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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 2000)
idex: Section B la tsified 2B; Sports 3B; Opinion SB ^dnjjsiJuy, September 20. 2000 JS T r u ighlights: y Forgetting the Past: The U.S. men’s soccer tejim left a 75-year history of Olympic failure behind in Sydney. Never having advanced past the first round, the men advanced to the quar terfinals on Tuesday. Gping for seven: U.S. swimmer Jenny Thompson qualified third fastest for the 100 freestyle. Thompson has a’record six gold medals but has yet to win one individually. Schedule TV Schedule: Wednesday NBC (Prime time): • 6 to 11 p.m. — Swimming, Gymnastics, Basketball • $1:41 p.m. to 2:11 a.m. — Volleyball, Cycling MSNBC: •9 a.m. to 4 p.m. — Softball, Rowing, Cycling, Tennis CNBC: •4 to 8 p.m. — Boxing. Basketball ecord Book: / Swimming: U.S. swimmer Tom Malchow won the gold medal in the 200 butterfly, setting an Oiympic record time of 1:55.35. Bedal Watch Total Gold Silver Bronze USA 18 | AUS 17 CHN 16 FRA 13 JPN 7 ye on H6m mow A&M athletes are farina in Sydney: Softball: Shortstop Jennifer McFalls and the United States’ softball team suffered their first defeat in 112 games after an overtime loss to ^ppan. Volleyball: Stacy Sykora and the U.S. volley- bhll team look to remain undefeated against Croatia for a top placing in the final pool. Archery: Victor Wunderle looks to upset the Koreans’ sweep of medals in archery competi- tibn. Wunderle is currently in the quarterfinals. Sports Page IB THE BATTALION Volleyball travels to Oklahoma By Bree Holz The Battalion The Texas A&M volleyball team will attempt to take its second Big 12 Conference win tonight at 7 when it battles Oklahoma at the OU Field House in Norman, Okla. The 23rd-ranked Aggies are l -1 in the Big 12 with a 5-3 overall record while the Sooners are 0-1 in league play and hold a 5-4 overall mark. The con test with A&M will be OU’s first home match of the season. The Aggies hold the all-time series lead over the Sooners, 21-1, with OU’s only win in 1979. Last year, A&M de feated OU 15-7, 15-10, 15-5 in College Station and swept the Sooners in Nor man 15-7, 15-6, 15-5. In 1999, the Sooners finished in 10th place in the league with a 3-17 record. This year, they are once again picked to finish 10th. OU returns three starters from last year’s squad, which finished 8-22 over all. Senior middle blocker Cathy Cook has led the way for the Sooners so far with a .409 hitting percentage and an average of 4.80 kills per game. As a team, OU is out-hitting its op ponents .277 to .208 and averaging 15.23 kills per game. The Sooners dropped their first Big 12 match to the University of Colorado on Saturday night, 3-0. The Aggies de feated Kansas Friday night, 3-0, but were upset by Missouri last Wednes day, 0-3. A&M’s practices have become more intense since its loss to Missouri last week. “We have been a lot more focused in practice since that disaster,” said junior defensive specialist Beth Weynand. The veterans have been instrumen tal in getting the team focused again for the remainder of the Big 12 season. “After we lost, we realized that in our practices we were just going See Volleyball on Page 3B. Return of a leader Marshall leads Aggie volleyball with aggression By Bree Holz The Battalion When Heather Marshall decided to play volleyball at Texas A&M, coach Laurie Corbelli did not explain the Twelfth Man, Midnight Yell or “Howdy.” She did not have to. Marshall was already bleeding maroon. Marshall, a 6-foot-1 senior middle blocker from Carrollton, Texas, said choosing a college was not dif ficult because she dreamed of attending A&M. “I grew up an Aggie,” she said. “My dajl is Class of ’69 and my sister is Class of ’99, and it’s just some thing I’ve always wanted to do.” Marshall was also heavily recruited by Ohio State University, Notre Dame and Georgia Tech during her senior year. At Newman Smith High School, Marshall captured numerous district awards, including Defen sive Player of the Year in 1995 and Outstanding Hitter in 1996. In her first season at A&M, Marshall saw little play ing time, competing in 18 matches and 26 games. She became a starter for the volleyball team her sophomore year, but midway through the season, she suffered a second-degree sprain to her ankle that benched her for the remainder of the season. When she recovered her junior year, her starting position had been taken by someone else. “My injury set me back for the majority of my ju nior year,” she said. “Not only did it set me back phys ically, but it took me out mentally as well.” Marshall said, since her injury, she has become a stronger player both physically and psychologically. “I’ve definitely become a better player,” she said. “I'm not a power hitter, but I’m a smart player. I think sitting out my junior year also helped me learn how to outsmart my opponents.” Teammate junior outside hitter Michelle Cole said even though Marshall