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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 6, 2002)
NAI: I 1 H F- BATTj M.. >20 nisei Sports Thk Battalion Page IB • Friday, September6, 2002 slowt 3l money sed in NJ has bew -20 9 bilbonr% five majof from the Sep >il lion-Federti joncy Mantqm »*S1 4 Mkonim it cleanup aj* •on tobufcj*!* tranjittyt ion- Liberty to mtc Oeveioprf /es tan eicerar • i.tj-f,* ic^MTient 11 ton- Depers- t '9 end Urbm pment Aggies travel to Pitt to tangle with -i^ iBBBhii JOHN C. LIVAS • THE BATTALION Senior Jarrod Penrigtrt goes for the sack on DLL quarterback Jon Van Cleave in the first quarter of the A&M season opener on Saturday at Kyle Field. By Gary Livingston THE BATTALION The Texas A&M football team (1-0) will try to continue its defensive dominance bn Saturday when it travels to Pittsburgh to take on the University of Pittsburgh Panthers (1-0) in a nationally televised game beginning at 11 a.m. The City of Steel, which once boasted proud defensive players such as Lambert, Ham and Green, will be the site for a showdown between the strong defensive unit of the Panthers and the Aggies’ Wrecking Crew. The Aggies are coming off a victory over Louisiana-Lafayette (ULL) in which they forced 10 turnovers and held the Cajuns to 7 points. However, the Panthers will be hosting A&M with a seven-game winning streak, the nation’s second longest, next to top- ranked Miami. They finished last year on a 6-game winning streak with wins over then 12th-ranked Virginia Tech at Heinz Field, and a bowl victory over N.C. State. The Panthers have carried their winning ways over to this season as they beat Ohio University last week 27-14. Cornerback Shawntae Spencer earned Big East Co- Defensive Player of the Week honors by intercepting three Ohio passes. According to the Panthers Web site, the Pittsburgh defense, which had five interceptions, is the Nation’s No. 1 pass efficiency defense. The Panthers allowed only 79 passing yards in the game. The Aggies, who struggled on offense for much of the game against ULL, will look to take advantage of the Panthers’ run defense on Saturday. While their pass defense was impressive last week, the Panthers allowed 204 on the ground. Aggie runningbacks Derek Fanner and Dwain Goynes will likely have an Panthers opportunity to come up big against Pitt, but A&M head coach R.C. Slocum knows their success will rest with the play of the offensive line. “We are still not where we want to be. And we are not blocking like we need to block,” head coach R.C. Slocum said at Monday’s press conference. A&M’s defense, whose 10 turnovers last week shattered the former Big 12 record of seven turnovers in a game, will try to take advantage of Panther’s quarter back Rod Rutherford, who will be making his second career start on Saturday. While he did have two touchdown passes in the Pitt victory last week, he also threw three interceptions and finished with 97 yards. “They’ve got seven starters coming back on defense,” said Pitt head coach Walt Harris. “They’re huge up front. They’re See Panthers on page 2B * gram nam arWfMior Ovi-ot Manner l*oo- o ration I b« spemcri- vn irars? fix s- lion- Mrsctar* smaf ix&ress ng. hotprta *: companufcr .in* still mu r’ork C\x * been Volleyball prepares for weekend in Wisconsin By True Brown THE BATTALION The Texas A&M volleyball team faces its toughest competitors of the young season this weekend at the Wisconsin Inn Towner Classic. The Aggies play three matches in two days against the University of Montreal, Illinois State and Wisconsin. “We haven't really played any of these teams lately, except for Wisconsin, so we have a lot of unknowns,” said A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli. “1 think that's the best for us because we really need to focus on what we're doing. “We have a lot of young players that need to focus on their own game with little information about the other team.” No. 16 Wisconsin may have revenge on its mind. The Aggies shocked the then-No. 6 Badgers in December to reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament. However, the Aggies are careful not to look past Saturday's matches with Montreal and Illinois State for Sunday’s rematch with Wisconsin. “We’re not going there specifical ly to play Wisconsin,” said senior middle blocker A.D. Achelifu, who averages 15 kills-per-match. “We're not going to overlook any other teams, but we're going to go out and put everything together that we’ve learned from two-a-days and the matches we’ve played.” No. 17 A&M (4-0) is coming off a three-game sweep of Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos on Tuesday. Corbelli said the tournament will give the Aggies a preview of the style of play they will see when Big 12 play starts Sept. 18. “From size to power, it will be similar,” Corbelli said. “I know Wisconsin is a top-20 team and will be running plays and doing a lot of back row attacking like we see in the Big 12. It will be great prep for us.” ... we're going to go out and put everything together that we've learned from two-a- days and the matches we've played. — A.D. Achelifu A&M Senior middle blocker While the Aggies hold a .272- .097 advantage in hitting percent age in their four matches this sea son, Corbelli said blocking has been a problem for A&M thus far. “We’ve looked pretty choppy at times,” Corbelli said. “We’ve found out that our blocking is something that really needs some work. We are learning to find ways to win, though.” This weekend's tournament - particularly the match against Wisconsin - should go a long way in showing the youthful A&M squad where it stands as the season moves on. “Since we're new there are always things to learn about weak nesses,” said senior outside hitter Julia Rex, one of A&M’s five new starters. “So far we’ve won every thing which is good because that’s our goal. But we still need to find all our weaknesses while we’re playing so we can capitalize on them in practice.” RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION Junior Lexy Beers goes for a kill against LSU Sunday. with iliv actor titf ie> i'' thei >. which a , less ihan iad to redirf ch of it I* I upgrading stem. Tho*' ears and ^ lent on fitu the 16-aot >r qualifying ‘strictivc in' at worker e. for inst- because ceded sps umentatior Our prices rock! K0lf.com" hvejyiY textbook superstore www.half.com/textbooks Retail Price on Price Half.com Intro to Microeconomics $64.00 $11.50 Intro to Psychology $30r75 $8.95 Intro to Calculus $24.95 $14.99 College Writing Skills $29t99 $14.00 Principles of Marketing dr CL ^3....—{Tii' 1 $18.99 $203.64 $68.43 You Save $125.21! i ■ I ■ I ■ I $ 15 off i $ 50 purchase ■ Enter promo code TEXT2002 in your shopping cart I I A AOL Keyword: Half.com Copyright 2002 Hatf.com, Inc Hatf.com and the Half.com logo are service marks of Half.com, Inc. 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