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THE BATTALION
Page 3A
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By Brian Ruff
THE BATTALION
ver campus.
15 Texas A&M volleyball
n will continue its quest for a 2001
N(tAA Championship Friday when the
Lies take on the No. 6 Wisconsin
tigers in Palo Alto, Calif.
[The Aggies (25-5) advanced to the
■eet 16 round after sweeping the
Sversity of Texas-Arlington and the
diversity of Texas-Austin in College
School of Busra l ( j on i ast weekend. The wins over
he Mavericks and the Longhorns
ft? the Aggies’ third and fourth vie-
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— Dr. Jerry Stw
ran of the Lowry ^
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We just have a big
goal ahead of us. We are
jndeigraduateerkj n0 f letting anybody take
that away from us.
99
— Michelle Cole
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son of excellence’
|es in a row. A&M received an at-
;e bid into the tournament after
ting in second place in the Big 12
iference behind defending national
kmpion Nebraska.
['We just have a big goal ahead of
said A&M senior outside hitter
chelle Cole. “We are not letting
anybody take that away from us.”
Wisconsin comes into the game
after knocking off the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Michigan
State University in the first two
rounds of the tournament. The
Badgers received an automatic bid to
the tournament after winning the Big
10 Conference. Wisconsin, who have
won their last 10 games, and are 27-3
on the season.
Wisconsin advanced to the NCAA
championship game in 2000, but were
defeated by National Champion
Nebraska in five games.
The Aggies are led by senior setter
Jenna Moscovic, who is ranked 21st in
the country with 13 assists per game.
Senior outside hitter Erin Lechler
leads the Aggies in the kill depart
ment, averaging 3.55 kills per game
and 4.05 points.
“I know (A&M) is a very senior
laden team,” said Wisconsin volleyball
head coach Pete Waite. “They are a
very strong and veteran team.”
The winner of the A&M-Wisconsin
matchup will take on the winner of the
Utah-Stanford game. The regional final
also will take place in Palo Alto.
Wisconsin is led by Big 10 Player of
the Year Lizzy Fitzgerald, who aver
ages 13.8 assists per game. Senior All-
American middle blocker Sherisa
Livingston is hitting .409 for the
Badgers, and posted 15 kills and seven
blocks against Michigan State.
GUY ROGERS • THE BATTALION
Freshman middle blocker Melissa Munsch and the Texas A&M volleyball team will travel to Palo Alto, Calif, to take on the
Wisconsin Badgers at 9 p.m. CST in the Sweet 16 round of the 2001 NCAA Volleyball Tournament.
The Aggies are 0-2 all-time against
Wisconsin. In each of the teams’ two
previous meetings, the match has gone
the distance with the Badgers taking
the wins in the fifth game.
The two teams last did battle in 1996
in Madison, when the Badgers tallied a
come-from-behind victory over the No.
20 A&M squad.
The trip to the Sweet 16 round is the
Aggies’ fourth trip to the third round
under head coach Laurie Corbelli, and
A&M’s sixth trip to the Sweet 16 overall.
The Aggies’ best finish in the
NCAA tournament was in 1999, when
A&M upset No. 3 Hawaii in the Sweet
16 round, before being eliminated by
Long Beach State in the Elite Eight
round of the tournament.
First serve is set for 9 p.m. central
time.
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GUY ROGERS • THE BATTALION
linior linebacker Jarrod Penright takes a knee after the Aggies’ loss to
|e Colorado Buffaloes on Oct. 13, the team’s first defeat of the season.
S ince Texas A&M joined the Big 12
Conference in 1998, it has been invit
ed to the Sugar Bowl, the Cotton
Bowl, the Alamo Bowl and last year to the
Independence Bowl.
Never before has it sunk
to the depths of going to
a bowl like the
Galleryfurniture.com
Bowl. It may be too
early to tell for sure, but
A&M’s football pro
gram, one of the most
dominant in the country
in the 1990s, seems to be headed south.
The scary thing is that some think it is OK.
In the Nov. 19 edition of “Ask the
A.D,” A&M Athletic Director Wally
Groff said words that should make any
Aggie shudder.
“None of us, including (football head
coach R.C.) Slocum himself, are fired up
about losing the last three games of the
season,” said Groff. “But 7-4 and a bowl
bid is a lot better than most of the teams
that play NCAA Division I football.”
Groff, in his ninth year as A&M’s
athletics director, answers questions
directed to him on AggieAthletics.com,
and his comments do not leave Aggie
football fans much to look forward to in
the coming years.
True, there are plenty of teams who will
not be going bowling this season. It is also
true that 7-4 is a decent record, but it is
just that: decent.
It is also true, however, that of the eight
bowl-eligible teams in the Big 12, the
Galleryfurniture.com Misera-Bowl is at the
bottom of the barrel. Think it is a coinci
dence that the game is scheduled for 12:30
p.m. on a weekday?
The Aggies were passed up by higher
ranking bowls for conference foes Texas
Tech (last year’s Big 12 representative to
the Mattress Mac Bowl), Iowa State and
Kansas State.
Since A&M beat the Cyclones and the
Wildcats this season and all three had simi
lar records, why would they be selected
ahead of A&M?
Because A&M’s offense is one of the
most dismal in the country. Of the 115 teams
in Division 1A football, in total offense
A&M is ranked No. 107. Iowa State is No.
54 and Kansas State is No. 47. The Red
Raiders, who averaged 114 more yards per
game than the Aggies, came in at No. 33.
Anyone with any sense would take a
good offense over a poor offense, and it is
no secret that the Aggie ‘O’ has struggled
this season.
In the same Nov. 19 post Groff said,
“Attendance was at an all-time high this
year. We averaged over 100 percent capac
ity for the season, which is another sign of
a strong program.”
No.
The sign of a strong program is com
peting for a conference championship
year in and year out. The sign of a strong
program is averaging more than 20 points
per game. The sign of a strong program is
not having the Galleryfurniture.com Bowl
even be an option.
With more than 45,000 students and 23,000
donors in the 12th Man Foundation, more than
mediocrity is expected, but that is what fans
and donors have seen the last two seasons.
Excellence on the field, not dollar signs
from ticket sales, should be the goal.
True Brown is a sophomore
ag journalism major.
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