SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, October 28, 1993
9
Kansas defeats Missouri in first Big 8 road victory
By Gerry Fey
Kansan sportswriter
A slow start for the Kansas volleyball team did not last long, as Kansas defeated Missouri 15-12, 15-4, 15-8 last night in Columbia, Mo.
The Jayhawks won their first Big
The Jayhawks
Eight match on
the road,
but Kansas coach
Frankie Albitz
said she was
not confident
WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
when the match began. The victory pushed the Jayhawks' record to 14-9 overall and 3-4 in the conference, while Missouri dropped to 8-13 and 1-5.
"They came out strong against us," Albitz said of the Tigers. "I thought we had our work cut out for us. They were serving us tough."
Albitz said a turning point in the match was when she decided to play freshman outside hitter Lara Izokaitis. Izokaitis ended the match with seven kills, one service ace and 10 digs.
"Missouri jumped out to a big lead," she said. "I sent Lara in and it kind of
settled us down. Lara made a big difference."
Missouri hit better than Kansas in game one, with 19 team kills compared to 14 for Kansas, but the Jayhawks showed poise by coming back, Albiz said.
Izokaita said that she had been hampered by a turned ankle earlier in the week but that it was not a factor in her performance.
"It pinched at the beginning of the match," Izokaitis said. "After that it didn't affect me at all."
The 5-foot-11 freshman had not played extensively before this match, but she played all three games last night.
"I was surprised," she said. "It was great to compete against them. Usually I get to play in practice and a little in the game.
"It was good to win on their home court. It gives us a lot of confidence to win on the road in the Bier Eight."
Contributing to Izokaitis' success was sophomore setter Lesli Steinert. Izokaitis said the two connected well all night. Steinert ended the match with 15 assists and a team-high 12 digs.
Kansas took control of the match despite a slow start, Steinert said. The Jayhawks went back to using one setter, which is called a 5-1, instead of two setters. In the last two Kansas matches, Steinert and Senior Shelby Lard had shared setter duties in a 6-2 configuration with both players on the court.
"We ran a 5-1 and it worked pretty well," Steinert said. "We passed really well."
Albitz said she used the 5-1 to help out the setter.
"I used Lesli to setter the whole match," Albitz said. "She could set on the front line, so she didn't have to run around as much."
Steinert said that after winning the first two games the team did not want a repeat of last year's match in Columbia. Last year, Kansas had a 2-0 lead when Missouri took over and won the match 3-2.
The victory sets up an important conference match on Saturday, as Iowa State comes to Lawrence. Kansas needs a victory against the Cyclones if it hopes to enter the Big Eight Tournament, which is only for the top four conference teams.
Kansas golfers prepare for last fall season tournament
By Kent Hohifeld
Kansan sportswriter
The end is at hand for the Kansas men's golf team's fall schedule.
The team will be competing in the Stanford Shootout in Palo Alto, Calif., this weekend, starting tomorrow. This will be the final tournament of the team's fall schedule.
Hess said the team's last tournament, the Jayhawk Invitational, was its strongest this season. Kansas took second behind Virginia Tech.
"We played pretty well," Hess said. "Virginia Tech just played a little better."
Senior John Hess said that he hoped to see more mental toughness from the team this weekend. He said the team had been plagued with inconsistent performances from key players this fall.
Hess that he hoped to gain some momentum in this weekend's tournament and carry it into the spring season.
"I think we've got a little fire going into this tournament," Hess said.
Coach Ross Randall said consistency would be the key to the team's success this weekend.
Randall said that he was not too concerned about his team's inconsistent play this fall but that he considered the fall schedule a tune-up for the crucial spring tournaments.
"The fall helps you determine who your traveling team will be," Randall said.
One player who has suffered from inconsistent play is senior Matt Gogel. After winning the Topy Cup in Fusukushima Prefecture, Japan, he finished a disappointing 23rd in the John Hancock Invitational last weekend in El Paso, Texas. The John Hancock Invitational is a tournament for the top 24 returning collegiate golfers in the nation.
