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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 2002)
AGGIELlf IE BATTAli, Sports The Battalion Page 5 • Wednesday, October 2, 2002 Young stars lead No. 25 A&M vs Oklahoma By True Brown THE BATTALION ! IK • THE BATTAi;- ill is less impoi- il of being ik > summer,Iw rspective on the mdals,” Vinceis o study bank? i to be succe>''. irness in thefc The Texas A&M volleyball team has been hit by a youth movement. After being led to the Elite Eight last season by a group of five seniors, the No. 25 Aggies have turned to several new faces this year to replace the experi ence and leadership they lost over the summer. With three outside hitters, one defen sive specialist and one setter all graduat ing, A&M head coach Laurie Corbelli was faced with a tough challenge. “A lot of our court was open” Corbelli said. “I think that probably was the most significant loss of starters that I have ever experienced.” But Corbelli found a reliable rotation, and the Aggies (10-3, 2-2 Big 12) stormed to a 9-1 record to begin the season. A&M continues Big 12 play tonight when it travels to the University of Oklahoma for a 7 p.m. match against the Sooners. The road thus far has not been easy, as A&M has had to work through some growing pains. In both conference losses, the Aggies reached double-digits in service errors and had problems with first touches. "With rally scoring, you really have no room for error,” Corbelli said. “We’ve made a lot of young errors, and I think they are realizing they can do better. It’s coming along a little better now.” Entering the 2002 campaign, none of the Aggies had bigger shoes to fill than sophomore setter Lexy Beers. Beers played sporadically last season in the shadow of All-American Jenna Moscovic, the most decorated setter in A&M history. Beers wasted no time filling in, aver aging 12.08 assists per game, just .85 behind what Moscovic averaged in her senior season. “Lexy had a really big position to fill” said sophomore outside hitter Melissa Munsch, another young Aggie in a starting role. “She’s done a wonderful job. She works her tail off every day at practice. She runs all over the court. She has really stepped up, and her leadership skills, too, have helped our team become a team.” The player making the most noise on the court has been freshman Laura Jones. Jones leads the Aggies in hitting per centage at .336 and is second on the team in kills behind Munsch with 162. She also posted four of A&M’s five highest individual match hitting percentages and has tallied 20 kills twice. Corbelli, however, says she may just be scratching the surface. “She’s incredibly important,” Corbelli said. “She really knows how to hit the ball. But she is also learning and realiz ing that there is so much more to the game that she is capable of but has never had to excel at. She’s improving daily with her defense, with her blocking, with her range and shot selection.” With such a large insurgence of youth, A&M has turned to a trio of older players to lead the way. A.D. Achilefu, Tara Pulaski and Carol Price have all assumed leadership roles. Achilefu and Pulaski each have more than 100 kills, and Price has posted 76. “We had to try and find a core to lead (the younger players) and to have a pur pose and an identity as a team,” Corbelli said. “The leadership is really emerging. Those three are really working at leading and trying to set the tone.” For Achilefu, it’s all about having faith. “Last years team depended so much on the seniors,” Achilefu said. “Now, this year we have to believe that it is our turn and that we can perform just as well as those five seniors last year did. We’re getting there.” Sophomore Lexy Beers celebrates a kill made by junior middle blocker Carol Price during a game against Louisiana-Lafayette. f school so he ieves in. nvironmental solved, such as .Is for car emis- blems and the feel that lawyer? role in shaping lid. ; the LSATak right reasons. j that in mind h pressure on has changed it Hotel Venus Jot s of the funky and D f Field designs ey Spears, who A/ay tuxedo at the ;o Music Awards, ned over day-to- duties to David she can concen- and the City, ah Jessica Parke Id The Associatec his year that N ilar vision" wit armines the geo' nd themes oftht thing line whik ;s on individual GN 55 HAIR 1 - r.lights Ifalton DJ Texas A&M >t too feature yod r 3 2003 /earbook. / Room 004 )nald and itract. /ill be jntil yt, 7. After Drganiza- eut on a already contract ■a set up picture. 32 if yo u ions. Viking s Randy Moss faces additional charges, suspension for marijuana MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Vikings star receiver Randy Moss was charged Tuesday with possession of a small amount of marijuana, adding to charges last week that he pushed a traffic officer with his car. The new petty misdemeanor count carries a fine of up to $200. but it could also lead to a suspension or fine from the NFL. Police said they found a marijuana cigarette in Moss' car after he was arrested on Sept. 24. Moss was driving in downtown Minneapolis when the traffic officer stepped in front of his car to stop him from making an illegal turn. She was injured when she fell off the car. Moss spent the night in jail and was charged the next day with careless driving and failure to obey a traffic officer, both misdemeanors. The complaint said the marijuana amounted to just under a gram. Moss has said the marijuana did not belong to him and that he had allowed other peo ple to use his car recently. ESPN reported Sunday that Moss was already in the league’s substance abuse program for testing positive for marijuana last year, and underwent another test by the NFL after his arrest last week. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the league would review the case. “Under the policy, a drug-related violation of the law is grounds for disciplinary action,” Aiello said. If Moss tests positive for a banned or illegal sub stance or is convicted on the possession charge, he could be subjected to fines and suspensions by the league. He was allowed to play in last Sunday’s 48- 23 loss at Seattle. Moss could lose his driving privileges in Minnesota for a year because he refused to take a police test for drug or alcohol use when he was arrested, said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. Moss, who has only a Florida driver’s license, could lose driving privileges in that state, too. City prosecutors on Tuesday also added two new traffic counts to the charges: making an improper turn at an intersection in a hazardous manner, and obstructing traffic with a vehicle, a petty misde meanor. Each misdemeanor count carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and up to a $1,000 fine. The maximum fine on the obstructing traffic count is $300. Neither petty misdemeanor count carries jail time. The 25-year-old Moss was to be arraigned Wednesday. Defense lawyer Joe Friedberg said Moss was not required to appear and would not be there. Friedberg also said he did not plan to enter pleas for Moss during the arraignment, which he expect ed would be a quick and routine hearing. “At some point we will enter not guilty pleas to all of these counts,” Friedberg said. You won’t find any mushrooms, olives, pickles, or a lot of the other “filler crap” found at the other sub shops... Just the flat out BEST delicatessen meats in Bryan/College Station! 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