Friday, November 7, 1986/The Battalion/Page 9
Sports
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g volleyball team
o face Top 20 squads
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RightH The Texas A&M volleyball team
wecou|j|is tough competition in the form of
just o r two Top 20 teams coming into town
Jis weekend.
Tonight at 7:30 p.m. in G. Rollie
[While Coliseum, 18th-ranked A&M
ckles No. 16 Pepperdine. The
atch is being promoted as “Beach
ight,” because anyone wearing
s >te •ach clothes gets to see the match at
'lane rjhall-price. The first 500 spectators
anywHso will receive a bottle of Hawaiian
lightikBropic suntan lotion and a drawing
will be held to give away 60 T-shirts.
The Aggies, 21-8, will then face
No. 19 Arizona at 7:30 p.m. Satur
day.
“From the standpoint of national
rankings, these are definitely big
matches,” Coach A1 Givens said.
“I’m just glad we’re playing at home.
“But we’ll have to be at the top of
our game to beat them.
“The team that plays the hardest
and makes the least mistakes will
A&M swimmers host SMU
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The Texas A&M swimming teams
host their first meet Saturday
Against the SMU Mustangs at the
|L. Downs Natatorium at 2 p.m.
The SMU men’s team is ranked
hventh and the women are 19th na
tionally, while A&M’s teams are un
linked. The Aggie women, how
ever, beat SMU in last weekend’s
authwest Conference Relays.
I A&M Swim Coach Mel Nash said
|e expects a competitive meet.
“The old cliche ‘barnburner’
comes to mind,” Nash said. “Our
depth helped us in the Relays, but
tlis is little bit more quality meet.”
■ Nash said the team could be ham-
pt red a little because Suzanne Fiori
Rrained her ankle and may be
■owed for the meet.
On the men’s side, the Aggies will
face a more difficult battle.
“SMU has the distinct edge,” Nash
said. “Their team is not as good as
last year, but they’re still an excellent
team.
“But, heck, we’re gonna take a
shot."
Chris O’Neil, a four-time All-
America for A&M and now a stu
dent assistant coach, said he thinks
the swimmers have good attitude.
“They’re all pretty fiesty and con
fident,” O’Neil said. “If they use that
confidence productively, then it’s
gonna be a real good meet. They
have the potential to beat SMU, but
it would be a major upset if they
did.”
LadyAgs shooting for success in ’86
By Danny Myers
Sports Writer
Texas A&M women’s basketball
Coach Lynn Hickey said she is
hoping for a playoff-caliber team
for the 1986-87 season.
The team held a short maroon-
and-white scrimmage following a
press conference that presented
this year’s team Thursday.
“Our assets are our speed and
quickness, especially at the guard
positions,” Hickey said. “Our for
ward play will be better on defense
and our outside shooters will be
better also. The center position is
the big question mark.”
A&M has four centers — three
sophomores and one f reshman.
“We have the talent, but we
don’t have the chemistry yet,”
Hickey said.
“If you can’t get talent to click
together it means nothing, but it’s
still early. I think we have a very
good chance to end up in the
NCAAs (playoffs).”
Among the players to watch if
the Lady Aggies are to have a suc
cessful year are:
• Donna Roper, a 5-8 sopho
more from Houston, who started
at guard last season and led the
team with 132 assists and 71 steals.
She also was a member of the win
ning South team at the Olympic
Sports Festival.
• Beth Young, a 5-4 senior
Coach Lynn Hickey
from Austin, is a three-year letter-
man at guard. Young has made
over 100 assists in each of her
three years and adds quickness to
the team.
• Paula Crutcher, a 5-10 senior
from Dallas, started at forward last
season where she was the team’s
second-leading scorer and top re
bounder.
• Rosalind Brown, a 5-8 senior
from Midland, also will be ex
pected to provide leadership from
her point guard position.
• Lisa Jordan, a 6-3 sophomore
from Talmage, Calif., may help
A&M at center. She was the third-
leading scorer for the Lady Aggies
last season and may see quite a bit
of playing time, especially early in
the season.
• Nette Garrett, a 6-<3 sopho
more from Center, started at cen
ter last season, but is coming off
leg surgery and may not be ready
by the beginning of the season.
