e
SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, November 18, 1993
11
Jayhawks claw past Wildcats in close match
By Gerry Fey Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas volleyball team escaped from being Kansas State's first conference victim last night, slipping by the Wildcats 16-14, 9-15, 11-15, 15-6, 15-9 at Manhattan.
The victory in its last regular-season
VOLLEYBALL
improved Kansas' record to 16-12 overall and 5-7 in the Big Eight. More important for Kansas players, K-State remains winless in the conference at 0-11 and 7-24 overall.
Kansas sophomore middle blocker/rightside player Jenny Larson said a defeat against K-State would have been a terrible way to end the regular season.
Kansas coach Frankie Albitz said she was thinking of using many players in the match if the Jayhawks were doing well. She played all her players, but not for the reason she intended.
"K-State came out tough against us," Larson said. "We kept getting behind and had to play catch-up."
"Everybody played and everybody played fairly well," Albitz said. "I planned to do that out of choice, not out of necessity. If we were having an easy time, I wanted to put some players in who haven't had much playing time. I didn't get that choice."
Albizt said she made lineup changes throughout the match. K-State's large leads against the Jayhawks gave Albizt a few gray hairs, she said.
KState had a 14-10 lead in the game one, but Kansas was able to come back and win 16-14. Larson said the Jayhawks came into the match a little shuggish.
"I couldn't find a lineup that worked," Albitz said. "I finally found one. That may have fired them up, knowing that K-State was going to play tough."
Larson said the change in the match came when Kansas jumped to an 11-2 lead in the fourth game. Kansas went on to win the game 15-6 and used that momentum to win the match, she said.
Although Albitz said sophomore outside hitter Tracie Walt played well for the Jayhawks, Walt said she was not happy with her performance. Walt ended the match with 16 kills and 12 digs, Kansas highs in both categories.
"I was pretty much up and down with the team," Walt said. "I had some good hits and some dumb hits."
Walt said the Jayhawks did not expect to play five games against K-State, a team they defeated 3-Oct. 6 in Allen Field House.
Melissa Lacey / KANSAM
Kansas' victory last night means that if K-State wins at fourth-place Iowa State on Saturday, the Jayhawks would play in the Big Eight Tournament Nov. 26-27 in Omaha, Neb. If Kansas, currently in fifth place, does not play in the conference tournament, it will play in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship tournament Dec. 3-5 in Kansas City, Mo. Only the top four teams advance to the conference tournament.
Senior guard Steve Woodberry shoots a lay-up over Western Michigan's Matt Van Abbema. Kansas defeated the Broncos during the first round of the Preseason National Invitational Tournament last night in Allen Field House.
'Hawks maul Broncos in defensive struggle
It was ugly, but it was Kansas coach Roy Williams' kind of ugly.
By Mark Button
Kansan sportswriter
The Jayhawks defeated Western Michigan 69-50 last night in a turnover-ridden defensive battle.
Kansas played a stifling defense, creating 23 Bronco turnovers, 12 of which were Jawahra steals.
people will look at the game and say it's an ugly game," Williams said. "But I think you have an 'ugly game' when you have two teams that really try to work hard on the defensive end of the floor."
In Tuesday night's exhibition game against Marathon AAU, Williams took offense to his players' weak defensive efforts and, apparently, he told them about it.
Kansas freshman point guard Jacque Vaughn said the team had a higher concentration level last night than it did Tuesday.
But Williams said of last night's game: "For this time of year, that was a sensational defensive performance."
"We knew they were good coming in," Vaughn said. "Our emphasis was on defense foremost tonight. We were more focused."
Williams credited Western Michigan and coach Bob Donewald for the Broncos' defensive effort.
"They played very well and are a very well disciplined club," Williams said. "They really made it difficult for us to get the ball inside, and when we did get it in there, they clogged it up.
Neither team shot the ball well. After shooting 60 percent in the first half, the Jayhawks finished the
game shooting 42 percent. Western Michigan shot-
only 33 percent.
