Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 1998)
kittalion Sports Page 5 • Friday, October 16, 1998 Ags kick off season of h 'emozi council Anionio /ard Un served, Native ii in of Air, 'araerica on Won JEFF WEBB tudent support for asketball lacking KThat in the name of Shelby Metcalf is iH going on here? No one doubts Texas A&M is a football diool. However, the fact latfcasketball is a mere tefthought in the minds students at one of the Mil’s largest universi- sls pure shame, j V years, the A&M asljetball program bor- Hi on mediocre at best. It lecent moves by the Sthleiics Department Sedicated A&M’s commitment to other iois like basketball. pie hiring of coaches Melvin Watkins om ihe University of North Carolina-Char- itte md Peggie Gillom from the Houston Dim ts was a bold step in the right direction Itlvo lethargic basketball programs. 1 ftw, A&M students are presented with le Challenge. iHany have complained that A&M’s ■letball program was second-rate and iot [omparable with schools like the Uni- ierslty of North Carolina or the University jiiKlnsas. lit starts with student interest, and no int A&M camped out for tickets to Inps in the past or sold out G. Rollie While Coliseum for anyone other than the liversity of Texas. ilnth basketball teams will have undefeat- K[records as of Friday at midnight. Give Juris and Gillom the benefit of the doubt uidgo see what they have to offer. Ilf both teams start out with 0-5 records, itfendance will — and rightfully so — de- lie accordingly. ■However, until then, show the famed 2th Man spirit that has preceded the Aggie iputation for so many years. fPerhaps the student-athletes on the floor Iglii feel like something they haven’t been ibleto for a long time. Winners. Jeff Webb is a senior journalism major. Practice begins at midnight tonight with ‘Basketball Mania’ BY AL LAZARUS The Battalion The Texas A&M Men’s and Women’s Basketball Teams will host “Basketball Mania” at Reed Arena tonight at midnight. The annual event will give fans a chance to meet first-year basketball coaches Melvin Watkins and Peggie Gillom, meet players and participate in contests and win prizes. Watkins, who joined the men’s team after a successful playing and coaching career at the University of North Car- olina-Charlotte, said the event will help add to the growing excitement of Texas A&M basketball, sparked recently by the opening of Reed Arena and the ad dition of him and Gillom, the coach of the women’s team. “Some schools do something like this to create some excitement, but on this campus, I think the excitement is already here,” Watkins said. “Now we want to raise it, and hopefully get the student body to come out and support us. Watkins said, although his previous school, UNCC, always held the same type of event, the two schools’ situations are different. “The fans have to come out... they will see a group of young men who are going to he dedicated to this season.” - MELVIN WATKINS BASKETBALL COACH “We always did this at UNCC, but that was different, because we didn’t have football,” he said. “So students would look forward to this event because they didn’t really have any sports until bas ketball started.” The optimism for the men’s team has been dampened recently by the news that Calvin Davis will miss the year with a back injury, and that Dario Quesada’s playing career with the Aggies is over, also due to back problems. Watkins said the team remains opti mistic about the upcoming season, and tonight’s event will play a large part in raising enthusiasm for the team. “The fans have to come out and see us,” Watkins said. “If they do, they will see a group of young men who are going to be dedicated this season. If we send that message, then I think the student body will come out and support us. “We’re doing this tonight to show that we have a good chance to have a pretty good basketball team, but to make that happen, we need the fans to be a part of it.” Gillom says interest at A&M exists BY JEFF WEBB The Battalion Texas A&M Coach Melvin YATES Men’s Basketball Watkins is not the only new member of the Aggie basket ball family. Women’s coach Peggie Gillom said she wants everyone to know the women have something new of their own to bring to Midnight Mania Friday. “We’re just trying to bring some thing special,” she said. “We attended the football games, and the excitement is there. It will help welcome us