SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday, December 3, 1993
Holly McQueen / KANSAN
Senior rightside middle blocker Barb Bella spikes a ball in a match against Baylor. The volleyball team will play in the National Invitational Volleyball Championships today through Sunday in Kansas City, Mo.
Team's season not over yet
Jayhawks ready for tournament
By Gerry Fey
Kansan sportswriter
Although the Kansas volleyball team was not invited to the NCAA tournament, its season continues at 11:30 a.m. today in the National Invitational Volleyball Championships.
Kansas is the host of the 20-team tournament at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. The Jayhawks are a No.1 seed along with Oklahoma, Butler and Sacramento State.
The top seed gives 16-12 Kansas some respect going into the tournament, senior middle blocker Cyndee Kanabel said. Kanabel led the Jayhawks in six categories with 318 kills, 721 kill attempts, a .273 attack percentage, 29 service aches, 13 block
solos and 72 block assists.
"With a No. 1 seed, people know that we would have got into the tournament, even though we are the host team," Kanabel said. "We're seeded No. 1, which makes the Big Eight look good. People should understand that the Big Eight is a good conference."
The tournament is broken down into four pools of teams. Joining Kansas in pool play will be Louisiana State, a team Kansas defeated this season, Georgia Tech, Siena and Bowling Green State. Kansas opens the tournament against GeorgiaTech.
After round-robin play today and tomorrow, the best team from each of the four pools will play in the semifinals for a chance to advance to the championship match at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Kansas coach Frankie Albitz said this would be a good experience for her team. The teams in the NIVC are the 20 best remaining teams in the
nation after the NCAA tournament teams are selected. The NCAA expanded its field from 32 teams last season to 48 this year.
"I think it helps because it doesn't end your season," Albitz said of competing in the tournament. "I know the NCAA went to 48 teams, but I think the competition is good. The teams around the nation are getting closer and closer."
Kansas' Big Eight adversary, Oklahoma, is also a top seed, but Kanabel said she was surprised that the Sooners were not invited to the NCAA tournament after finishing third in the conference.
"The NCAA's would have been good for them," Kanabel said.
Although Kanabel thought Oklahoma was slighted, she said she wanted to meet the Sooners in the NIVC semifinals.
"It'll be my last year playing against
them," she said of the Sooners. "I'really want to beat them. I think they have a good chance of advancing."
The tournament gives the seniors one last chance at postseason play, but it also allows younger players to gain some experience, sophomore setter Lesli Steinert said. Steinert led the team in assists and digs with 902 and 364 respectively.
"We get to play that extra week together," Steinert said. "Then, hopefully we'll be invited to a better tournament next year."
Kanabel said the Jayhawks were not strangers to quality competition from around the nation. Kansas was 11-6 on nonconference matches this season before entering Big Eight play.
"We played so well against nonconference teams," Kanabel said. "We won our tournament here and we went to Pittsburgh and won that tournament. I think we do really well."
Cuban players follow party line, not money
The Associated Press
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Cuban pitcher Omar Ajete knows he could make a fortune in the major leagues and knows that as a left-hander with control he could provoke a bidding war.
But unlike former teammate Rene Arocha and unlike 40 countrymen in Cuba's delegation to these regional championships, Ajete says he and his current teammates aren't leaving their impoverished Communist nation and their world championship national amateur team.
"To us, this isn't about money. This is about love. We play to play," said the 28-year-old Ajete before an exhibition game with major leaguers Wednesday night.
Arocha, a former starting pitcher for Cuba's club, has risen to big league stardom with the St. Louis Cardinals since his defection. Ajete knows that Arocha pulls down more money in a month than he's ever seen.
"Arocha intends to make money. We don't," Agete said while signing baseballs and Chinese-made Cuban flags for some of the 20,000 spectators at sold-out Hiram Bithorn Stadium.
The recent defectors say that the loyalist athletes are following the party line, that the loyalists know Castro has ruined Cuba and that many of them are staying behind only because of family ties.
Some other players, such as Cuban home run champ Oreste Kindelan, say they have little reason to defect; they and their families are well provided for, and they are considered heroes in Havana, not crybabies or worms — Communist propaganda for the more than 1 million exiles since Castro took power in 1959.
