hursday, November 2,1989
The Battalion
Page 13
TANK ftPNAMARA
by Jeff Millar & Bill Hinds
6 War dance’ suits Kellen fine
)y Alan Lehmann
The Battalion Staff
Kelli Kellen watches the per-
ect set drift toward her, leaps
nto the air and pounds the vol
leyball past two blockers. She cel-
brates the kill by thrusting her
rms over her head and dancing
round in a small circle while the
rowd and her teammates show
heir approval.
The “war dance”, one of Kel-
Jen’s more visable trademarks,
ometimes angers or intimidates
er opponents, but that’s fine
ith her.
“A lot of people tell me it looks
ocky, but I don’t intend it to be
Jht all,” Kellen said. “It’s just a
jneans for me to celebrate.
“I think it helps our team, and
■ would hope that it would make
Bather teams mad or intimidated,
Bimply because we’re confident in
t he things we do.”
Yvonne f an Brandt, her co-
aptain ana teammate of four
years, said Kellen is a vocal team
Beader.
I “She’s always giving instruc-
Bions and shouting encourage-
jAnent,” Van Brandt said. “It really
elps the younger players to
now Kelli’s there. They know
hat if they make mistakes, she'll
Itover for them and encourage
ihem.”
I Coach Al Givens, Kellen’s
coach since she was a redshirt
, freshman, says she is a positive in
fluence on her teammates.
“Kelli is a role model on and
)ff the court,” Givens said. “She
leally loves playing the game, and
younger players seem to catch
Bier enthusiasm. Off the court,
she has a genuine concern for her
teammates.”
Kellen was named the South
west Conference volleyball Player
Of the Week last week. She’s no
stranger to awards. She’s won the
award once before, and she was
named to the All-SWC second
team after her sophomore sea
son.
Kellen took the award in stride.
“It’s nice that I’m peaking in
my senior year,” Kellen said. “I
started slow last year.”
Kellen said that she loves the
camaraderie of being on the
team.
“I like the competition and the
feeling of being a team,” Kellen
said. “You can’t play the game
unless the six people are playing
together.
“When you do something
right, it’s celebrated with the six
people on the team. Also, there
are a lot of areas in volleyball to
be good at, and I like that.”
Kellen certainly is good at most
things done on a volleyball court.
She’s got the defensive part
down, with 162 digs this season.
She’s ninth on the A&M career
list in digs.
She’s the team’s most consis
tent blocker. Her 32 solo blocks
this season are twice as many as
the closest Lady Aggie. She’s also
second on A&M’s career list in
solo blocks.
Although she is a defensive
standout, Kellen is also one of the
team’s leaders on offense as well.
She had A&M’s season game-
high 22 kills against University
Texas-Arlington this season.
Being a complete player hasn’t
come easy for her. Van Brandt
said that Kellen works as hard in
practice as on the court.
“She just keeps practicing
hard,” Van Brandt said. “Kelli
has improved a lot. She hits well
from both sides of the court and
has improved her serve tremen
dously.”
Kellen said that the main im
provement in her game has been
adjusting to the opposing team.
“I see the court much better,”
Kellen said. “Knowing what’s
going on on the other side, and
reading what they’re going to do.
“Anticipating where the block
will be was something I never
even considered as a freshman. It
makes you a smarter hitter to
know where the other hitters
are.”
Despite her efforts, the Lady
Aggies have fallen on hard times
this season. They are 1-5 in SWC
play and 9-13 on the season, and
have lost eight of their last nine
matches.
She said it’s not easy to lose.
“It’s frustrating to lose mainly
because I know we have so much
talent on this team,” Kellen said.
“I can’t stress it enough to the
younger players not to get down,
because we have the talent here to
have a great program. We’re only
one match away from coming to
gether as a team.
Still, even with the losses, her
goal for the season is within
reach.
“I want to beat Texas,” Kellen
said. “That’s my main goal.”
She’ll get a chance to realize
that goal on Nov. 14, when the
Lady Longhorns come to G.
