The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, November 18, 1987, Image 7
Wednesday, November 18, 1987/The Battalion/Page 7 Sports Whilwell to play final home match Sherrill considers TCU Texas game signals close of volleyball career tougher than Hogs alli By Anthony Wilson Sports Writer When Texas A&M senior outside attacker Michelle Whitwell takes the floor against the University of Texas ’■tonight, it will be her last hurrah as an athlete. Whitwell, the lone senior for the A&M volleyball team, will be playing jin her last home game at G. Rollie White Coliseum at 7:30, and she re- ires how much she’ll miss it when it's over. “I think I’m just like any other se nior who comes to their last home rame here,” Whitwell said. “Aggie ans are so much fun to play for. It’s nice to play somewhere where you don’t lose. You just get outscored. I J think I’ll really, really miss that and people like the Bleacher Bums who always come to watch your games and always make you feel special. "And I think after this game when I wear my sweats to class in the spring semester and people ask me if 1m on the volleyball team and I’ll have to say, ‘Well, I was,’ then that’s going to give me an empty feeling.” f This season has been a bittersweet one for Whitwell and the Lady Ag- as| gies. The team had high expecta tions for itself, but lost all five of its ui games in the first half of the South -west Conference season. However, ^ince then the team has won its last four matches and six of the last b«§ seven to improve their record at 15- p. “It feels so successful at this mo- rf ment that it’s hard to look back at the disappointment,” Whitwell said. "We’ve tried so hard to put it behind us.” Before the season, Head Coach A1 Givens had each member of the mi team write down her team and per- ta sonal goals. Whitwell, who said she has a tendency to set extremely high goals for herself, said that she wanted to win the SWC championship and lead the team in . The team is 4-5 in conference digs. play and Whitwell is team in digs with 188. fifth on the Whitwell is also fifth on the team in games played, with 96, and kills, with 148. She leads the team with four others in matches played. Her .220 hitting percentage is third on the team and her 23 service aces are fourth. “Needless to say a lot of my goals weren’t reached,” she said. “Of course, it’s disappointing. I always set really high expectations for my self, both personal-wise and team wise. Some of those have fallen short this year but there’s a lot of others we have reached.” One of those goals was set after the first half of the SWC when the team decided it didn’t want to lose to the same team twice. “We made a goal earlier this year that no one was going to beat us twi ce,” Whitwell said. “So far we’ve lived up to that. We just have one more team to make it come true.” That team is Texas, A&M’s tough est conference foe, ranked seventh in the nation. The lowest points of Whitwell’s career have been the home losses to Texas, she said. A&M has yet to beat Texas in Whitwell’s previous three years. “The lowest point would have to be the years and years we’ve lost to Texas here,” she said. “And we al ways have the feeling that there’s no one who can beat us at home if we’re playing well and we have our fans here. That’s one of our philosophies. “And it’s really true. 1 feel like we’re always given enough edge (at home). And if we play to the best of our ability, which is always close to our competition, then we can win. “There are so many five-game matches and 15-13 losses that we should have gotten over the hill. And it always hurts so bad. Because everybody’s there for the Texas game. It’s a hump that we’ve never been able to get over. We just can’t seem to beat them.” To get over that hump, the team is taking a different approach men tally for tonight’s game. The team is trying to relax and have fun rather than getting uptight, Whitwell said. Photo by Jay Janner Texas A&M’s Michelle Whitwell attempts to return a volley from the Oral Roberts volleyball team at the Texas Aggie Classic held earlier in the year here at G. Rollie White Coliseum. By Hal L. Hammons Assistant Sports Editor Texas A&M’s effort against Arkansas was impressive, but Texas Christian will be a bigger test for the Aggies, A&M Head Coach Jackie Sherrill said at his weekly press conference at Cain Hall Tuesday. “I’d rather play Arkansas than TCU,” Sherrill said. He said the “drastic im provement in their defense” was the reason this year’s Horned Frog team is better than the teams A&M destroyed 74-10 last year and 53-6 the year before. He called TCU “without a doubt the best 5-5 team in the country.” “It’s