to our new home. ” After former A&M coach Candi Har vey left the Aggies to take a head coaching position with the Nashville ABL franchise, Gillom left the staff of the WNBA Houston Comets franchise to head the Aggie program. Gillom was an assistant under Comets coach Van Chancellor, who she worked with when she was a coach at the University of Mississippi. Now, Gillom finds herself trying to hype a basketball program at a school that has not supported the sport well in the past. She said she knows there is a lot of work to be done before any team is able to sell out Reed Arena. “We’ve got a lot to do here,” she said, “but it’s a positive thing. Members of the women’s team will compete in a three-point shoot ing contest during the Midnight Ma nia event. Gillom said guard Amy Yates should be the favorite, but a dark- horse candidate might be newcomer LaToya Thomas. JAKE SCHRICKLING & JEFF WEBB/The BattalioI ■vU. otball looks to avoid (tdown against Baylor Libskjj BY AARON COHAN The Battalion er the biggest win in Texas Football history, the Aggies h\ to Waco this weekend to face surprisingly strong Baylor Coach Slocum said this is a uee game. I call this weekend the hump e for the year, ” Slocum said. “If an get out of Waco with a win, \ we know as a team that we t face any letdown.” he “letdown factor” is what so coaches and players worry tut after big wins or big losses, [the players seem to be over- ing that mentality in hopes of png criticism that seems to |nt them on a weekly basis. Some teams have that letdown itality,” junior quarterback dy McCown said. “But we have leadership, character and the ipline to focus on Baylor.” opefully that is not the same North Carolina State envi- after beating the No. 2 Semi- s. The following week in Waco, Baylor upset the Wolfpack in an embarrassing game for both players and coaches. “I’m looking forward to seeing them try and take advantage of our situation just like they did against NC State,” freshman fullback Ja’- Mar Toombs said. This year, Baylor is not the same team the Aggies have beaten over the last 13 years. Coming off a win against Kansas and tough two-point loss es to Texas Tech and Colorado, the Bears are looking to make a state ment when they play A&M. “This team presents a lot of dan ger,” Slocum said. “They have multiple backs along with two QB’s that can give you real problems.” Baylor quarterback Jermain Al fred and running back Darrell Bush account for almost 65 percent of the Bears’ offense. Not so much a high ly potent offense, but one that wears the opposing defenses down physi cally. The Bears have outscored op ponents 70-27 in the fourth quarter. “We can’t allow them to get to us mentally and physically with all Soccer plays two top teams BRANDON BOLLOM/The Battalion Sophomore wide receiver Chris Taylor sprints for a touchdown against the University of Nebraska. It was Taylor’s first career touchdown. the line changes and player changes throughout the game,” sophomore defensive end Rocky Bernard said. Slocum said the offense does not plan to make any changes. “We’re going to run and pass just like we normally do,” Slocum said. “If one isn’t working at the moment, we’ll switch to the other.” On paper, it looks like an easy win for the Aggies, but the rejuvenated Bears are looking to upset another highly ranked team. The letdown mentality should not be a problem Saturday with the confidence gained from the Nebraska win. “This confidence is going to take us a long ways,” junior running back Dante Hall said. “We can see the light down the path now.” BY DOUG SHILLING The Battalion One thing that can be said about the Texas A&M Soccer Team is it does not back down from a fight. Despite losing Bryn Blalack, the team’s all-time leading scorer, and six letterwinners from last year’s Big 12 Conference championship team, the Aggies have played one of the toughest schedules in the country. In their first 12 games, they have played five teams in the top 15. The trend continues this week end as the 24th-ranked Aggies trav el to Boulder, Colo., Friday to take on the University of Colorado at 4 p.m. They return home Sunday for a match against No.3 University of Santa Clara Broncos at 1 p.m. at the Aggie Soccer Complex. The Aggies (7-5, 2-2 in Big 12 play) are coming off a split be tween Baylor University and Texas Tech University. The Aggies fell to the No. 18 Bears, 2-0 on Friday night. The