Rollie White Coliseum.
Aggie fans hope to see her
doing the victory dance a lot dur
ing that match.
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Rasmussen
(Continued from page 11)
Biachine in the Astrodome. Other
I tough games for the Longhorns in-
'lilude Baylor and Texas Tech.
*$1 With a 3-0 conference record,
"M'cxas stands to benefit from the
A&M-Arkansas game on Nov. 24.
^|l Aside from rooting for Arkansas
‘‘Because of its traditional hatred to-
®ard the Aggies, Texas would like
;;the Razorbacks to win for other rea
sons.
I Texas beat Arkansas earlier this
r year and in the case of identical SWC
records at the end of the season,
Bexas would get the nod for the trip
to Dallas because it’s been longer
since the Longhorns went to the Cot
ton Bowl.
B Texas A&M, on the other hand,
has a tough road ahead of them if
they are to regain the SWC title.
“We still have both (Texas and Ar
kansas) left to play and we face them
back to back,” Slocum said.
And that’s no easy task.
The Longhorns are currently
ranked 22nd in the Associated Press’
poll and could easily rise higher than
that before they meet the Aggies.
They have upset Oklahoma and Ar
kansas away from home and showed
they deserve to be at the top of the
SWC.
Arkansas currently is ranked 11th
and easily could move back into the
Top 10 before its trip to College Sta
tion.
About the only advantage the Ag
gies have is the fact that their final
three games all are played within the
friendly confines of Kyle Field.
The Aggies have won 18 straight
SWC games at home, dating back to
1984, when Baylor escaped with a
20-16 victory.
Hatfield and McWilliams also are
quick to point out that A&M has al
most three weeks off before it faces
Arkansas and Texas. The Aggies
will have loads of time to get healthy
before their final stretch.
However, Slocum sees the layoff
as a double-edged sword.
Sure, A&M gets the time off to
heal, but some motivation is taken
away with a long layoff like that, Slo
cum said.
It’s very possible the Aggies could
lose some of their drive and intensity
before their final two games.
And that’s something the Aggies
can’t afford before facing Arkansas
or Texas.
So, as far as being in the driver’s
seat, A&M, Arkansas and Texas all
are fighting for the wheel.
Slocum isn’t really comfortable
putting the Aggies in the front seat.
He sees the Aggies in a different po
sition.
“I’d say we’re back in the trunk
some where.”
Last Time
(Continued from page 11)
players knew they had a chance to
win but lost it.
) “We should’ve won,” linebacker
Donald Allen said. “We were up by
10 and then we let them right back
in and get the lead.”
) That was two years ago. A lot of
things have changed with both the
Mustangs and the Aggies.
■ A&M itself ran into problems with
the NCAA last year, and there were
rumors that the Aggies might be
come the second team in history be
sides the Mustangs to receive the
death penalty. Instead, they were
banned from a bowl game in 1988.
Sherrill resigned, and Defensive
Coordinator R.C. Slocum was
named head coach.
Both A&M and SMU have new
coaches, new players and new direc
tion. The Mustangs are coached by
former Cleveland Browns and Cin-
cinnatti Bengals Coach Forrest
Gregg. This is the Mustangs’ first
year back from the death penalty,
and they field mostly a group of
freshmen.
But Slocum isn’t taking the 2-5
Mustangs too lightly. They run an
offense similar to Houston’s Run-
and-Shoot, and are led by Mike
Romo,
However, the Aggies are heavy fa
vorites for the game. After disman
tling the Cougars’ potent offensive
attack earlier in the year, Slocum’s
Aggies aren’t expected to have much
trouble against the undermanned
and undersized Mustangs.
“We will come out and do every
thing we can to win the game,” Slo
cum said. “I will never take a chance
to jeopardize winning the game by
pulling out my players too early.
“On the other hand, I owe it to
our younger players if we get out
ahead. As trying to teach values and
sportsmanship, I would never take
advantage of an opponent’s de
fenselessness just so I can embarrass
them. I just won’t do that.”
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i
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