on the depth chart. Bechard thought there would be too few opportunities for Martincich to play. Bechard decided to make Martinich a redshirt her first year. The all-everything player in high school was back at the bottom.
"That's a tough thing to do," senior setter Emily Brown said. "To go through practice, go through weights, go through conditioning and know that you aren't going to get to play."
Martincich said she remembered many times when her roommate and fellow freshman Savannah Noyes had to endure her gripping.
"It was frustrating because you go from playing all the time in high school and you're coming off three state titles, and then you have to go back to having to watch again," Martincich said. "But looking back, it seems worth it now."
It definitely seemed worth it last year as Martinicich recorded one of the best seasons by a freshman setter in Kansas history. Martinicich's 2006 season total of 1,193 assists was the eighth highest in school history. With 248 assists this season, she has climbed to seventh all-time at Kansas with 1,441.
Coach Bechard likes to point out similarities between a volleyball setter and basketball point guard. A setter, like a point guard, is responsible for distributing the ball, leading the offense and making quick decisions. And like a point guard in basketball, setters are often overlooked. A fan is more likely to notice the player finishing the dunk than the point guard who set him up, just as a fan is going to notice the player hitting the monster kill, not the setter who put the ball in perfect position.
AN OVERLOOKED POSITION
Kansas changed from a one-setter system last year to a two-setter system this season. Martincich and Brown are sharing the load at the position, and although the system change has cut into Martincich's assist totals and court-time — her assist-per-game total is down to 4.51 — she has embraced her new role.
"I feel like when I'm not playing I can refocus and come off the bench re-energized and provide a spark," Martinich said.
Martinicich's reckless abandon on the court and quiet determination off of it has caught the attention of her teammates.
"She'll come in looking almost like a zombie. She's got the backbrace on, fighting through stuff, and she still is going 110 percent," Brown said.
But that's how Martincich has always done it. And if you travel to the Horejsi Family Athletics Center this season to watch a Kansas home game, you'll see the same thing. There will be Katie Martincich, quietly going all out, the time and living out her dream.
NFL
Edited by Jeff Briscoe
Patriots shine in every way against Bengals
Brady tosses three touchdowns, two to Moss, who had 102 yards on the night
BY JOE KAY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Expect anything less?
CINCINNATI (AP) - Tom Brady had three more touchdown passes. Sammy Morris had one of the best games of his career. The New England defense had its way.
And, they've only just begun.
The Patriots remained one of the NFLs four unbeaten teams Monday night — and, so far, the best of the bunch — by beating the Cincinnati Bengals 34-13 with a performance that showed their versatility.
New England (4-0) is off to its best start since 2004, when it won the Super Bowl for the third time in four years. An offense energized by the addition of receivers Randy Moss, Donte' Stallworth and Wes Welker showed it can grind it out, too.
Especially against a team like the Bengals (1-3), who had trouble just getting a defense on the field — and counting to 11 while they were at it.
Moss caught a pair of touchdown passes, and Morris ran for 117 yards, giving the Patriots more than
enough on a night when they didn't need a whole lot.
Cincinnati was missing middle linebackers Ahmad Brooks and Caleb Miller, leaving a big hole in one of the league's worst defenses. When Lemar Marshall hurt an Achilles' tendon in the first quarter, the Bengals moved rookie safety Chinedum Ndukwe into a linebacker's spot.
The Patriots had more linebackers in their offenses on goal-line plays than the Bengals had in their defense on many plays. And one of them - Mike Vrabel - caught a 1-yard touchdown pass in a Super Bowl flashback.
Missing their top runner didn't slow the Patriots.
Morris, an eighth-year journeyman playing for his third team, got to take center stage because Laurence Maroney was out with a strained groin. He had the second 100-yard game of his career, including a 7-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1 put the Patriots in control in the third quarter.
Morris' 49-yard run — the second-longest of his career — set up
Brady's 1-yard touchdown pass to Vrabel, who has nine career catches, all for touchdowns. Two of them have come in the Patriots' Super Bowl wins.
Brady, the two-time Super Bowl MVP, didn't have to do anything sensational in an offense that could grind it out against a depleted defense. He was 25-of-32 for 231 yards with the touchdown pass to Vrabel and two to Moss.
Brady has had many great moments for the Patriots, but has never been this good for this long. He leads the league with 13 touchdown passes, his best total in any four-game span of his career.
The NFL's most efficient passer made an uncharacteristically sloppy mistake, forcing a third-down throw for only his second interception of the season. That set up Carson Palimer's 1-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Houshmandzadeh.
That's the only one they would get.
Late in the third quarter, the crowd of 66,113 — the largest ever to see a Bengals game in Cincinnati
— started filing out, sensing the futility. The Bengals fell into last place in the AFC North heading into their bye week.
Palmer had words with Chad Johnson when the Pro Bowl receiver ran the wrong route, resulting in Asante Samuel's interception near the goal line late in the first half. They had more words on the sideline, and Johnson was still jawing at the Pro Bowl MVP quarterback as they left the field at halftime.
And they didn't go there gracefully.
It got worse.
The Bengals stopped a third-down run, but were penalized for having 12 men on the field. The penalty set up a fourth-quarter field goal that extended an amazing streak of consistency: New England has scored in every quarter this season and its last 36 overall.
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady signals a touchdown in the first quarter of Monday night game in Cincinnati. Brady threw three touchdowns in the Patriots' 14-13 victory.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Women in Politics Study Group: Women in Lobbying
Host: Dole Fellow Jennifer Schmidt Guests: Karen Marangi & Amy Blankenbiller
Wednesday, October 3 at 4 p.m. at the Dole Institute free parking snacks provided
- This week's panel will examine lobbying in DC and state legislatures, the importance of lobbying, and how women lobbyists achieve big results.
5 Karen is Of Counsel to Patton Bogg, a D.C. law firm, and former Counsel to the Senate Judicial Committee. Amy is a former D.C. based lobbyist and current President and CEO of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Amy also served as an adjunct professor at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management, where she led a lobbying practicum.
ROBERT J. DOLE
INSTITUTE OF POLITICS
The University of Kansas
What NOT to do at your interview dinner
Etiquette Dinner
Kansas Union Malott and Kansas Rooms Tuesday, October 9,2007 6:30-9:00pm
Students $12.00
Limited seating! Deadline for signing up is Tuesday, October 2, 2007 Business attire required. For more info: www.ucc.ku.edu Stop by the University Career Center, 110 Burge, to RSVP. Contributing to Student Success!