SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Thursday, September 23, 1993
9
Golfers prepare for trip to Japan
Team is one of four flying across the world to play in tournament
By Kent Hohlfeld Kansan sportswriter
Exchanging currency, applying for passports and rescheduling tournaments are just a few of the difficulties five golfers are facing as they prepare for their next tournament more than 8,000 miles away in Japan.
The men's golf team will compete against 13 teams in the Topy Cup Intercollegiate tournament Sept. 28 - 30. The players leave Saturday for Tokyo.
U. S. teams from Kansas, The University of California Los Angles, Kent State and Augusta College will meet 11 Japanese teams, including defending tournament champion Nihon University.
Kansas coach Ross Randall said college teams in Japan rarely practiced more than twice a month because golf courses are expensive and rare.
"In Japan they have no public golf courses," Randall said. "The land is so expensive that they have to go hundreds of miles from the closest city to build their courses."
Headed fore Japan
He said that golf was considered a luxury in Japan and that most courses are organized similar to American vacation resorts.
The Kansas team will travel to one such golf resort in Tanagura, Fukushimara Prefecture, which lies in an agricultural region about 150 miles northeast of Tokyo.
"It should give the kids a chance to see a cosmopolitan area like Tokyo and a rural area." Randall said.
The trip will take 16 hours, cover eight time zones and include a four-hour bus ride from Tokyo to the resort.
Preparing for such a trek has been a major undertaking
The Jayhawk coach said he had to move the team's home tournament, which had been scheduled for this weekend, to Oct. 11-12.
for Randall and his players.
Moeller said that being fifth-year seniors helped give him and teammate Casey Brozek more flexibility in planning their schedules than most underclassmen might have had.
"When I knew about the trip, I arranged my schedule so that I wouldn't miss too much class," team member Jeff Moeller said.
Brozek said he expected the language barrier to be the biggest obstacle the team would face. To help reduce that problem, Randall passed out forms containing common Japanese words and sayings to each member of the team.
One problem the team will not have to worry about is paying the $30,000 tab for the trip. Topy Corp., the sponsor of the tournament, is paying the teams' expenses. The players will have to pay only for souvenirs and snacks while in Japan. Randall said he told them to take extra money because of higher prices in Japan, where a cup of coffee costs $7.
None of the team members have experience playing outside the United States.
Randall said he also was worried about the time difference. He said jet lag could become a serious problem.
"Going over, it isn't too bad because you gain time," Randall said. "Coming back is what really gets you."
Junior Tom Sims and seniors John Hess and Matt Gogel will join Moeller and Brozek to form the Kansas tournament team.
Volleyball coach gives players space
Frankie Albitz keeps her cool during games and leaves the spotlight for team members
During practice, Kansas Volleyball coach Frankie Albitz goes over a video tape of the opposition with her team. Since Albitz's arrival at Kansas, the team has played in four Big Eight Conference tournaments, and she was named Big Eight Coach of the Year in 1991.
By Gerry Fey
Kansan sportswriter
Richard Devinki/ KANSAN
Although she may look laid back and relaxed, she is as nervous as any player. Maybe more.
Sitting cross-legged, wearing sandals and shorts, Kansas volleyball coach Frankie Albitz looks more like a spectator than a coach.
"I'm not laid back," Albitz confessed. "I have an air of being calm. I eat bread and crackers before the game and after to settle my stomach."
Albitz said that the 6-5 Jayhawks played better when they were relaxed and that if she didn't look calm it would hurt the team. But her temperament has posed a problem.
"I take a lot of heat for the way I act," Albitz said. "I had to convince my team this year that I am watching the game."
As for her apparel, it reinforces what kind of person she is.
Compared with some coaches from opposing teams, Albiz does not act as a cheerleader.
"It's unrealistic to think that I could wear a dress," she said. "It's too constricting, and I'm not the best dresser anyway."
"Ihave tried to be more assertive with my team before, but it doesn't work." Albiz said. "I try to be calm, relaxed and confident. People have a perception of what a coach should act like from watching football and basketball coaches. I think volleyball coaches are different."
Albitz, like other volleyball coaches, is busy thinking of strategies for the team during a match. But she doesn't make a scene on the sidelines.
"The players put in a lot of time and effort," she said. "Let them play in front of the crowd and get the attention. My philosophy may be different from other coaches. You have to do your work before you get there."
Kansas assistant coach Karen Schonewise is a former Nebraska volleyball player who played for Cornhusker coach Terry Pettit. Albitz's style is different from Petit's, and Schonewise agrees with her current mentor's philosophy.
"He is much more technical and more of a disciplinarian compared to Frankie," Schonewise said. "She likes the team to make its own decisions."