Gogel said that the team's goals going into the Stanford tournament were to play strong individual games.
"If we play strong individually, the team will do OK," Gogel said.
Randall said that having played a strong field of competition in the fall would help the team in future competitions in the spring. The team competed in the Jack Nicklaus Invitational and the Topy Cup before sponsoring the Jayhawk Invitational.
This week's competition will also feature a strong group of teams. The 20-team field will include Stanford, which is seventh in the latest Golf Week poll. Stanford will play host to the tournament and is the early favorite to compete with defending tournament champion Virginia for the tournament title.
Randall said that the fall schedule had given his team a variety of courses and teams to play, something he looked for when scheduling tournaments.
He said that a strong finish this weekend could help his team in the polls. After being ranked 23rd earlier this season, the Jayhawks have fallen out of the latest Golf Week polls.
"We just want to end the fall on a good note," Randall said.
Freshman tailback June Henley breaks through the tackle of the Oklahoma defense. Henley's 705 total of rushing yards ranks him first nationally among true freshman running backs.
Freshman tailback posts record-breaking numbers
Henley praised for work early in Kansas career
By Matt Doyle
Kansan sportswriter
Former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer interrupted Kansas coach Glen Mason's post-game press conference Saturday to tell Mason that the Jayhawks played well in their 38-23 defeat at Oklahoma
Then Switzer asked Mason about freshman back June Henley.
"Where did you get that damn back from Columbus, Ohio?" Switzer asked. "He's a good player."
The last two weeks, Henley has turned in good performances for the Jayhawks. He ran for a Kansas freshman-record 237 yards against Iowa State two weeks ago and came back the next week with 178 yards against Oklahoma.
Henley's performances have made Mason draw comparisons between Henley and a former Kansas tailback.
"He's my type of back," Mason said. "He's got some of that stuff inside him that Tony Sands had, and I don't throw that around very often. He's young, and thank God he'll be around a couple more years."
Henley may end up breaking Sand's career rushing record at Kansas. But there was a time when he thought that he would never leave Columbus or play tailback.
Up until his senior year in high school, Henley said that he thought he would play defensive back at Ohio State.
"I knew after my junior year that they wanted me as a defensive back after I went to their summer camp," Henlev said.
Butthen Henley had success as a running back in his senior year at Brookhaven High School in Columbus. He ran for an Ohio single-season record 2,582 yards, which broke the record formerly held by two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.
Despite that success, only Kansas, Purdue, Wisconsin and Minnesota recruited Henley purely as a running back. Henley said that he and Kansas were the right combination.
"When I came here on my visit it felt like it was the right environment for me," Henley said. "It seemed that this was where I was supposed to be."
Oklahoma State coach Pat Jones wished that Lawrence was not Henley's place of residence for the next four years. Yet he said that he was impressed with him.
"He's one of the more exciting backs we've seen in this league in the last few years," Jones said.
Kansas travels to Oklahoma State to play the Cowboys at 2 p.m. Saturday at Lewis Field.
Henley's 705 rushing yards ranks first nationally among true freshmen running backs. His eight touchdowns have tied the Kansas freshman record set by Kerwin Bell in 1980.
The success Henley has achieved this season has surprised him a little bit. But he said that some credit for his success should go to the Jayhawk offensive line.
"The last two weeks we've simplified the offense to where the line knows what they have to do," Henley said. "They have done their job. They have blown holes right open and made it a little easier for me."
Kansan staff report
Defensive end, punt returner out for season
Sophomore Chris Banks will start at right tackle Saturday against Oklahoma State in place of injured sophomore Mark Allison. Allison injured the medial collateral ligament in his left knee last week against Oldahoma.
Banks has worked as a reserve offensive guard most of the season, but he started at left tackle against Utah.
Junior defensive end Sylvester Wright is out for the season.
