d fy. DeceJ
Hy, December 1,2000
Sports
THE BATTALION
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Back to the Dance
Aggies set for eighth straight NCAA tourney
FILE PHOTO/The Battalion
ireshman middle blocker Tara Pulaski was named the Big 12 Conference's Newcomer of the Year. She was
just one of four Aggies to receive conference honors, prior to the launch of this weekend's NCAA tournament.
By Bree Holz
The Battalion
For the eighth consecutive season,
the Texas A&M volleyball team will
go to war in the NCAA tournament.
Its first-round match against Houston
in Stockton, Calif., at the Alex G.
Spanos Center, is set for 5 p.m. today.
The match will be played at Pa
cific. Pacific is the No. 2 seed in the
Mideast region and will battle Oral
Roberts at 7 p.m. The winners of
each first-round match will square off
Saturday at 9 p.m.
The 23rd-ranked Aggies finished
league play in a three-way tie for sec
ond place with Kansas State and MN :
souri with a 19-8 Big 12 record. /1C 1
The Houston Cougars, forrtftelf
Southwest Conference foes, finished
second in Conference US A with an 11-
5 record. Houston is making its 10th
consecutive postseason appearance.
The Cougars are led by two trans
fers, outside hitter Jennifer Witten-
burg from UCLA and middle block
er Michelle Frazier, a transfer from
Florida. As a team, Houston is out-
hitting its opponents, .210 to .154.
The Aggies and Cougars met ear
lier this season in A&M’s. home
opener, in a 3-0 A&M win.
“This is a great draw for us,” said
A&M coach Laurie Corbelli. “It is a
good setup where we meet Houston,
a team we already defeated earlier this
season. They are good competition,
and we can’t overlook them. We have
a good rivalry going with them and
both teams will be up for the match.”
As for the series record, Houston
has a slim 29-28 lead over A&M. How
ever, the Aggies have won the last six
meetings. Houston and A&M have met
57 times in their volleyball history.
Oral Roberts has appeared in
every NCAA championship since
1995 and received an automatic bid
to the tournament by winning the
Mid-Continent Conference. The Ag
gies have defeated Oral Roberts the
last four times they have met and lead
the all-time series, 6-3.
FILE PHOTO/Thk Battalion
Senior middle blocker Heather Marshall looks to lead the Aggies into
the NCAA tournament, where each game could be her last.
No. 7 Pacific enters the tourna
ment riding an 18-match winning
streak. The Tigers hold a 16-1 home
record with their only loss to Santa
Clara. This will be Pacific’s 20th
trip to the tournament after winning
national championships in 1985 and
1986. The Aggies are 0-4 against
Pacific.
A&M is riding a two-match win
ning streak after sweeping No. 22
Kansas State and Texas last week in
College Station.
The Aggies are 6-0 in NCAA first-
round matches with Corbelli leading
the way and 8-2 all-time in the first
round. A victory over Houston will
give the Aggies their 18th 20-win
season in the last 25 years.
“I am so excited about how this
team has pulled through this season,”
Corbelli said. “As long as they stay
relaxed and play like we played
against Kansas State and Texas, we
should do great.”
Last week, the Big 12 announced
the 2000 All-Big 12 Conference
Team, which was chosen by the
league’s head coaches. Four Aggies
were named to the list.
Setter Jenna Moscovic was se
lected to the first team for the second
straight season. Earlier this year, she
was voted Big 12 Preseason Co-
Player of the Year, and as a fresh
man, garnered Big 12 Freshman of
the Year honors. Moscovic is aver
aging a school-record 14.0 assists
per game.
Outside hitter Erin Gibson is mak
ing her inaugural appearance on the
first team. Gibson leads the Aggies
with 4.36 kills per game and 4.54
digs per game in her first season as a
starter.