A Cuban exile leader, Guillermo Toledo, said hours earlier that a Cuban amateur star such as slugging third baseman Omar Linares "would have to have his head examined" if he didn't defect. Under a three-decade U.S. embargo on Fidel Castro's government, defecting is the only way Cubans can play in the big leagues.
Toledo, who is helping the other defecting athletes and officials, hired a plane to buzz the stadium before game time, trailing a banner that called for the athletes to defect. He draped a placard with the same message in the right-field stands.
At game's end, the Cuban players walked out on the San Juan field to hear the cheers of the fans. Ajete, who had surrendered a two-run, game-winning homer to Atlanta Braves catcher Javier Lopez that broke Cuba's 100-game victory streak, hoisted his gym bag on his shoulder around the third-base line as a clan formed and grew.
"Quedate aqui!" the fans yelled. "Stay here!"
The players listened for a minute or two but did not heed the advice. Instead, they made their way across the field to the home players' dugout. And the exits.
Jayhawks prepare for Windy City trip Kansas down, but 17.7 points last
By Mark Button
Kansan sportswriter
After four impressive victories and a Preseason NIT championship, No. 3 Kansas has suffered defeats in its last two games.
Wednesday night, Kansas was defeated by Temple 73-59 and two nights earlier, the Australian National team claimed a 93-82 double-overtime exhibition victory against the Javahawks.
Both games were at Allen Field House.
What better place is there to put the wind back in the Jayhawks' sails than the Wind City itself?
At 8:30 tomorrow night, Kansas will face DePaul at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago.
Kansas coach Roy Williams said that it did not matter who the Jayhawks faced next. If they did not improve, they would not win, he said.
"We've got to get better, or we couldn't beat the Salvation Army," said Williams following the loss to Temple. "Joey Meyer is a good coach and he could bring in four cheerleaders and beat us if we don't play better, and if I don't coach better."
The Blue Demons, who are 1-0 after defeating Chicago State 110-84, is by junior guard Tom Kleinsmidt. Kleinsmidt averaged
DePaul also received significant performances by senior forward Kris Hill, who scored 20 points, and junior college transfer guard Will Macon, who scored 15 points.
Meyer said he looked forward to playing the Jayhawks, and that the game would be a good early season test for his team.
"Kansas is certainly an experienced team this season with having played five games by the time they play us," Meyer said. "This is a great game for us to play so early in the season because it will give our guys a chance to see what one of the top three teams in the country is like."
Williams, although respectful of Meyer's opinion, disagreed with both points.
"We lost four starters and we've got kids that are trying very hard to do the right thing," Williams said. "But right now we're not very good. We screwed up because we won the NIT. People had unrealistic expectations and we just fueled it more."
Kansas forward Richard Scott, who was named the Big Eight Conference player of the week last week for his MVP performance in the NIT, said the loss to Temple broke the momentum the team had gained in New York.
"We play real hard and take pride in our play," Scott said. "It's hurts to lose. We let Coach Williams down, and we have to correct our mistakes, play Kansas basketball and go up to Chicago and win this one for him."
Tom Leininger / SPECIAL TO THE KANSAN
Kansas Guard Steve Woodberry drives around Temple's Aaron McKie. Kansas lost the game Wednesday night at Allen Field House 73-59.
Governors bet soybeans, steaks on game
The Associated Press
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming Gov. Mike Sullivan has accepted Kansas Gov. Joan Finney's friendly wager on the outcome of the Copper Bowl between Wyoming and Kansas State.
He also delivered some good- natured ribbing about the bet.
bushel of soybeans?" Sullivan said yesterday. "I'm not sure what you do with those."
"Can you imagine she's betting a
Sullivan said he would put up an assortment of steak and lamb products, "which I think by anybody's estimation would be a more valuable wager than soybeans."
Sullivan told a group of state officials yesterday that the bet was noot anyway, since Wyoming was going to win.
Wyoming, 8-3, meets No. 20 Kansas State, 8-2-1, on Dec. 29 in the Copper Bowl in Tucson, Ariz.
