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SOFTBALL Kansas falls victim to Nebraska and late-inning heroics. Page 3B TRACK Jayhawks shine in Texas. Page 6B
SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, APRIL 8, 1996
SECTION B
Kansas is best team in nation
Before we get started here, promise me one thing.
You won't tell my editors, Tom Erickson and Bill Petulla, about this little column. You see, they were both out of town this weekend, and they gave the reins of the sports desk to me.
Hey, no laughing.
I thought this time to slip in my first column of
Ley, no laughing.
I thought this would be a great
first column of the semester. As some of you may have noticed, I reported on the men's basketball team and haven't written any columns. There are two simple reasons for that.
First,
the
Kansan has an
unwritten rule
that beat writers
can't give opinions about the team they are covering. Second, I haven't had any time.
SPORTS REPORTER
But now that both of those problems are dwelling, it's time to talk sports and Kansas men's basketball, in particular.
Many questions were thrown my way as I covered the Jayhawks during the past two and a half months.
is the point we are at this moment?
What happened against Missouri?
that happened against Missouri?
Is he ever going to break out of his slum?
Does B.J. ever eat?
As you may guess, the most questions came after Kancas' 60-57 loss to Syracuse.
Could Jerod/Billy/Raef/Paul have shot any worse?
Will Jacque leave?
How could this have happened?
I'm not going to say that the loss should never have happened because upsets are what the NCAA tournament is all about. As for answering the other questions, the loss left me a little dumbfounded.
However, one of the few things I am certain of after this season is that the Kansas men's basketball team is the best in the nation.
I'm talking about the Jayhawk players, coaches, trainers and managers as the best collection of people in college basketball.
Coach Roy Williams expressed this sentiment in his press conference after the Syracuse loss.
"I told my team in the locker room that if I never won a national championship as long as I could have those kind of kids, that I was going to enjoy my life every single day," he said, holding back tears.
That may sound sappy, and at the time, I thought it was. It seemed like a coach desperately trying to hide his grave disappointment and to feed the media and fans a bogus line.
Since then, I've had some time to consider this statement and look back at my experiences this semester. All I can say is that Williams is exactly right. The players represent Kansas and the University better than many of you could even imagine.
They are courteous, respectful, well-spoken, funny and genuinely nice to most people they meet.
Take these examples. Jacque Vaughn signs an autograph for a guy in a suit who stops him on campus. The entire bench waves to the Kansas cheering section after defeating Arizona. Paul Pierce jokingly conducts a mock interview with Billy Thomas after the Santa Clara victory.
A positive view of the Jayhawks isn't mine alone. David Nakamura, who covers Maryland for the Washington Post and was at all of Kansas' tournament games this year, noticed some of the same things and commented on the Jayhawks' intelligence and candidness. I've heard similar sentiments expressed throughout the season.
So as the pain of Kansas' season-ending loss begins to subside, you can take heart in the good memories of a 29-win season and in knowing that the Jayhawks left no doubt that they are best where it really matters.
No.10'Hawks win last home match
Men's tennis team defeats Cornhuskers prepares for the road
By Spencer Duncan Kansas sportswriter
The No.10 Kansas men's tennis team said goodbye to home-court advantage yesterday.
The Jayhawks defeated the Nebraska Cornhuskers, 6-1, in the team's last home match of the season.
"It's early in the Big Eight season," Kansas men's tennis coach Michael Center said. "We have a lot of games to play that we will have to play away now."
By winning, though, the team ensured that its last home match at the Robinson Center tennis courts was a good one.
The Jayhawks started off slowly by dropping two of three doubles matches. They lost the doubles point and found themselves down 0-1 early in the match.
Teams were awarded one point for the entire doubles competition and one point for each singles match. It was only the second time this season
that the Jayhawks have not won the doubles point.
The lone doubles victory was earned by the team of sophomore Fernando Sierra and freshman Luis Uribe, who defeated Frederik Riesbeck and Roshan Fernando, 8-0.