Redshirt freshman middle block
er Tara Pulaski became the first Ag
gie in Big 12 history to receive New
comer of the Year honors. Pulaski
leads the starters with a .351 hitting
percentage and is second on the team
with 1.06 blocks per game.
Middle blocker Heather Marshall
received honorable-mention honors
and is averaging a team-high 1.42
blocks per game.
Alabama
contacts
TCU coach
FORT WORTH (AP) — Texas
Christian coach Dennis Fran-
phione talked with Alabama ath-
etic director Mai Moore on Thurs
day about the Crimson Tide’s
coaching vacancy.
Franchione told the Associated
; Press that he spoke with Moore on
the phone Thursday morning and
planned to meet with him in person
Thursday night. He would not say
where they would meet.
Franchione said he had not been
offered the position, but indicated that
he is intrigued by the opportunity.
“All I said when he called me is
that there is a group of people that
I’m not interested in,” said Fran
chione, whose name has been linked
to many recent openings.
He said he liked the idea of coach
ing the Crimson Tide.
“You know how much I enjoy
the tradition of college football,”
he said.
Alabama is looking to replace
Mike DuBose, who resigned after
the season. The Tide was 3-8. Butch
Davis of Miami and Virginia Tech’s
Frank Beamer already have rejected
the job.
Alabama reportedly is also pursu
ing Pittsburgh coach Walt Harris,
i Longtime Florida State defensive co-
| ordinator Mickey Andrews has open
ly campaigned to be a candidate.
1 Franchione is a hot commodity
- because he’s taken the 1-10 team he
! inherited three years ago and posted
•three straight winning seasons,
i reaching a bowl each time. This
E year’s team is 10-1, ranked No. 13
i; and headed to the Mobile Alabama
1 Bowl to play Southern Mississippi
on Dec. 20.
||1' While there was not yet an offer,
l! Franchione said he hoped to have
I; things settled quickly.
§' “I want to get all of this behind
p me,” he said. “I don’t want to do any-
thing to harm TCU or Alabama.”
Equestrian team hosts defending national champions
By Dianne Xavier
The Battalion
After taking second and fourth in Western
shows at West Texas A&M on Oct. 28, the Texas
A&M equestrian team will be back in action this
weekend.
A&M will host its final set of home shows for
the fall season in N. W. Dick Freeman Arena in Col
lege Station.
The Aggies will host two English shows on Sat
urday beginning at 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. The Western
shows will take place Sunday at 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Despite getting the opportunity to perform on
home turf, head coach Tana Rawson said her squad
does not have home advantage.
“It’s going to be really tough to have our show
here since we have to borrow the majority of the
horses and provide them to all the other schools,”
Rawson said.
The equestrian team borrows and leases its hors
es from A&M’s animal science department.
“We alsoTiave to make sure that the horses are
functional and that can be time-consuming and take
away from our practices,” Rawson said.
“Our riders will not be familiar with these hors
es, so it’s hard to predict which school will come out
on top.”
The Aggies will compete against some of the
top equestrian teams in the region this weekend.
The team will take on Kansas State, West Texas
A&M and defending national champion Oklahoma
State.
“All of those schools are very competitive, so it’s
going to be the luck of the draw to see who’s the win
ner,” she said.
The Western team is led by Quincy Cahill, who
won her reining class in both shows at West Texas
A&M. Cahill needs only one fourth-place finish to
qualify for regionals.
“Quincy has been practicing really hard these past
weeks, so I expect her to have a strong showing,”
Rawson said.
Rawson said putting this show together has been
overwhelming.
“We had to hire judges, get functional horses, ring
stewards and get the right equipment,” she said. “A
lot of the students don’t see these horses since they
are new.
“Our goal is to just stay focused,” she said.
All shows are free of charge and a concession
stand will be available for spectators.
RLE PHOTO/The Battamon
The Texas A&M equestrian team concludes its fall season this weekend, hosting \
defending national champion Oklahoma State, Kansas State and West Texas A&Jvi.
