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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 1984)
Sports Brinkman trains for Olympic gold Thursday, September 20 1984AThe Battalion/Page 9 See page Ags 8-1, prepare for Classic The Texas A&M Volleyball team travelled to San Marcos Wednesday night, and did some thing they have not had to do so far this season. Play five tough games with an opponent. Well, Southwest Texas State reversed that trend pushing the Aggies to five games. A&M ulti mately triumphed winning three of the five games — 15-7, 11-15, 14-16, 15-1 and 15-1. Aggie Head Coach Terry Con don thought the five games would prove to be good experi ence for her team. “It’s hard to play jungle ball when you’re trying to play your own game,” Condon said. “We needed a tough five game match to prepare us for the tour nament coming up.” Condon said that there would be certain things that the Ags would work on in the next prac tice after what she saw in the Southwest Texas State game. “We will have to work on some key tactics next practice,” Condon said. “Our pass receiving and our defensive positioning especially.” Sherri Brinkman had another good night, collecting 17 kills for a .500 percentage and Chemine Doty had 13 kills for a .333 per centage. Condon seemed pleased that her troops stood up to the chal lenge of the five games, and felt the Ags have a good chance of giving any team in the conference a run for their money. The Aggies go back in action at G. Rollie White Coliseum Friday night at 7:30. They will be com peting in the A&M Classic until Saturday. Of the five teams competing in the A&M Classic, Condon said Florida State and LSU will be A&M’s toughest opponents. ISU’s Criner sports two-ring circus By TRAVIS TINGLE Assistant Sports Editor Just when the Aggies thought it was safe to go back into Kyle Field — enter Alex Espinoza and the Iowa State Cyclones’ aerial circus. Espinoza (6-1, 191 pounds) brings the Cyclones (1-1-0) into Kyle Field Saturday as the nation’s No. 9 ranked player in total offense and No. 30 in overall passing efficiency. The Cyclone redshirt sophomore already has completed 45 of 78 passes for 567 yards this season. Es pinoza tied the 1SU record for most pass attempts in a single game with 47 during the 21-17 victory over Drake last weekend. For Cyclone Head Coach Jim Criner, in his second year at ISU, 47 pass attempts is not unusual consid ering his wide-open offensive strat egy — the Brigham Young of the Big Eight Conference. “We feel like that with our style of attack that we should be throwing somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 passes a game,” Criner said. “If we run 80 plays we would really like to achieve balance in our calls and hope that our running game will develop to the point that we can get the same productivity out of it as we do out of throwing the ball.” Pass 40 times, run 40 times, sounds simple enough. But do you pass to establish the run or vice- versa? “We actually would feel like that the best way for us, with our person nel, is to use the run to complement the pass,” Criner said. That statement is a bit hard to swallow when everybody and their dog in Ames, Iowa knows ISU’s big gest offensive threat is a split end, not a tailback. All-Big Eight split end Tracy Henderson (6-0, 182), the nation’s top receiver with an average of 9.5 catches and 157 yards per game, is Criner’s prize gem. During the Cyclones dismal 4-7 1983 season, Henderson caught 81 passes for 1,051 yards. Those statis tics made Henderson the NCAA’s third leading receiver and third team All-America pick behind the Iowa State’s Jim Criner likes of Nebraska’s Irving Fryar and Baylor’s Gerald McNeil. Fryar was drafted by the New En gland Patriots of the NFL and Mc Neil went to the USFL’s Houston Gamblers — Henderson is only a ju nior. He caught 10 passes in last week’s Drake game, but Criner insists Hen derson “didn’t play as well as he was capable of’ because he missed seve ral practices while recovering from the flu. So what does a healthy Hender son mean to the Cyclones? “Tracy has great individual speed,” Criner said. “He also under