State Treasurer Stan Smith suggested another product to wager.
Richard Devinki / KANSAN
Kansas sophomore guard Kristel Thalmann works on her shooting during practice. The Jayhawks practiced yesterday for this weekend's Dial Soap Classic.
"Why don't you counter with a quart of Rocky Mountain oysters," he said.
Rocky Mountain oysters are cooked testicles clipped off a bull calf when it is branded.
Jayhawks ready for Dial Classic
Oral Roberts poses first threat to Kansas
By Kent Hohlfeld Kansan sportswriter
This is the 15th year that Kansas has played in the annual tournament. The field includes Jackson State, 1-1, Oral Roberts, 1-1, and Central Michigan, 1-0.
The No.15 Kansas women's basketball team is set to take on Oral Roberts University at 8 tonight in Allen Field House in the Dial Soap Basketball Classic.
Kansas coach Marian Washington said that the team's busy schedule had kept her from scouting the Titans, who return three of five starters and five of seven letterwinners from last year's squad.
"Right now we don't know to much about ORU," Washington said. "I expect that it'll be some good competition."
Kansas enters the tournament with a 2-0 record, with road wins against
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Washington said she thought being forced to play against a zone defense against the Shockers would help her team.
Creighton and Wichita State. The team struggled past Creighton, 74-68, before defeating Wichita, 75-56, Wednesday.
"We're coming off a road trip, and it'll be good to play at home," Washington said.
"We don't have a chance to play against a zone defense very often," Washington said.
Washington said the tournament would give the team a chance to work on some of the plaguing aspects of its game. Turnovers were the biggest problem for the Jayhawks in their last two games. The Jayhawks turned the ball over 19 times against Creighton and 22 times against Wichita State.
Senior guard Ericka Muncy said the team needed to cut down on the mental mistakes it made in previous games.
"We really want to cut down our turnovers," freshman guard Angie Halbleib said. "We haven't really played up to our abilities yet."
Another area that has hurt the Jayhawks is injuries. Junior forward Alana Slatter missed the Wichita State game because of a knee injury, and senior guard Michelle Leathers missed the Wichita State game because of a back injury.
The winner of the Oral Roberts/Kansas game will play the winner of the Central Michigan/Jackson State game at 6 p.m. tomorrow. The losers will match up in a consolation game at 4 p.m.
"We just want to run a good, set offense this weekend," Muncy said.
Washington said that she thought Leathers might be able to play this weekend but that Slatter probably would miss both games. The injuries have given other players some valuable playing time, however.
"It gives us a chance to get some of our younger players some experience,"Washington said.
SPORTS BRIEFS
PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL
Crudup again eligible for play
Crudup waived his right to a jury trial and was convicted in Missouri by Boone County Circuit Judge Jodie Asel of driving with a blood-alcohol content above. 10 and driving on the wrong side of the road.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Missouri basketball player Jevon Crudup played against Arkansas yesterday, hours after he was given a 15-day suspended sentence and fined $300 on alcohol-related charges.
Crudup also was placed on two years of unsupervised probation and ordered to complete an alcohol traffic offenders program.
Crudup, a senior forward, had been suspended from the basketball team since his arrest Sept. 9.
He entered the Arkansas game with slightly more than 8 minutes gone in the first half. He played 8 minutes in the first half and scored four points.
"The case has been settled and we have been given the terms of the verdict," Missouri coach Norm Stewart said. "Jevon's response to the situation has been satisfactory for us to make him eligible for playing status."
PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL
Phillies trade Mitch Williams
PHILADELPHIA — Mitch Williams, who gave up the World Series-winning home run, was traded from the Philadelphia Phillies to Houston yesterday and replaced by reliever Doug Jones and minor league pitcher Jeff Juden.
Williams, known as "Wild Thing," blew a 14-10 eighth inning lead in Game 4, then gave up the Series-ending homer to Toronto's Joe Carter in Game 6.
Williams said he wanted to return to Philadelphia next season, but many in the Phillies' organization felt he could not pitch there again.
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Briefs compiled by The Associated Press