Yankees add Mussina
to starting rotation
Cowboys, Smith revisit Florida
NEW YORK (AP) — After beat
ing the rest of baseball on the field,
the New York Yankees beat everyone
to Mike Mussina.
“It just came down to who really
seemed to want me on their team the
most,” Mussina said Thursday after
agreeing to an $88.5 million, six-year
contract.
The deal gives the three-time de
fending World Series champions a
starting rotation that includes Roger
Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Orlando
Hernandez and Mussina. With just 16
players signed. New York’s payroll is
$80.4 million.
‘*It probably isn’t fair,” Yankees
manager Joe Torre said. “But, again,
George Steinbrenner has had winners
here in New York and he probably
thinks about how to keep doing it.”
Mussina, who turns 32 on Dec. 8,
compiled a 147-81 record with a 3.53
ERA in 10 seasons with the Balti
more Orioles. He gets a $12 million
signing bonus payable over six years,
$8 million in 2001, $9 million in
2002, $10 million in 2003, $14 mil
lion in 2004 and $17 million in each
of the final two years.
New York has a $17 million op
tion for 2007 with a $ 1.5 million buy
out, and Mussina gets a complete no
trade clause.
And he is not even the ace.
“It’s been a long time since I
wasn’t considered the No. 1 starter
from the first game of spring train
ing,” he said. “We might go to the
playoffs next year and I might not
even get a chance to pitch. That’s
how strong they are.”
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — It is as!
close to a homecoming as Emmit{
Smith has had since his rookie sea-^
son, and the NFL’s third all-time!
leading rusher is excited about it.
The Dallas Cowboys face the * * * * 5
Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the first
time in 10 years Sunday, affording
Smith an opportunity to play for just
the third time as a pro in the state
where he grew up.
The Cowboys last visited Florida
in 1996 to face the Miami Dolphins.
But the eight-time Pro Bowl running
back has not played in Tampa, a two-
hour drive from Gainesville, where
he played college ball, and another
six hours from his hometown of Pen
sacola, since 1990. That year he
would have been a senior at the Uni
versity of Florida if he had not elect
ed to turn pro a year early.
“It’s special in a number of
ways. I’ll be two hours from the
university where I played and just
a couple of hours away from some
of my closest friends in Florida,”
the four-time league rushing cham
pion said. “This should be a great
situation.”
Smith returns 130 yards shy of
becoming the third player in NFL
history to run for 15,000 yards. He is
on pace to break the league’s career
rushing mark of 16,726 yards set by
Walter Payton.
The first of his 69 regular-season
100-yard rushing performances
came during a victory over Tampa
Bay in the fifth game of his rookie
season. The Cowboys beat the Bucs
again two weeks later, with the 5-
foot-9, 209-pound running back
gaining 48 yards on 16 carries at
Tampa Stadium.
“Jerry Jones said it set a tone for
bigger and better things,” Smith, who
has played on three Super Bowl
champions, recalled. “We were on
the road ... It was something that the
ballclub needed and it worked well
for us. But correlations from 1990 to
2000, it’s a different kind of setting
for us. We’re 4-7 (actually 4-8) now
and trying to get things on track.
Tampa Bay seems like it has some
things on track. It’s going to be a
tough game for us.”
The Bucs (7-5) are coming off a 31-
17 victory over the Buffalo Bills and
battling to stay in contention for a play
off berth. The Cowboys have dropped
four of their last five. They have to win
their remaining four games to avoid a
losing record for the just the third time
in Smith’s 11 seasons.
Dallas has been decimated by in
juries. However, the Bucs said it
would be a mistake — not to men
tion a serious blow to their postsea
son hopes — to take the Cowboys
lightly.
Smith, who had 100 yards rushing
on just 12 carries before sitting (nit
part of Dallas’ Thanksgiving Day
loss against Minnesota because of a
concussion, is still capable of taking
over games.