Albitz's philosophy has been effective. She posted a
136-67-1 record at Oral Roberts, where she coached from 1981 to 1984. But she inherited a Kansas program in 1985 that was 5-30 the previous season.
Since then, Kansas has played in four Big Eight Conference tournaments, and Albizt was named Big Eight Coach of the Year in 1991, when her team finished third in the Big Eight with a 25-10 record.
Despite the success, some players have to adjust to the freedom Albitz allows on the court. Schonewise said.
Frankie gives some ideas before the game that may work," Iizakita said. "But Frankie says if you see an
"Most players aren't used to the flexibility," Schonewise said. "They're used to being told what to do on the court. It forces them to be more knowledgeable."
Redshirt freshman Lara Izokatis said Albitz gave her positive reinforcement on the court.
opening. do what's best for the team."
Senior Barb Bella transferred to Kansas from Texas A&M after her freshman year. She said she had made the right choice in coming to Kansas because, unlike her former coach, Albitz allowed her players to have privacy in matters not pertaining to volleyball.
"He was the type of coach that wanted to know what I was doing all the time," Bella said of her former coach. "It's not like that here. When I do something right I feel good about it."
Albitz's philosophy might be good for the players, but she said it was hard for her as a coach to stay out of the spotlight at Kansas.
"Everyone is happy for you when you win," she said. "The wins and losses belong to the team. I didn't do any of that."
Women's tennis to begin season with tough competition
By Anne Felstet
Kansan sportswriter
Women's tennis team members no longer have to compete against one another. This weekend, the Jayhawks travel to Williamsburg, Va., for their season opener in the College of William and Mary Invitational.
Women's tennis coach Chuck Merzbacher said the invitational was a flighted tournament.
Senior Kim Rogers said the first tournament of the season was always the most exciting, because the team could get back out on the court and start again.
In a flighted tournament, individuals compete against players of other teams in the tournament with the same ranking. Merzbacher said that the players would not know who their individual opponents would be until the tournament.
The Kansas team's opponents will be South Florida, Virginia Commonwealth, Notre Dame, which was ranked 19th last year by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, and Virginia, which was ranked 22nd last year. Kansas ranked 17th last year.
Rogers said the Notre Dame players would be the toughest because they defeated Kangas last year.
Merrbacher has added three new players to the Kansas lineup.
Freshmen Chessa Beiral, Amy Trytek and Heather Heidel will compete at the No. 4, 5 and 6 spots, respectively. Rogers moved from her No. 6 position last year to No. 3. Senior Abbey Woods moved from No. 4 to No. 2, and senior Mindy Weiner rounds out the team at No. 1, up from her No. 3 position last year.
In her college tennis debut, Heidel said, she was excited and nervous because she wanted to look good for the school and she did not want to let herself down.
Weiner said she needed to show that she belonged back in the national rankings. She had been in the top 10, but fell out of the top 100 last year. She said she thought she could be in the top 20 this year.
She said she was looking forward to playing against tough collegiate competition.
"I tend to play better when the competition is better," she said.
Merzbacher said he thought the team was excited about the tournament.
"They are tired of playing each other," he said.
10th-inning homer lifts Royals past A's
The Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. — Kevin Koslosfki, who entered the game as a defensive replacement, homered to lead off the top of the 10th inning, giving the Kansas City Royals a 3-2 victory over the Oakland Athletics last night.
Koslofski's first home run of the season came off Roger Smithberg (1-2) and finally ended a game that featured blown saves by two of baseball's premier relievers.
Craig Paquette's solo homer off Jeff Montgomery with two outs in the ninth inning tied the game at 2 after Dennis Eckersley had blown his 10th save of the season in the top of the inning. It was Paquette's 12th home run of the season.
Montgomery (5-5), who blew a save for the sixth time this season, earned the victory.
Brian McRae began the Kansas City ninth with a one-out single. George Brett followed with a single to right field, and when Scott Brosius' throw missed the cutoff man for an error, McRae was able to score an unearned run from first base.
Brett took second on the play and was replaced by pinch runner Phil Hiatt. Hiatt scored the go-ahead run on Mike Macfarlane's single.
Eckersley's blown save wasted a fine effort from starter Ron Darling in a pitching duel with Tom Gordon.
Gordon pitched eight innings, allowing five hits and three walks and striking out 11, a season-high.
Darling had been seeking his first victory since Aug. 18. He pitched eight innings of four-hit ball, striking out a season-high seven and walking one.
Gordon walked Troy Neel to open the second inning but got two strikeouts and a ground out to end the threat. Neel's fourth-inning infield single was Gordon's only other baserunner through four innings.
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