"We took them a little lightly at first," Kansas senior Victor Fimbres said. "In doubles, we were not really ready to play. But we played well in singles."
When it came to the singles competition, the Jayhawks shaped up. The team won all six singles matches.
"It was a little chilly outside, and we lost an hour with daylight-saving time," Center said. "Those may have been some of the reasons we started off slow. But we have to get geared up to play no matter what the circumstances. We have to be prepared."
The Jayhawks won five matches in straight sets, including Uribe, who clinched the team victory when he defeated Thomas Wheat. 6-0, 6-4.
"I was happy with what we got done in singles."
the other Kansas winners were sophomore Enrique Abaroa, sophomore Xavier Avila, sophomore Trent Tucker, Fimbres and Sierra.
things this team does well."
"we came back and did what we had to," Center said. "That is one of the
A positive can be found in the slow start, according to the team.
"I personally think that the doubles loss was both good and bad," Fimbres said. "You never want to lose, but it was kind of good to lose the doubles because it was a wake-up call for us. It makes us realize that we are a target now."
It was Kansas' 18th consecutive victory against Big Eight Conference opponents. The Jayhawks are searching for their third consecutive conference championship. Kansas is 18-5 on the season and 2-0 in the Big Eight.
The team now must continue its search for the last Big Eight title on the road. That's something Center does not believe will be a problem for his team.
"We have a couple of weeks left, and I think we are prepared for them," he said. "This team has played most of the season on the road, so it will not be a hard adjustment to make."
Above all, the team hopes to begin fine-tuning its game and making a run at an NCAA title.
"This is the final stretch of the season," Fimbres said. "This is where the good teams start to make it and prove themselves. That is what we want to do."
Brian Flink / KANSAN
Victor Fimbres returns the ball during his singles match against Nebraska yesterday at the Robinson Center tennis courts. Fimbres also played doubles with Xavier Avila.
Ultimate block
Gina Thornburg / KANSAN
Joe Triplette, Lawrence first-year medical student, blocks his Colorado opponent during an ultimate frisbee game on Saturday. Kansas was host of the tournament Saturday and yesterday at the Shenk Sports Complex. 23rd and Iowa streets.
Cowboys clean up against'Hawks
Kansas baseball loses three games to Oklahoma State
By Dan Gelston
Kansan sportswriter
Five Kansas pitchers were pummeled in a 21-1 Cowboy victory yesterday.
Oklahoma State, 24-9 overall and 10-3 in the Big Eight Conference, roughed up Jayhawk starting pitcher Josh Belovsky (4-4) for six runs in 3 2/3 innings. It was a far cry from the outing Belovsky had Tuesday against the Cowboys when he allowed three runs in seven innings during a 5-3 Jayhawk victory.
Kansas, 16-16 overall and 6-10 in the conference, couldn't touch Cowboy starter Sean McCllan (4-
2) . He avenged his earlier loss to Belovsky by keeping the Kansas bats in check, scattering seven hits and striking out 11 in 7/23 innings.
"He was mixing it up on us. He threw a lot of strikes," he said. "There's no excuse for the way we played. We had no intensity out there today, and it showed."
He allowed the Jayhawks' lone run in the sixth inning on second baseman Josh Kliner's sixth home run of the year.
Perhaps Kansas was feeling the ill-effects of a doubleheader sweep by Oklahoma State on Saturday afternoon. The Jayhawks lost 11-9 and 10-9.
"We just didn't play very well or very hard." Kansas baseball coach Bobby Randall said. "You have to expect things like this to happen when you play like that."
The Cowboys led the Jayhawks 9-8 after eight innings in the second game, but the Jayhawks rallied to tie the game in the ninth inning.
While Kliner was quick to praise McClellan, he still was disappointed with Kansas' effort.
Kansas catcher Mike Dean led off
the inning with a double to right field. Kansas third baseman Andy Juday then reached on an error by Cowboy third baseman Steve Hartsburg, scoring Dean and tying the game at 9-9.
