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Sports
The Battalion
Page IB • Thursday, September 19, 2002
Volleyball topples Kansas in Big 12 opener
No. 17 Aggies sweep previously unbeaten Jayhawks
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By True Brown
THE BATTALION
The Texas A&M volleyball team got
Ijust what it needed Wednesday night.
After a disappointing defensive showing
■ last weekend at the Texas A&M
■ invitational, the Aggies (9-1, 1-0 Big 12)
■dominated the Kansas Jayhawks at G.
■ Rollie White Coliseum in the teams’ con-
Iference opener, 30-24, 30-26, 30-26.
Junior Tara Pulaski led No. 17 A&M's
■ sharp defensive play, leading the Aggies
■ with 14 digs and had already set a new
■career high with nine digs in the first game.
"This was one of the best starts I’ve ever
■ seen this team do,” said A&M head coach
■ Laurie Corbelli.
The previously unbeaten Jayhawks (8-
11. 0-1) didn’t have an answer for A&M’s
■ rock solid defense and were held to a .191
■ attack percentage.
"Kansas was leading the Big 12 in hit-
Iting percentage and had two players who
■ hadn't been stopped,” Corbelli said. "Our
■ blocking was there, even though we only
■ got eight blocks. The positioning and tim-
I ing of our blocks allowed our defense to do
I a great job.”
Corbelli said the difference for A&M
was pregame preparation, something the
Aggies struggled with this weekend against
smaller schools.
"Realizing that we weren't up for
some of the teams we played this week
end (was important),” Corbelli said. “It
wasn’t that we didn't want to be prepared,
but just finding how to get ourselves pre
pared and ready helped. That is a chal
lenge for most athletes and I think this
team is learning that.”
The Aggies set the tempo of the match
early in the first game by jumping out to an
11-3 lead.
A&M sophomore outside hitter Melissa
Munsch led A&M in game one, finding
several holes in the Jayhawks’ defense en
route to 10 kills in the frame.
When Munsch wasn't there for the kill,
freshman outside hitter Laura Jones was.
Jones finished the match with a team high
.545 hitting percentage.
"Munsch and Jones on the outside (had)
32 kills,” said KU head coach Ray
Bechard. “That's 50 percent of the their
offense, and they made plays when they
needed to. That's a high order for a fresh
man and sophomore, but those two are
going to be good for a long time.”
A&M faced its only deficit of the match
early in the second game, falling behind 3-
2 and 4-3, but Munsch had a hand in four
straight points to put the Aggies back on
top for good.
After the Aggies grabbed the lead, the
tandem of Pulaski and senior middle block
er A.D. Achilefu solidified A&M’s defense
and kept the Aggies out front.
The duo combined for 27 digs, almost
half of A&M’s match total.
Achilefu's two solo blocks tied the
A&M high this season. Achilefu also had
two solos against Southwest Texas State
on Sept. 3.
"Being in the back row tonight was a
ton easier since 1 was behind A.D.,” Pulaski
said. “1 think she touched every ball that
came over the net. and it’s a lot easier to dig
a ball that’s been touched.”
Corbelli said the two were instrumental
in getting the team refocused for
Wednesday’s match.
"A.D. and Tara pretty much lead this
group with their preparation and their
focus,” Corbelli said. “They are very
patient and have learned how to compete
over the years at a high level.”
RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION
A&M junior Tara Pulaski goes for a kill in Wednesday’s match against KU.
Paraplegic fulfills ‘Tonight’ show vow to swim channel— 20 years later
SAN ANTONIO (AP)— Jason Pipoly is a
■ man of his word.
He swam the English Channel, delivering on a
■ promise he made 20 years ago when he was 11
■ years old and still had the use of his legs.
The San Antonio resident made the vow on
■ Johnny Carson’s “Tonight” show after having
■ fallen short of his goal to become the youngest
■ swimmer to cross the 21-mile stretch of chilly
■ water between England and France.
Last month, after 13 hours and 48 minutes of
■ slicing through the cold waves, a flotation device
■strapped between his legs to hold them up, he
Hgmade it.
Pipoly is the first American paraplegic to
make the crossing; Australian paraplegic John
McLean swam the channel in 1998.
"When I got to France, I really wasn't thinking
about much,” Pipoly said after his return to San
Antonio. “I kind of had a smile and that was it.”
Pipoly was paralyzed in a 1998 car wreck in
Colorado.
Thoughts of crossing the channel, as his
father had done before him in 1980, had faded as
Pipoly grew up. The self-described adventurer
followed new pursuits.
But one day after his accident, his mother
pulled out the “Tonight” show tape and there it
was, that promise he’d made.
He began to train, adding longer practice
swims to his routine. In June, the substitute
teacher swam Canyon Lake for more than 11
hours in preparation for the channel.
Now that he has met his goal. Pipoly said the
crossing itself came only after thousands of
training hours and hard work.
“It’s been kind of like the cherry on top of the
sundae,” he said. “The true accomplishment is to
get people to try to go after their dreams.”
Pipoly’s father, who watched his son swim the
same channel he himself navigated 22 years ago,
said his son had made him proud.
"When you see someone with that kind of
determination and drive, it’s kind of a foregone
conclusion,” Carl Pipoly said.
"It makes me feel happy as a parent that he’s
not sitting around feeling sorry for himself and
asking people to do things for him because he’s
a paraplegic,” the father added.
Jason Pipoly’s crossing isn't sanctioned by
the Channel Swimming Association, whose rules
forbid the use of any type of flotation device. But
an association representative witnessed and
timed his swim, and an official confirmed his
accomplishment in an e-mail.
Duncan Taylor, secretary of the Channel
Swimming Association, added: “Long may his
achievement act as a magnificent example to
other sportsmen.”
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JPMorgan Chase Presentation
Program:
Retail Financial Services
Date: September 24th
Time: 7:00 PM
Location: Rudder Conference Center
Room 301
All majors welcome. Juniors and seniors are encouraged to attend.
> p.tfl.
jpmorganchase.com/careers