team bounced back Sunday with a con vincing 6-0 win over the Red Raiders. A&M soccer coach G. Guerrieri said youth played a major role in the games last weekend. “Last weekend is a pretty good ex ample of our youth jumping up and biting us on occasion,” Guerrieri said. “We really have played progressively better and better every game so far this season. We really need for peo ple to step up more often.” Friday’s match against Colorado (4-7-2, 1-2-1 in Big 12 play) marks the halfway point for the Aggies in Big 12 play. Texas A&M leads the all- time series against the Buffaloes 5- 0. Last year’s win in College Station clinched the Big 12 title for A&M. . “Playing at CU will be one of our bigger challenges so far,” Guerrieri said. “Everyone gets sky high against us because we have targets on our back. We’re looking to get a win any way we can and get home on a bit of a roll.” Sunday’s match with Santa Clara (12-0-1) marks the first time the schools have faced each other. The Broncos come into the game riding a 13-match unbeaten streak, with the only blemish being a scoreless tie against Stanford, a team that defeated the Aggies ear lier this year. “Santa Clara’s whole team is dangerous,” Guerrieri said. “They are very creative on the ball and well disciplined defensively. It will be a great challenge.” Volleyball team primes for difficult weekend ERIC NEWNAM/The Battalion Sykora block a Kansas player’s hit. BY ABBY LITTLE The Battalion The Texas A&M Women’s Volleyball Team is hoping for a case of deja vu this weekend when it travels to Colorado and Nebraska. Twice in the last two years, the Uni versity of Colorado Buffaloes jumped ahead of the Aggies, only to lose after strong performances from juniors Amber Woolsey and Summer Strickland led A&M to victory. Woolsey has put in some of her best performances against Colorado. In 1996 she recorded an A&M season-high and career-high 10 blocks coming off the bench and led the Aggies to a come- from-behind win. Woolsey hits at a .299 percentage and averages 3.7 kills, 2.0 digs and 2.7 blocks per game against Colorado in her career. “I just have some sort of secret rivalry with Colorado,” Woolsey said. “I don’t know what it is. Every time we play them I get really fired up.” Last year against Colorado, Strick land came off the bench to help the struggling Aggies. She posted three blocks, which helped put the Aggies ahead 14-13. Her solo block gave the Aggies the win. The Aggies have never lost to Colorado. Colorado is undefeated in Big 12 play and has lost only one match. They cur rently have a nine-match winning streak. The Aggies play Colorado tonight at 8 p.m. in Boulder. “I don't think they're [Nebraska] invincible, just very, very strong and good at what they do." — Laurie Corbelli Volleyball coach The Aggies are hoping that last week end’s football upset versus Nebraska will carry over to this weekend when they take on the Nebraska Volleyball Team. Unlike the football team, however, the Aggies have upset a No. 1 team before, when they beat Stanford University in 1995. Nebraska has lost only one game this year and is a perfect 6-0 in Big 12 play. Going into this season, Nebraska had a 59-game home winning streak the Aggies are hoping to break. Volleyball coach Laurie Corbelli said Nebraska defends its court just like the A&M football team defends Kyle Field. “We’ll be at Nebraska, and that’s a re ally tough place to play,” Corbelli said. “I think that Nebraska football found that out this year that it’s tough to play Kyle Field and home-court advantage is significant.” Nebraska is an all-around team that the Aggies have had difficultly beating in the past. The last time the Aggies beat Ne braska, senior Stacy Sykora was 1 year old. “They are really a good blocking team, a very effective attacking team. They’ve proven that they can really go out and demolish some teams,” Corbel li said. “You have to be really smart against a team like that. You have to play great defense and you have to be able to side out.” Nebraska has kept its opponents to .110 hitting percentage. The Cornhuskers are second in the nation in hitting per centage with a .348 average and second in blocks per game with 4.00. “I don’t think they’re invincible, just very, very strong and good at what they do,” Corbelli said. “Really what I want to focus on with our team is giving it all we’ve got against a top team in the nation.”