But Cowboy center fielder Brian Aylor led off the ninth inning with a double. After an out, second baseman Tripp MacKay drove in Aylor with a double of his own for the 10-9 victory.
Kansas brought in its closer, Casey Barrett (1-2), to try and send the game into extra innings.
In the first game, Kansas got two hits each from center fielder Isaac Byrd, designated hitter Josh Dimmick and Kliner, who homered. But it wasn't enough in the 11-9 loss.
Kansas relief pitcher Josh Wingerd (0-1) didn't record an out in the fifth inning but allowed two runs, taking the loss.
"We battled hard," Randall said.
"We should have won. We just didn't do the things we need to do."
Kansas will be back in action when it plays No. 3 Wichita State at 7 p.m. tomorrow at Hoglund-Maupin Stadium.
Okahoma State 21, Kansas 1
| | ab | r | h | rd |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| ss DeMarco | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 1b Headley | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| cf Byrd | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2b Kliner | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| pr/2b Stewart | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| dh Dimmick | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| rf/o Dean | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| bt Mayey | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| c Meadows | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| rt Opliap | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| lf Vann | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | 38 | 1 | 10 | 0 |
OKLAHOMA & STATE (24-9)
ss Mackey | sb | r | h | rbl |
2b McHamams | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
if Guel | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
pn/If McCullough | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
2b Steelman | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1b Wood | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
dh DIPace | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
r Feshani | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
w Feshani | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
c Holliday | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
ph/S Pofer | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
cf Aylor | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
3b Roessel | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
    41 | 31 | 18 | 18
E Byrd, DeMarco, Varnin DK Oklahoma State 1. LOB Brian Kowalda, 10 Oklahoma State 9 BKiner, DIPase (2), McCullough NRKiner, DRanger, DIPase (2), McCullough DEmarco, MGulai, McNamara
Tennis team scores two conference victories
By Spencer Duncan
Kansan sportswriter
"We were really happy that we won," Kansas junior Kylie Hunt said. "That is all we have wanted to do."
The No. 18 Kansas women's tennis team has moved two matches closer to its fifth consecutive Big Eight Conference championship.
The Jayhawks defeated conference rival Iowa Sate on Saturday, 6-1, and Nebraska yesterday, 6-1, at the Robinson Center tennis courts. The team is 11-7 overall and 3-0 in Big Eight play.
Kansas is looking to win its fifth consecutive, and the last, Big Eight crown.
"We would like to keep the title," Kansas women's tennis coach Chuck Merzbacher said. "If we keep working hard, then we should be able to accomplish one of our goals, and that's winning the Big Eight."
Kansas jumped out to a quick start against Iowa State, winning two of three doubles matches to capture the doubles point. Teams were awarded one point for the entire doubles competition and one point for each singles match.
In singles, the Jayhawks dropped just one of six matches.
The lone loss came when junior Bianca Kirchhoff lost in a three-set
See TENNIS. Page 3B.
BRIEF
Men's golf finishes sixth in Santa Cruz
Kansan staff report
The Kansas men's golf team placed sixth at the Western Collegiate Golf Tournament yesterday.
The Jayhawks shot a three-round total of 885, finishing 27 strokes behind tournament winner Stanford University. Twenty-four teams participated in the event held at the Pasatiempo Golf Course in Santa Cruz, Calif.
Leading the way for Kansas was senior Alan Stearns. Stearns shot a three-round total of 219 and finished in 10th place. It was Stearns first top-10 finish of the spring.
Slade Adams and Dan Rooney shot three-round totals of 221, tying for 16th place.
Chris Thompson shot scores of 78, 75, and 76 for a total of 229 and a 38th-place finish. Kit Grove placed 42nd, and Jason Seeman finished in 47th place.
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The tournament was won by Aaron Oberhauser of San Jose State, who shot a 206.