not like they haven’t played anyone,” Sherrill said. “They’ve played some good foot ball teams.” He noted that earlier this year TCU easily defeated Brigham Young, which in turn handled Texas with little difficulty. He said Frog halfback Tony Jeffery, along with Texas’ Eric Metcalf “are without a doubt the best offensive players in the con ference. They’re as good as any body in the country.” He said the most underrated player on the team was the Horned Frog quarterback, David Rascoe. “Regardless of what you’ve seen, (Rascoe) is the one making things happen,” Sherrill said. He said A&M would not look past TCU to the Thanksgiving Day showdown with Texas, even though the Aggies would go to the Cotton Bowl with a victory over the Longhorns, regardless of Saturday’s outcome. “If you look at it that way, you’re not going to do anything against TCU,” he said. He said it would be very difficult to play poorly against the Frogs and come back with a strong effort against UT. The quarterback situation does not seem to have changed drasti cally, despite Craig Stump’s strong showing off the bench in the Arkansas victory. “Bucky (Richardson) will start,” Sherrill said, “but don’t hold me to that. It depends on what happens this week (in prac tice).” Sherrill lauded the defensive effort against Arkansas, partic ularly the efforts of linebacker John Roper and safety Kip Cor- rington. Both players are being touted for All-America honors by Texas A&M. “Roper was as good on film as he was in person,” Sherrill said. “I don’t know if there’s a better (linebacker) playing in the coun try than John Roper.” “We’re going out on the offensi ve,” she said. “They have to stop us. We’re not changing our strategy just because we’re playing Texas. “We’re going in with a real free- spirited attitude. We have nothing to lose. They’re the ones with all the E ressure on their shoulders. We’ve ind of taken on what we like to call the spoiler position. We’ve definitely done that. We’ve changed some peo ple’s outlooks just by beating every- body in the second round.” Before the season, Whitwell was named to the GTE Southwest Con ference Academic Honor Team. Whitwell, who has a 3.47 grade- point-ratio in English, was A&M’s representative on the Southwest Conference Volleyball Academic Honor Team in 1986 and 1987. A&M’s academic opportunities and the influence of her brother and sister, who both attended A&M, swayed Whitwell enough to reject volleyball scholarship offers from See Whitwell, page 9 A&M- Texa$$fudent tickets to do on sate Thursctov Distribution of tickets for die Nov. : • The Athletic Ticket Office will be 26 Thanksgiving Day dash between open on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 4 Texas A&? * 1 ^ ““ ^ ■■■*- ^ ^ Thursday for graduate students add seniors. Juniors can pick up tickets Friday, sophomores can Monday of next The 7 p.m. game at Kyle Field, to be broadcast nationally by ESPN for the fourth year in a row, will dedde which team represents the South- week, and freshmen can get theirs west Conference on Jan. 1 in the Tuesday. _ =: 3 ~ .set jtl Cra! dto :all« dt! Cra! 1 d« igh !osi Th lodt ,wi erfoi < soo aW sho' opi 1 Kpi f&'x l h t.! ' ■ TM ' - One Day Only!! Thursday, December it, 1987 Special Honrs: 8 AM - 6 1*M Memorial St mien I Center ■loom 226 The Micro Computer Center is having a Truckload Sale sponsored by Apple™ Computer. Outstanding values on Mac Pluses, Mac SE’s, and Mac IPs. Delivery on Thursday, December 3^. Get a computer for Christmas! Remind your parents about the sale, orders accepted now through December S^. Departmental orders may be filled at the Truckload Sale. M302S Macintosh Plus Bundle M2513/A Macintosh Plus $1,298.00 AarQ5&9 ImageWriter n Printer 466.00 Normally $1,764.00 Truckload Sale Price §1,625.00 MicroComputerCenter ComputerSaJes and Supplies Hours: 10 AM — 6 PM Mon - Fri 1S3E Memorial Student Center (409) 845-4081 M302S Macintosh SB 2F Bundle M5084/A Macintosh SE 2F $1,905.00 A9P0529 ImageWriter II Printer 466.QO Normally $2,371.00 Truckload Sale Price §2,190.00 M3025 Macintosh SE HD Bundle M5083/A Macintosh SE HD $2,429.00 A9PQ529 ImageWriter II Printer 466.00 Normally $2,895.00 Truckload Sale Price §2,675.00 SuperPaint bundled with Mac $50.00 The Bryan Rotary Club presents the Texas A&M University SYMPHONIC BAND j IN CONCERT Thursday, November 19, 1987 8:00 P.M. Rudder Auditorium TAMU Campus ALL STUDENTS $3.00 A ADULTS $5.00 TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM ROTARY CLUB MEMBERS AND AT RUDDER BOX OFFICE Call Battalion Classified 845-2611 D □ □ NOV. 16-20 “Cheating lessens the value of everyone's degree. ” Student QoueAsunent, Acadenuo Gomnuitee