was not a starter last year, her presence was felt on and off the court. “Ever since my freshman year, I have looked up to Heather’s determination and competitiveness, and she doesn’t even play my position,” she said. “She works harder than anybody else. If she makes a mistake, it doesn’t matter because she’s on the next ball. You can just see it.in her eyes.” In 1999, four senior starters led the Aggies through their best season in history. In 2000, Marshall, one of only two senior starters, will assume a leadership po sition. “Heather is consistently competitive and always fighting on the court,” Corbelli said. “That makes her a great role model for the team and gives them a foundation and an example of what fighting for two hours throughout an entire match actually means. “When you have one of your older players al ways fighting, it makes for great leadership.” Marshall said she thinks her teammates are will ing to follow her aggressiveness on the court to be come dominant. “I’m very demanding and sometimes maybe too demanding on the court, but it seems to be working,” she said. “1 don't think I've gotten on anybody too hard this year, and I’m just going to keep on every body until I’m told otherwise.” to \ A&M football uses week off to heal F inally a week off, and the Aggies need the break. After beating up on each other all preseason, the Aggies entered the 2000 season in worse shape than any other time in coach R.C. Slocum’s tenure. The Aggies had to deal with injury losses on both sides of the ball, with the most critically depleted area being the defensive backfield. Two sophomores and two fresh men were forced to plug the holes at safety and cornerback positions left open by gradua tion and injury. A&M was able to make it out of its non conference stretch relatively unscathed with a 2-1 record. Last week Slocum said he usually does not like to have a bye week this soon in the sea son and that he prefers to keep a routine. This year, he ad mits, the break comes at an opportune time. “Normally, I don’t like the open week this early,” Slocum said. “But this may come at a See Notebook on Page 3B. CHAD ADAMS/The Battalion Freshman outside hitter Beth Skypala and the Aggies travel to Oklahoma today. Medals lost in Sydney SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — On the same day a Bulgarian weightlifter kissed his silver medal goodbye in a drug scandal, a hamstring pull forced American sprinter Inger Miller to bid farewell to her 100-meter medal hopes. Scandal and injury were the sto ries Wednesday after Miller con firmed her debilitating leg injury and the International Olympic Committee stripped weightlifter Ivan Ivanov of his medal in one of the first two dop ing cases during the Sydney Games. Ivanov tested positive for a banned drug, as did hammer throw er Vadim Devyatovsky of Belarus. Ivanov, who kissed his barbell after clinching his medal Saturday in the 56-kilogram class, tested positive for a diuretic. Diuretics, often used to reduce weight by flushing fluid from an ath lete’s body, are also used to mask the presence of other performance en hancing drugs. Devyatovsky tested positive for the steroid nandrolone in an out-of- competition test in the athletes’ vil lage, IOC executive board member Kevan Gosper said. • MILLER OUT: America’s No. 2 sprinter, Inger Miller, confirmed that she is definitely out of the 100 meters and possibly the entire Syd ney Games after straining her left hamstring in a pre-Sydney workout. Miller, who finished second to Marion Jones in the 100 and 200 me ters at the U.S. trials, was hopeful that rest would sufficiently heal the injury in time for the 200 on Sept. 27 and the subsequent relays. “I’m disappointed ... but I’ve got to go with the flow,” she said Wednesday. “I’m still young and I’ve got other chances.” See Olympics on Page 3B. loan THIS IS YOUR MISSION IIFY0U CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT. . . SAY CHEESE. Class of 2001 [Don’t miss your chance to be in Texas A&M’s 2001 Aggieland [yearbook! Get your F REE Senior picture taken at AR Photography. I ! r [No appointment needed. Extended sittings available for $10. Visit vR Photography at 1410 Texas Ave. South (next to Copy Corner) or Icall 693-8183. 20 AGGIELAND the north end of Reed Arena 55 Don't miss this musical marching spectacu lar when MSC OPAS presents THE BLACK WATCH and THE BAND/CHOIR OF THE PRINCE OF WALES'S DIVISION together for the first time ever with Texas A&M University's own F1GHTIN' TEXAS AGGIE BAND and SINGING CADETS. Complete with bagpipes, drummers and dancers, this performance is a once-in-a- lifetime experience only Reed Arena can hold! Buy your tickets today! OPAS Texas A&M Univcirsify Singing Cstigts September 22, 2000 • 7:30 PM Reed Arena Call 845-1234 or log on to opas.tamu.edu for ticket information. 2000-2001 Season W Media Partners ~ KBTX enlighten • entertain • inspire •Student offer not good for tickets already purchased.