Two big reasons for the poor Bronco shooting, were the outstretched arms of Kansas' 7-foot-2 junior center Greg Ostertag. The big man in the middle tied a school record by blocking seven shots in his 22 minutes of play.
"In his first eight minutes he wasn't playing defense, so he blocked seven of them in about 12 minutes," Williams said. "If you have someone blocking seven shots, that's one reason the other team is going to shoot 33 percent."
Ostertag said he didn't know he was that effective. "I didn't realize I had that many until I was told after the game," Ostertag said. "But I'm real excited about it because I want that to be one of my main goals — to have a lot of blocked shots. So I started off in a good way."
Offensively, Kansas spread the wealth among its players, four of whom scored in double digits.
The Jayhawks were led by senior forward Richard Scott, who had 14 points. Senior guard Steve Woodberry, who played wearing a wrap around his left shin because of an injury he suffered Tuesday, added 13 and grabbed four steals. Sophomore forward Sean Pearson also dumped in 13, and freshman center Scot Pollard scored 12.
Donewald said he thought his team was outplayed in all aspects, and missing three of five first-half free throws didn't help.
"They were a much more aggressive and assertive team than we were," Donewald said. "We put ourselves in a hole, and they were too good for us to get out of it."
Kansas steps up defense with 12 steals
By Anne Felstet
Kansan sportswriter
Just one night after registering only three steals and forcing 15 turnovers, Kansas stepped up its defensive effort in a 69-50 victory against Western Michigan.
The Jayhawks forced 23 turnovers and had 12 steals in its first-round game in the Preseason National Invitational Tournament.
Senior guard Steve Woodberry said that the team made a conscious effort to play a better defensive game. Kansas did not want a repeat of Tuesday's 94-point runaway score.
Coach Roy Williams said that the team could read what was written in the newspapers and hear his comments in his radio show, so it knew that he was not pleased with its defensive performance in the exhibition game.
Williams said that the team had a sensational defensive performance last night, emphasizing that it was early in the season.
Freshman guard Jacque Vaughn and junior guard
Calvin Rayford did good things defensively, which started the Jayhawks' transition game, Williams said.
with five minutes left in the second half, Rayford swiped the ball from behind an unsuspecting Western Michigan dribler. He controlled the ball even as he slid along the court in the opposite direction of the basket, creating one of his three steals.
Only Woodberry had more steals with four.
Western Michigan senior guard Leon McGee said, "We had to keep the fact that their guards could blow by us. It's hard to keep your concentration when you have to think about that."
Williams said that both teams played well defensively and that it was difficult for Kansas to get the ball inside.
Senior forward Richard Scott said Kansas would get better with time.
He said that the team could not change its game before tomorrow's game against California, but that it would work more on its defense.
"We did not scare anybody tonight," Williams said:
"We hope to have a chance to scare teams later on."
SPORTS BRIEF
Houston hires new manager
The Associated Press
HOUSTON — Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen coach Terry Collins, who managed in the minor leagues for more than a decade, was hired as manager of the Houston Astros yesterday.
Collins, one of seven known candidates to replace fired manager Art Howe, had been reported as one of two front-runners.
"They are looking for an aggressive guy that knows how to deal with people and get the most out of his players," Collins said. "That's one thing that's in my background with all my years spent in the minor leagues, dealing with those situations."
Owner Drayton McLane fired Howe and general manager Bill Wood on Oct. 5, following the Astros' third-place finish in the National League West.
Swimming team to face stiff competition at three-day meet
By Kent Hohlfeld
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas swimming and diving team will face three days of intense competition when it travels to Minneapolis for the Minnesota Invitational, which starts tomorrow.
The meet comes on the heels of a dual meet with perennial power Southern Methodist in Oklahoma City last weekend. The men's team won, while the women's team was defeated.
The team will be tested in Minnesota against national power Tennessee as well as conference rivals Iowa State and Nebraska. This meet will not affect the team's dual meet record however.
"I like to see as much good competition as I can. Kansas coach Gary Kempf said.
Kempf said that facing Nebraska was not his major concern at this point in the season.
"When I signed us up for the meet I didn't even know they were in it." Kempf said.