Wright fractured his left kneecep in the season opener against Florida State and was expected to miss two to three weeks.
Sophomore reserve cornerback and punt returner Dorian Brew will miss the remainder of the season with a fractured fibula.
Brew is the third pint returner Kansas has lost because of injuries. Freshman Charles Davis and senior Kwamie Lassiter were both lost for the season because of injuries suffered against Western Carolina.
Junior wid receiver Robert Reed
will return punts this week against the Cowboys.
- Mason said he would petition the NCAA to give Lassiter an extra year of eligibility based on unusual circumstances.
Lassiter played two seasons at Butler County Community College in 1989 and 1990. He did not play football in the 1991 season and transferred to Kansas for the Spring 1992 semester.
Under NCAA rules, a player has up to five years to complete four years of eligibility.
NFL votes to form league in Europe
The Associated Press
ROSEMONT, III. — The NFL renewed its foray into Europe yesterday, voting to sponsor a six-team overseas league beginning in Spring 1995.
The new league will be based entirely in Europe and will replace the defunct World League, which played in 1901 and 1902 with teams in Europe and the United States.
That and the awarding of the 1997 Super Bowl to New Orleans and the 1998 title game to San Diego were the main orders of business during yesterday's session after a day-long debate that ended Tuesday with the awarding of a new franchise to Charlotte, N.C. The identity of the second expansion city will be decided Nov. 30 at another meeting in Chicago.
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said the new European league would be made up of fringe players on NFL teams and free agents.
Tampa and Los Angeles were the other Super Bowl contenders. This year's game will be played at Atlanta, the 1995 contest will be at Miami, and the 1996 game will be at Phoenix.
Rugby men are kids at Lawrence club
Bv Anne Felstet
Children are not the only ones playing at the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence once school is done for the day. Members of the Kansas men's rugby team also can be seen bouncing a basketball, tagging out a person in kickball, or planning strategy in the football game.
Kansan sportswriter
Kelby Marks, a 1993 Kansas graduate and member of the club rugby team, organized the volunteer service between the Boys and Girls Club and the rugby team. Marks said he wanted the team to branch out into helping the city instead of just focusing on the University.
Twelve members of the collegiate men's rugby team volunteer their time at the club, 1520 Haskell Ave.
Most members volunteer their time on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 5:30 to 7:30. Junior Stanci March said that once he was at the club he
usually ended up staying with the kids until the p.m. closing time.
March, who was playing kickball with a group of about 10 children Monday, said that he did not organize the games but that the children made plans of their own. At the club the children are encouraged to organize their own games without a lot of adult interference.
"We can't be too overbearing," he said. "It has to be a give-and-take situation or they won't like us."
March, an elementary education major, said volunteering with the children was an escape for him.
"I get to be a kid for a while," he said.
get to be a kid or a wilde, he said.
Marks said the rugby players did not just play outdoor games with the kids. The children also use a computer on the site for educational purposes or for games.
One girl on March's kickball team had spent time with him earlier working on the computer. Together they had created a love note for her mother.
"You can't get out with college kids and play football like this," he said.
"I haven't played in a long time," he said as he cooled down after running around with the group playing touch football.
Sutton, who is majoring in civil engineering, said the children were fun to play with because they were full of energy and cheerful.
Sophomore Erik Sukton was getting a workout Monday during a touch football game. Laughing girls and boys between the ages of 8 and 12 ran around the small dirt and grass field telling one another which plays to run and whom to tackle. Tackon and his fellow rugby players took orders from their younger friends.
For Sophomore John Wiley, the favorite thing about volunteering was playing with the kids.
The rugby team will continue to volunteer its time at the Boys and Girls Club throughout the year. However, March said volunteering would not be forced on anyone.
Valerie Bontrager/KANSAN
Junior rugby player Stanci March helps Kesha Caldwell, 8,
carve a pumpkin at the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence.
March volunteers at the club two days a week.