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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 3, 1998)
I battalion Page 11 • Thursday, September 3, 1998 Sports mp 'heck out th nor Stacy Sykora shoulders gie volleyball hopes for 1998 frustration c. J session, i the dump a.; of its budge: hink by ther unes backin': .* a license arc a facility. Ife 11 be complete ii's statemeni ■ma Chavez, [ r'ashington f GRANT HAWKINS pprov^ ofthr The Battalion body isn’t ev . “Him say. umbers could talk, the isprematur: ireshof senior volleyball yer Stacy Sykora could Texas Nat. each Jesse Jackson, out- ationComn ay teno and out-argue licensingc: nerableJim Rome, pectedtoi st year as a junior, ierra Blatu a posted double-figure late fall,"m n 23 matches. In six of nselGeoft'C matches, the second- AlljAmerican had 20 # »r mlore. IAt*1CA <ora recorc ^ e ^ double I/JL ' n hi 22 matches beipg named team De- . We’renotr.'e Player of the Year. irisoners arc addition, the Aggie MVP it they can :;d double-doubles in 20 anac has be tes, including three e has beer aes In which she had 10 kills and 20 digs. f, the map: r those who are not fa st Texas he r with volleyball, ie tiny tow: ,' numbers mean the eeks, an In: on-and-white clad ier 32 is fluent in the lerties Uiiio: of volleyball, mfairly on he is probably the most tCLU of lev cally blessed player I legitimate- ev ei coached,” Texas diows ivh ■ volleyball coach Laurie ?lli said. m Mills of L e 5-foot,10-inch senior aether exam: m hig off a season in rather than ' 1 she became the fourth material in r hi A&M history to re- js, and outdo All-American acco- aponsorh: while leading the team t ter from ofi -Sweet 16. [or.MarvC st ' n g a 26-8 record ; the way, the Aggies lying the a lec l |he season ranked ed com rat in the nation. r er it and p. : wall.” This year is a whole dif ferent scenario for Sykora and the team. Only two starters return from 1997, Sykora and junior middle blocker Amber Woolsey, and Sykora is the only senior on the squad. Sykora also had shoulder surgery in March to repair multi-directional instability (MDI) that was causing severe soreness in her shoulder. Sykora was unable to compete until practice start ed on August 15. With the surgery behind her, Sykora and the team can now focus on improving on last year’s performance, something that would be difficult without her senior leadership. “My role is going to change this year because, being the only senior, 1 should have court experi ence,” Sykora said. “My role on this team is to pass on my court experience. “Last year everyone had court experience. This year, [that is] what we lack.” Producing on the court is where Corbelli believes Sykora’s leadership will speak the loudest. “I expect her to play to her maximum ability and maxi mum intensity level,” Cor belli said. “I think that is where she mostly leads the team, on the court.” On the court, Sykora has become one of the premiere players in the competitive Jake Schrickling/The Battalion Senior Stacy Sykora and junior Amber Woolsey return in 1998 as the only seasoned veterans on an Aggie volleyball team that finished its season in the NCAA Sweet 16 in 1997. Big 12 Conference and is considered one of the top defensive players in the na tion. Sykora takes pride in her defensive play. “Defense is my thing,” she said. “I really love it. Of fense gets more attention, but defense is just as impor tant because without a dig you can’t have a set for the hitter. I just like to make dig ging part of the show people come to see.” see Sykora on Page 13. McGwire learns to enjoy historic race MIAMI (AP) — Mark McGwire sat at a table in the postgame news conference, wearing a satisfied smile and a sleeveless shirt, leaning on arms strong enough to break a record. Massive muscles help to explain McGwire’s prodigious pow er, but the question persists: How can someone hit so many home runs so far? Skeptics keep trying to taint his achievements. The controver sy over home-run supplements in his locker has faded, including false rumors that he displays a photo of the Florida Marlins pitch ing staff. So how about this: Maybe it has become too easy to hit home runs. The issue came up Tliesday night after McG wire homered twice against hapless Florida to break Hack Wilson’s Na tional League record of 56 home runs in a season. Someone asked what this year’s power surge says about the state of pitching. McGwire treated the question like a hanging curveball. “Who cares?” the St. Louis Cardinals slugger said. “This is history, right? If something great is going to happen, why do we have to critique it and say, ‘Why did they do it? What’s wrong with it?’ instead of accepting what’s happening and saying, ‘Hey, this is a great thing happening in America.’ “Just let it happen. Ride the wave. Enjoy it while it’s hap pening. We don’t know if this will ever happen again.” The man making history has developed a keen appreciation for it. Tuesday’s show of force against the worst pitching staff in the NL left McGwire only four home runs behind Roger Maris’ 37-year-old major-league record of 61. With 24 games remaining, McGwire was on a 67-homer pace. But he has hit as many as 15 in September, and matching that total this month would give him 70. The race to surpass Maris is not over, however. Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs hit his 56th homer Wednesday. Ken Griffey Jr. of the Seattle Mariners and Greg Vaughn of San Diego each had 47 entering Wednesday’s games. see McGwire on Page 13. Two more for Mac MIAMI (AP) — Mark McGwire hit two homers for the second consecutive night Wednesday against the Florida Marlins, giving him a career-high 59. He needs just two more to tie Roger Maris’ 37-year-old major league record. McGwire homered in the sev enth inning against Brian Ed mondson and again in the eighth on the first pitch from Rob Stan- ifer. Each was a two-run shot. The first, which landed halfway up in the upper deck in left field, was estimated at 497 feet, making it the third-longest in the history of Pro Player Stadium. His second homer 30 minutes lat er was to left-center and traveled an estimated 458 feet. 1600B S. 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