Hickey said the talent in the
Southwest Conference is evening
out.
The University of Texas will be
the team to beat, she said. It is
coming off a national
championship, but lost some of its
speed from last season and
shouldn’t be as untouchable, she
said.
Arkansas should be chasing the
Longhorns due to an experienced
senior squad, she said.
The other teams for the Lady
Aggies to beat in the Southwest
Conference this year will be Texas
Tech and Southern Methodist
University, both with great size,
Hickey said.
A&M’s tough games won’t start
with the Southwest Conference
though. It will have an exhibition
game at G. Rollie White against
the Yugoslavian national team on
Nov. 21, then open the regular
season with the Southern Invita
tional Tournament. That tourney
features such powerhouse teams
as the University of Georgia and
the University of Alabama.
Guard Donna Roper
They will host their first tourna
ment with the Converse Lady Ag
gies Tournament on Dec. 5 and 6.
The University of Nebraska will be
the team everyone will be gunning
for in that tournament.
After one more tournament,
the Lady Aggies will host Loui
siana State University and North
ern Illinois University before start
ing their rough Southwest
Conference schedule.
“We want to have a very com
petitive schedule before Southwest
Conference play,” Hickey said.
“If you wait to play Texas or Ar
kansas without any Top 20 compe
tition, it’s a shock to your system.”
high school sports unhurt by no-pass no-play rule
By Doug Hall
Sports Writer
■ While the Texas governorship has
■en decided, the verdict on the
■hite-supported no-pass, no-play
rile, which bars students from ex-
tK-curricular activites for six weeks
if failing any course, is still being de
wed.
■ A recent issue of Dave Campbell’s
Tjtxas Football listed the no-pass,
no play casualties throughout the
state’s five football classes. The sur
vey, which was based on the grading
period that ended Oct. 18, showed
that in the state’s top 10 teams of
each class, only 37 of a possible 1,751
(2.1 percent) players were ruled inel
igible on the varsity level. The sub
varsity level, on the other hand,
showed a total of 331 failures out of
2,658 players, or 12.5 percent.
Dallas Carter with four failures
and Houston Yates with three, led
the 5A Class in lost players. At that
time, the teams were ranked second
and fourth respectively by Texas
Football.
In Class 4A, third-ranked West
Orange-Stark lost four of its 36 var
sity football players, one more than
fifth-ranked Lubbock Estacado.
Nine of the 20 schools in the top two
classes didn’t suffer any losses.
The local high schools, Bryan and
A&M Consolidated, weren’t so
lucky. Consolidated Coach Roy Ko-
kemoor said two varsity and six ju
nior varsity football players were
suspended from playing. Merrill
Green, head football coach at Bryan
said he lost one varsity player and 13
more on the subvarsity levels, or 12
percent of his football players.
Both coaches, however, said they
see no end to the no-pass, no-play
controversy.
Kokemoor said, “I don’t know
what the effects are yet. I really
haven’t been able to determine
whether it has had a positive or a
negative effect.
“I’ve seen kids that have buckled
down and tried harder to stay on
and play,” he said, “and I’ve seen
those who have missed (a passing
grade) by a couple of points, said the
heck with it, and dropped out com
pletely.
“As far as I’m concerned (no-pass,
no-play) can’t be termed a success if
one or two kids get knocked out of
the program.”
Green is also concerned about stu
dents dropping out of the athletic
program, but said the area to watch
is not the high schools, but the junior
highs.
“I really think our junior highs
are the crisis areas,” Green said. “It’s
at that age that we’re really bringing
them into the program. So often,
weak students get identified as fail
ures, when they really haven’t had a
chance.
“At that level, if you lose contact,
you might never see them again.”
Green said he has always been in
favor of action encouraging student
athletes to study, but said the stipula
tions to no-pass, no-play are too se
vere.
“Like so many other things,”
Green said, “I think they went over
board. To use an old cliche, they
threw the baby out with the water. I
See No-pass, page 11
Freshmen &
Sophomores
Freshmen and sophomore photos for the 1987 Aggieland have
been extended until November 7. Photos will be taken at AR
Photography, 707 Texas Ave., across from the A&M Polo Field.
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