stands whaf s happening on the foot ball field. He has great awareness of what’s going on around him as far as coverages and that type thing.” For Head Coach Jackie Sherrill and the Aggies, Henderson means headaches — a case of the double coverage blues. “If you want to see the best re ceiver in the country, just come watch Tracy Henderson,” Sherrill said. “Henderson is an unbelievable receiver. In two games he’s had 19 receptions for 314 yards and scored twice last week (against Drake). “We’re going to play 14 people, but I don’t know if that would help. The kid just goes up and gets the ball.” ISU’s game plan for Saturday is simple — Espinoza to Henderson. Criner has faith in Espinoza’s ability to carry out that assignment. “I’ve been very pleased with Alex Espinoza’s progress,” Criner said. “Alex is a guy who has a very strong arm, moves around well and has the ability to make some good things happen. He’s one of those guys who plays better than he practices. He doesn’t make the mistakes in the game. He makes them on the prac tice field.” Even with Henderson and Espi noza, the Cyclones have had their troubles lighting up the scoreboard in ’84. ISU has managed only 21 points in each of their last two games, including an embarrassing 59-21 opening day loss to Iowa. If Criner had a thousand wishes, a high scoring affair with the Aggies on Saturday wouldn’t make the list. “We’re such a young team that I’m not sure how we’ll perform from one game to the next,” Criner said. “I think that our chances of winning are much better if it ends up being a closer football game and our defense is able to play well and keep a close fourth quarter.” Criner has a legitimate reason for wanting to keep the score low — re spect for the Aggies. “That team (A&M) has played to gether going into their third sea son,” he said. “They’ve got some real talent throughout their football team: “A veteran offensive line that’s the best we’ve played against this year. A quarterback who’s one of those kind of guys who can do it all. Plus, two very physical running backs. De fensively, they’re more physical up front than Iowa was.” Iowa State split end Tracy Henderson catches a pass right on the numbers during action last season. Henderson, an All- Big Eight selection in ’83, is a candidate for All-America hon ors this year and currently leads the nation in receiving. AGGIE ONEMA, HITCHCOCK FESTIVAL Fri. & Sat., Sept. 21 & 22 Fri., Sept. 21 Vertigo Lifeboat High Anxiety 7:30 p.m. 9:45 p.m. Midnight One-Day Pass Two-Day Pass Individual Movies Sat., Sept. 33 Psycho Rebecca Dial M for Murder $3.00 $6.00 $1.50 'Little Weenie Boy' by Gregg Steele PooR little weenie boy WCEN/E PLAYS TRIVIAL. Pursuit:.. Now,WE CAN WIN IF Yoo KEEP YOUR MOUTX SHOT. D (5k) what* card game owe! You and You* «nu'ptC>) w «Ar Hncucock filta AN OSCAR RORBfeST- RUSSIAN WHIST? J -gh-M? / ^2- ' it S heeds; (WOKEN ( C-C Tickets & Passes available at MSC Box Office Mon.-Fri., 8:30-4:30. Individual tickets available 45 minutes before showtime. MUSHROOM CHEESE COWRIE AT THE COW HOP “Great Food-Fast Service” 113 lb. Mushroom Cheeseburger Large Order of French Fries 16 oz. Ice Tea-Free Refills 99 Dress It Yourself On Our Hamburger Bar 846-1588 317 University Dr. Northgate Expires 9/22/84 Must Bring Coupon They don’t make them like this anymore... except at Swensens Just treat yourself and your family to an enjoyable lunch or dinner at Swensen’s. Relax in our tum-of-the-century decor featuring marble-top tables, tiffany lamps and lazy day ceiling fans. Old-fashioned ice cream and delicious sandwiches, soups and salads. — Bring IM« coupon — Over 30,000 people could be reading your ad in this space! llliiimiiiimiiiMiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimimiiimiis mrom tvrtfi mm ADS Advertise an item in the Battalion. 500 Super Ice Cream Soda(re g . $1.75 value) with purchase of any sandwich. SWENSEN’S "C-i'T HMiiiiii America’s Favorite Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Parlor (No. of Sodas) Offer expires Sept. 30,1984 B Limit 5 per coupon per visit Not valid with any othar special or promotion The Battalion 845-2611 rilllllllllip