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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 22, 1999)
GUY ROGERS/The Battalion |or wide receiver Chris Taylor eludes a tackle against Louisiana Tech ersity. Taylor caught a school-record 96-yard pass last weekend. aylor provides Ags ith big-play threat BY DOUG SHILLING The Battalion pr years now, the Texas A&M Football Team has been looking for a game-breaking receiver. Hie one person who can stretch a de- Ke and keep things honest for the ■ning game. The Aggies may have iilHlly found their guy — although it ; oBk converting a former quarterback to find him. ■While at Madisonville High 3!!f«ool, junior wide receiver Chris ba®lor shined as quarterback and de fensive back. When it came time for college, however, he wanted a cfcnge. While he could have gone to ■another school to play quarterback, fTavlor wanted the chance to play r -wide receiver. ?.\«When A&M football coach R.C. Slocum and offensive coordinator '1,(1 Steve Kragthorpe gave him the op- diMrtunity, Taylor jumped at the chance to be able to play wide re ceiver and stay close to home. "Being from Madisonville was probably the most influential factor in me deciding to come to A&M,” Taylor said. “I could have stayed at quarterback and went to Rice, but I thought it was time for a change. I wanted to see if I could play receiver. 1 came to A&M and coach Slocum gave me the chance to play receiver, and I wanted to make the most of it.” Taylor has definitely made the most of his switch to receiver. At a position that is very deep with play ers like Chris Cole, Leroy Hodge, Matt Bumgardner and Bethel Johnson, Taylor seems to have a knack with coming through when the Aggies need him the most. Last year, although he had not had a catch up until the game against the University of Nebraska, Taylor made see Taylor on Page 10. Sports : Page 9 • Thursday, September 23, 1999 • Volleyball downs Tigers in 3 games JR BEATO/Thk Battalion* Senior outside hitter Summer Strickland spikes the ball against the University of Missouri last night at G. Rollie White Coliseum. BY BREE HOLZ The Battalion With smiles on their faces and nonstop giggling, the Texas A&M Volleyball Team quickly disposed of the University of Missouri Tigers 15- 0, 15-8, 15-6 last night at G. Rollie White Coliseum. "We just had a good time,” senior outside hitter Summer Strickland said. “We kept playing our game, and we put it on them like we’re sup posed to.” A&M posted a phenomenal .765 hitting percentage in game one with four kills apiece from Strickland and se nior middle blocker Amber Woolsey. Strickland recorded her first kill on the game’s first point. Kills by sophomore outside hitter Michelle Cole and Woolsey moved the score to 4-0. Sophomore setter Jenna Moscovic, Woolsey, and Strickland proved unstoppable the rest of the game, and a block by Woolsey end ed the first game. The second game began much like the first with the Aggies taking a commanding 5-1 lead. But A&M mis- cues tied the game at 5 and A&M vol leyball coach Laurie Corbelli took a timeout. The Aggies regrouped and two kills from Cole and one from se nior outside hitter Celia Howe would eventually end game two. The Aggies immediately jumped to a 6-0 lead in game three with kills from junior setter Claire Harvey, Leahy and Howes. The Aggies con tinued to build their lead with kills from junior middle blocker Heather McWhirter and Strickland. But A&M lost momentum and the Tigers man aged to score four straight points to put the score at 10-5. Corbelli called a timeout, and the Aggies refocused and a powerful kill on the ten-foot line from McWhirter brought the match to a close. “I think they were a little intimi dated,” Corbelli said. “It’s a good thing our team was ready to jump on them. ” The Aggies crushed the Tigers by smashing the all-time school record for hitting percentage with .533. Strickland led the Aggie attack ers with 11 kills and posted .714 hitting percentage which is her new career high. Aggie duo heads to Clay Courts BY BETH MILLER The Battalion FILE PHOTO/The Battalion Juniors Dumitru Caradima (left) and Shuon Madden are the nation’s top-ranked doubles team. Batman and Robin could not out-muscle them; Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson could not outwit them. Not on the tennis court, at least. Individually, they are juniors Dumitru Caradima and Shuon Madden, the two high est-ranked players on the Texas A&M Men’s Tennis Team. Together, they are the top- ranked doubles team in the country. Madden said while he and Caradima differ in playing style, they work well together on the court. “We complement each other,” he said. “I like to compete; he is smart on the court. He is more of the calm one on the court, and I am the more fiery one. ” The duo has been ranked No. 1 since Feb ruary 1999 and is the first A&M pair in his tory to achieve the top ranking. Their record last season was 20-2 overall, and they earned All-America honors from the Inter collegiate Tennis Association (ITA). Madden and Caradima will try to continue their reign today through Sunday as they par ticipate individually and as a doubles team in the National Clay Courts tournament in Bal timore, Md. A&M coach Tim Cass said being ITA All- Americas puts Caradima and Madden in role-, model positions for the rest of the players on- the A&M team. “They have brought up our standard of play for the team,” he said. “They have been; called upon for more and more things as they have gotten older, and they are measuring, sticks for our players.” Cass said the top 64 singles players in the! nation have opportunities to participate in' four events during each fall semester; this tournament, a hard court All-America tour-; nament, the Rolex national indoors tourna ment and the NCAA championship. see Tennis on Page 10. ' SC T1 ’ firstal more 50*1 2000?'' ED! >9 (AM 0FR S45-0541 I of « a. U.S. MARINE 1st Row: April Burns, Gregory York, J.B. Pritchard, Geoffrey Womack, Megan Wright, John Webb 2nd Row: Christopher Collins, Travis Patterson, Chet Fisher, Michael Rountree, Devin Mullen, Robin Walther 3rd Row: Nathan Wright, Christian Solomon, Gilbert Trejo, Jeff Thigpen, Peter Alandt, Capt. Jeff Daniels 4th Row: Jason Bragg, Paul Tong, Randy Farris, Andrew Kelemen, Andres Gonzalez, Ben Beach Not Pictured: Daniel Loughry, Keith Wilson U.S. Marine Corps Officer Selection Office 846-9036/0273