Sophomore Donna Christensen said that placing above Nebraska was one of the team's goals. She said that defeating Nebraska would help to rebound from a disappointing close loss to Southern Methodist. The loss dropped the women's team to 2-1 in dual meet competition and broke a string of 24 straight dual-meet victories.
Christensen said the fact that the meet was decided by the last event proved the team could compete with the best teams. She said that large meets like Minnesota sometimes lacked the excitement of dual competition.
Kempf said that he expected the women's competition to come down to Minnesota, Nebraska and Kansas. The field became a little easier when Florida, which finished second in the country last year, unexpectedly withdrew from the competition to participate in another meet.
The Kansas men's team, which is 2-0 in dual-eet competition after defeating Southern Methodist for the first time, will try to take that momentum into this weekend's invitational.
Kempf said that the men's side would feature stiff competition between Tennessee and Indiana.
"I definitely think our performance against Southern Methodist will help us some," Kempf said.
"You can't just focus on one team," Chris-tsen said. "You have to focus on more teams."
Sophomore Ryan Lowe said that being able to consistently beat big-name schools was a team goal this year.
"Last year, we came close but could never do it." Lowe said.
Lowe said that he enjoyed the larger meets more than the dual competitions. He said that fatigue could become more of a factor in an invitational but that he liked having extra time to prepare for each race.
"The duals only run a couple of hours, this meet runs three days," Lowe said. "You're definitely more tired by the end."
Kempf said that this type of meet would help the team later during the Big Eight meet and possibly in Nationals later in the year. Kempf said that his major goal at this point in the season was to see the team improve.
"I just want to see us continue to move forward." Kennf said.
Receiver excels in classroom as well as on the football field
Greg Ballard, senior wide receiver, runs a drill during practice. Ballard was honored on the first team Academic All-Big Eight Football Honor Roll and received a $5,000 post-graduate grant for his scholastic achievement.
Greg Ballard receives awards for academics
By Matt Doyle Kansan sportswriter
Kansas senior wide receiver Greg Ballard fits the definition of student athlete.
The Lawrence senior has helped improve the Jayhawks' passing game this season. He has 15 receptions for 240 yards.
However, Ballard takes the same amount of pride in his performance off the field.
Ballard was honored on the first-team Academic All-Big Eight Football Honor Roll and was one of four student athletes nationwide to receive a $5,000 post-graduate grant from the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.
"It is a reward for maintaining high academic level in addition to playing athletics," Ballard said. "Both of those always have been a big part of my life. I was fortunate to get both of those honors."
Ballard has a 3.22 grade point average in political science and premed, and he will graduate this year. He said he planned to enter the University of Kansas Medical Center in Fall 1995 after an attempt to continue his football career on the professional level in 1994.
Susan McSpadden / KANSAN
"That's why I have that year and decided not to go into med school until the fall of 1995," Ballard said. "I want to play out my chances and see if I can make it in the NFL."
Denver Broncos scout Jeff Smith said Ballard could have an opportunity to play in the National Football League because of his size, speed and good hands.
This season's performance has given Ballard the possibility of continuing his playing career. Ballard transferred from Southern Methodist University to Kansas in 1900 but did not join the Jayhawk football team until 1902. His 1902 season ended in the first quarter of the second game of that year against Ball State, when he broke his arm.
"That kind of ruined my season because it was a good year for KU football by going to the Aloha Bowl," he said. "But this year has pretty much made up for it. Even though we haven't enjoyed the same success we had last year, it still has been a great experience for me."
Kansas coach Glen Mason said that he was glad Ballard decided to transfer from SMU to
Kansas and that he had done a great job for the Jayhawks.
"Greg Ballard is really a good football player, outstanding young man and outstanding student," Mason said. "You talk about a class act, and he's it."
Ballard said his academic motivation would pay off if a career in professional football did not work out for him.
7
"My parents have always pushed to succeed academically as well as athletically," he said. "I've done it through high school and I'm doing it in college. Whether I make it in professional football is yet to be seen, but regardless I always will have my academics to fall back on. That's what is important."