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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 5, 1996)
The Battalion PC'I o many ba may find this isect Kin" and messages of i separation of igs "You were b sun/You ] Pet way/The leyway." | social awarend ne of the a e recording, be the last oup is goingto xt release to round. tive-British- a ting success C+ . " ! -James Fran By Ross Hecox The Battalion Entering the first round in the Big Dance, the 15th- ranked Texas A&M Volleyball Team showed it knows how to cut a rug. The Lady Aggies quickly dismissed the University of Arkansas at Little Rock 15-3, 15-8, 15-4 last night at G. Rol- lie White Coliseum. With the victory, A&M pen ciled itself into the second round of the NCAA Tourna ment and will play Michigan State University Saturday at 6 p.m. in East Lansing, Mich. “I don’t think we’ve ever started that strong in a match in an NCAA Tournament,” Corbelli said. “[UALR] had pretty good players, but we took them out of their offense. We were not only effective, we were relaxed and confident.” In the beginning of the first game, the Trojans used good de fense to keep the score even at three. But a held ball violation by UALR handed the Lady Aggies the lead. From there the A&M of fense rolled out 12 straight points to finish the game. As a team, A&M hit for a .302 percentage in the opening frame. Sophomore outside hitter Next stop: Lansing A&M volleyball drops Trojans in three, move on to second round Stacy Sykora, who posted 14 kills and 19 digs total, said throughout the match the team was able to run its style of offense. “We did a real quick offense like we’ve been trained to do,” Sykora said. The second game, which saw five lead changes, offered the Tro jans their best bid at winning. Nu merous hitting errors, service er rors and violations by the Lady Aggies kept the game close. But with the score tied at sev en, junior outside hitter Kristie Smedsrud hammered a shot off one of the Trojans, sending the Lady Aggies on an 8-1 run. Sykora made a diving dig at the net, set ting up junior outside hitter Jen nifer Wells’ kill to win game two. Junior setter Farah Mensik put A&M on the scoreboard first in the final game with her third service ace. The next two A&M points resulted from two Smed srud service aces. The Lady Ag gies dominated the entire game, building a 9-3 lead with a Smed srud kill and recording their last six points consecutively. Smedsrud, who hit for a ca reer-high .680 percentage in the match and led the team with 17 kills, said A&M planned to run a tenacious attack. “We let it all out and played as aggressively as we could,” Smedsrud said. “We said we Ryan Rogers, The Battalion juniors Cindy VanderWoude (#21) and Kristie Smedsrud (#1 3) block an attempted spike by an Arkansas hitter at G. Rollie White. were going to swing as hard as we could. We were looking for some momentum.” As a team, A&M hit with .293 efficiency and blocked nine shots, while holding the Trojans to four blocks and a .065 hitting efficiency. See Volleyball, Page 6 ersatile Anderson has young Aggi ‘odest, outspoken, leader and friend. These are a few of the -words A&M coaches and players ise to describe point guard Tracey Ander son. The 6-foot-2-inch senior on the Men’s Basketball Team, subscribing to the Air Force motto of , 1 iH iS! “Aim High,” has et a few modest fbals for himself. Je most glaring f his goals is to ecome “one of e elite guards in | NBA.” nderson, a ond-year Insfer from Inn College, as established tself as the der of the M squad. This hson, Ander- gn is averaging nine points, 2.7 re- lunds and four assists per game while iclping the Aggies to a 3-0 start. Anderson said while he is happy with If Aggies’ explosive start, he knows that 4&M’s early-season opponents do not hold a torch to future Big 12 foes. “I’ll take 3-0 any day,” Anderson said, t you can’t compare these guards with msas’) Jacque Vaughn and (Colorado’s) auncey Billups. “Any time you play basketball and you’re defending against Division-I guards it helps. But Chauncey Billups is Chauncey Billups and Jacque Vaughn is Jacque Vaughn. You can’t compare the guards we’ve faced to those guys.” During the offseason, Anderson had to make the transition to point guard follow ing two-sport athlete Kyle Kessel’s depar ture to play for the New York Mets. Head Coach Tony Barone said Anderson has not missed a beat. “He is flexible and a great de fender,” Barone said. “He can guard guys up to 6-foot, 5-inch. It is a focus he has. When we tell him to guard someone, to him, that means he is not going to let them touch the ball.” “When we tell him to guard someone, to him that means he is not going to let them touch the ball.” Tony Barone A&M head coach Sophomore forward Calvin Davis said Anderson is able to effectively run the offense at the point. “He’s adjusted really well,” Davis said. “I think he’s a bigger factor at the two- guard where he can shoot more. But he can handle the ball and makes good de cisions. He runs the offense well.” Last season, Anderson led the team with 13.3 points and two steals per game and was named Southwest Conference Newcomer of the Year. Anderson’s 81.4 free throw shooting percentage ranked second in the SWC and 10th best in A&M history. Barone said it is Ander son’s approach to the sport that makes him so effective. “He is a leader,” Barone said. “He leads from his attitude and work ethic. He plays hard and I think that rubs off on the other players. “He believes if he works hard he can accomplish anything, and that is contagious.” At Blinn, Anderson averaged 17.9 points, 5.7 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 2.5 steals as a sophomore, earning first-team All-Texas Eastern Confer ence and first team all-region honors. He made 69 three-pointers, connect ing on 39.4 percent, while leading the Buccaneers to a 19-11 record. As a freshman, Anderson posted 7.7 points per game in limited action. The senior from Waltrip High School in Houston began playing basketball in the fifth grade. Anderson said he dis tinctly remembers playing streetball with his cousin. “My cousin put a goal up in his back yard,” Anderson said. “That’s when I started getting serious about playing. Before then, I was a football nut. “They told me I was pretty good at it (basketball). So, I’ve kept playing since then.” Where Anderson will end up after his collegiate days are finished no one can be sure. But as long as he aims high, Barone said he is confident Anderson will be successful in any endeavor. “When he graduates, he will make a ming high difference in society,” Barone said. I “He will first take care of business here, and if it (NBA) calls his way, it calls.” Aggies begin trip with North Texas By Matt Mitchell The Battalion In the midst of a season-opening, sev en-game stretch that begins the non-con ference schedule, the Texas A&M Men’s Basketball Team hopes to continue its winning ways with two games in three days, starting tonight. The Aggies travel to Denton this evening to take on North Texas (2-3) be fore returning home for a Saturday night contest against Southeastern Louisiana. “We’re focusing on North Texas right now,” A&M Head Coach Tony Barone said. “We know North Texas is a well-coached team. They play good defense and they’re agressive. They’re trying to find themselves like most teams are this time of year.” Barone said North Texas’ strength is in its inside/outside game, and that the Ag gies will need to play the physical, swarm ing defense that has boosted them to a 3- 0 overall record. Playing the passing lanes to contain the Eagles and force them into hurried shots is part of the Aggies’ game plan. “They are a good shooting team,” Barone said. “Chad Elstun can really shoot it and David Miller is a wonderful inside guy. It’s on the road, and you have to focus. When you go on the road, there’s an advantage for the home team, and we want to make sure that we’re focused in on what we have to do.” BENIAMIN KNOX GALLERY 404 University Dr. East Suite G 696-5669 Gallery & Custom Framing 404 University Dr. East Suite GG 693-6894 AGGIE RING DIPLOMA Your class year is hand drawn. Framed with the best quality hardwood frame and double matted with maroon suede and gold. $345 This must be ordered in advance, call for details. 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