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Page 9 • Wednesday, September 2, 1998
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BY DOUG SHILLING victory over North Texas in their season
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BY DOUG SHILLING
The Battalion
'oming into the season as defending
12 ^Conference champions, Texas A&M
high expectations. Ranked ninth in the
on, the Aggies wanted to start the sea-
off on the right foot.
’hey did not disappoint, posting a 5-1
Greg McReynolds/Thk Battalion
[homore Allison Peters passes to a
imate against North Texas Tuesday,
victory over North Texas in their season
opener.
Nicky Thrasher and Michelle Reming
ton each tallied two goals for the Aggies
with Heather Wiebe accounting for the
other Aggie goal.
Thrasher opened up the scoring for the
Ags in the 13th minute putting in a re
bound off a corner. She added her second
goal in the 71st minute on a penalty kick.
Wiebe added her goal in the 24th
minute sandwiched between Reming
ton’s goals in the 21st and 25th minute.
After sitting out the whole season last
year as a redshirt, Remington said she
enjoyed the game.
“It was very exciting,” she said. “It was
my first real college game after sitting out
the whole year last year. It was exciting to
get in there and score two goals.”
With strong defensive play in the back-
field from Claire Elliot and Emily Elias, the
Aggies kept North Texas in check most of
the night. Christa Davie scored the lone
UNT goal in the 61st minute.
With the win, the Aggies moved to 5-
1 in season openers under soccer coach
G. Guerreri.
“For the first game of the season, espe
cially with as many sophomores and
freshman we had in the lineup and the fact
that everyone played, it was a great game,”
Guerreri said. “I think that we are ahead of
schedule. I’m very pleased with it.”
Next up for the Aggies is a matchup with
fourth-ranked Florida on Friday at 7 p.m.
woopes powers Comets to title
) U N G
-iOUSTON (AP) —
D-time WNBA MVP
ithia Cooper scored 23
nts and Sheryl Swoopes
a late second-half
rge as the Houston
^nets beat the Phoenix
rcury 80-71 Thesday
^ IDht to win their second
championship.
Houston, which beat
AT York for the league’s
ugural title last season,
beat Phoenix in the best-of-
3 series after dropping the
opener on the road.
The Mercury led only
once in the final game, but
they cut Houston’s lead to
62-61 with 7:40 to play.
Swoopes made two free
throws for a 64-61 lead.
Over a 32-second span,
Swoopes fed Janeth Ar-
cain for a layup then
blocked a shot that led to
her own basket at the oth
er end. The lead 68-61 and
the Mercury never got
closer than four points the
rest of the way.
Tina Thompson had 16
points for Houston and
Swoopes scored 11 other 16
points in the second half.
Michelle Griffiths led
the Mercury with 24
points, while Jennifer
Gillom had 20.
A&M Volleyball Team tackles new season, high
expectations after losing four starting seniors
BY ROBERT HOLLIER
The Battalion
With the start of the 1998 season loom
ing on Friday, two words can describe the
No. 19 Texas A&M Volleyball Team: youth
and inexperience.
After a season that saw A&M finish with
a 26-8 record, a fourth-place finish in the Big
12 Conference and a No. 13 ranking, the Ag
gies will take the court this year with only
one senior, All-American Stacy Sykora.
The Aggies lost four starting seniors from
1997 and A&M volleyball coach Laurie Cor-
belli said she is not sure what kind of team
she will have this season.
“When I think of the upcoming season,
I basically think about a whole new chem
istry and almost all new talent on the
court,” Corbelli said. “We are kind of an un
known team now after losing four of our
well-known starters.
“It was definitely a big loss for us (los
ing four starters). It means we’ll have some
inexperience and we’ll have a lot of game
experience to gain on the court. It makes
repetition in practice and in games essen
tial for our younger players.”
Sykora said
she agreed with
her coach that
talent and expe
rience are miss
ing from last
year’s squad.
“Our
younger play
ers have a lot
of game expe
rience,” she
said, “just not
enough real
game court ex
perience.”
In addition
to Sykora,
A&M starting
Robert McKay/The Battalion
Three top-50 high school
prospects joined A&M.
junior middle blocker Amber
Woolsey will return with six other
letter winners who helped lead
A&M to the NCAA Sweet 16 in
1997.
The Aggies and Corbelli also
will welcome a recruiting class
that was ranked sixth in the na
tion by Volleyball Magazine. The
recruiting class included three of
the top 50 high school prospects
freshmen Brandi Mount, Michelle
Cole and Jenna Moscovic.
It will be their job to replace four-
year senior starters Kristie Smed-
srude and Cindy Lothspeich and
two-year senior starters Jennifer
Wells and Farah Mensik.
“It was obvious that we were
going to lose our four starters,”
Corbelli said. “It’s part of the cycle
of coaching college ball, and we
were prepared for it. Every season
we lose people, but we have got
ten better every year.
“We didn’t play a lot of people
last season, and basically just used
seven players, so there are a lot of
advantages with a new lineup.”
When the Aggies open up their
1998 season in the Pacific Tourna
ment in Stockton, Calif., they will
enter as the 19th-ranked team na
tionally, but Corbelli and the team
know the rankings have no bear
ing on how they will perform.
“It’s nice to be recognized,”
Corbelli said, “but that doesn’t mean
anything now. Our goals are the same
whether we are ranked or not.”
Sykora said the past dictates current
rankings and the team wants to know
where they stand this season.
“The rankings are based on what we did
last year,” she said. “We don’t even know
where we’re at right now or how good we
are, so this doesn’t mean anything.
Robert McKay/The Battalion
The Texas A&M Volleyball Team might hold some
surprises with four new starters slated for 1998.
“It’s nice to be ranked and we’ll take it
as a sign of respect, but the first poll does
not matter and we don’t really worry
about it.”
The Aggies will get a chance to show
they deserved the ranking when they take
on No. 11 University of Pacific over the
weekend in their first tournament of the
young season.
ston,
1 * ‘I
AD
■
as
September
3rd - Jason The Scorchers
w/Bare Jr.
4th ' Breedlove
w/Reclamation
17th- Roger Creager
w/Johnny Goudie
Util
fni
October
1 st ' Cowboy Mouth
8 th ' Haywood
CD Release Party
15 th - Tripping Daisy
31.98
moKim
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