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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 2002)
AGGIES I b atiai« HE le more Because j that had to do one else." ’ lates t all— I ea turing the i I ne out last weft Kimmel Sports The Battalion Page 5 • Wednesday, November 6, 2002 olleyball team looks for third win Johnson gets Young award By True Brown THE BATTALION A winning streak has been hard to come by for ABC stio, k Texas A&M volleyball team. I Since conference play began, it lias been a ELES (AP) - J battle for the Aggies, who have struggled nt he going it jj, L ut together a string of victories in the ultra- 'ew ABC late-', ^petitive Big 12 Conference. Until last week- nd. A&M’s longest win streak in league play ,as two games. The Aggies (15-7, 7-6 Big 12) latched that by upending Colorado last week- int show, ifflrnel Live"^ ut with a spea: Sunday, Jan. !i, 3t ing co-hosts,t V- The co-hostsp ced. scheduled 12:05 a.ni.ESiih is to broadcast-) 1 historical fea, od Boulevard, id. A&M will have a chance to earn its first three- latch conference win streak tonight against the laylor Bears. “It’s a very important match for us” said l&M head coach Laurie Corbelli. I The match may present some problems for the Iggies, who have struggled on the road. The Iggies are 1-5 in conference road games, and show >wing the Sept rred to pastUi ; as cowardii iments hadnff)| the decision to? ly Incorrect zomedian Broadwai -O-host andcHt avenot posted a road win since Oct. 2 nedy Central's'll “It’s important that we continue to work on is takingovett) iur r oad game,” Corbelli said. “New environ- once heldkfi nents and new courts can’t influence our game olitically Incoro; he way it has, and we’re really working in matur- off the air last to ng that way.” Continued dominance by A&M outside hitter Jarol Price will play a big role in the Aggies abil- t)'to obtain some wins on the road. Price was named Big 12 Player of the Week astweek, the first A&M player to earn the honor liis year. The honor came after Price posted lecord numbers against Oklahoma and Colorado. I Against the Buffaloes, Price broke the career liigh in kills she set four days earlier against the boners. She hit a combined .561 in the two atches, with 40 kills and just three errors. “It’s really helped our offense become more ieceptive,” said Price, who hits from the right side. “We can mix it up a lot more. We’re really naking the other teams worry about where we are going to go now since everyone is hitting and :veryone is playing good.” Price’s success has taken the pressure off of A&M’s left side attack of Melissa Munsch and Laura Jones. Munsch and Jones made up the majority of Aggie attacks until Price’s recent per formances. The duo is responsible for 44 percent I jof A&M’s kills. BRIAN RUFF • THE BATTALION A&M junior Carol Price goes for a kill against Oklahoma. Price has 114 kills this season. !K (AP) - Eddie Izzaidi oadway detr- Day in the Der ’eter aut a handica|W e strain she pin: marriage. , first seer : 1968, will be |r the Round; ompany at Airlines fc rformances th an operiff 'Joe Egg" V 25. “1 can’t tell you how many hours we have spent trying to figure out who could be in that spot,” Corbelli said. “To have (Price’s) rhythm going and her confidence and power is so over whelming. It’s opened up a lot of the net for the middles and the left side, and it’s that time of year that that is exactly what’s needed.” A&M swept Baylor (9-14, 2-10) two weeks ago in College Station. The Bears have struggled since losing outside hitter Stevie Nicholas. Nicholas was leading the Big 12 in kills, aces and points when she was lost for the season with a torn medial meniscus in September. The Bears slide has left them mired in a six- match conference losing streak, but with No. 20 Missouri visiting Aggieland this weekend, A&M will have to guard against a letdown to Baylor. “We have to go in there knowing that they will play us tough,” said A&M setter Lexy Beers. “It’s their home court, and they want to beat us real bad. (Tonight’s) game will prepare us for Missouri. We need to play good (against Baylor) before we can play good against Missouri.” First serve is at 7 p.m. at the Ferrell Center. Titans win 3 straight to top AFC South I :nt le NASHVILLE, Term. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans may be the most thankful team in the NFL for realignment. They dug themselves an early 1-4 hole, but now have won three straight games to climb back to 4-4. That is good enough to put them atop the new AFC South tied with the Indianapolis Colts in the NFL’s only division where .500 is good enough. “I feel like ’Thank God’ we’re back in the mix,” Titans linebacker Keith Bulluck said. Other Titans aren’t quite as exuberant. Eddie George said the Titans need to worry about winning another game Sunday against expansion Houston (2-6). By no means are we back or thinking about the playoffs. We’re just focused on being abetter football team, and we have to contin- ao to improve in order to finish strong in mid- November and into December,” George said. Coach Jeff Fisher is taking a much more Measured approach with his Titans, who beat too Colts (4-4) 23-15 Sunday and now have the 0% in tiebreakers with a 2-0 record in the division. “We’ve battled back a little bit. It’s halftime, and we’ve got a big half o ball to play,” Fisher said Monday. “We look like we’re starting to oal up a little bit. That’s a positive sign.” The Titans' three-game winning streak is their longest since a four- Samc stretch at the end of the 2000 season in which they went 13-3 and w on the AFC Central. George, criticized as worn out a month ago, has ^hed for 314 yards over the past three games. Penalties, turnovers and other mistakes are down. Fisher credited his 'tans, w ho feature 1 1 rookies and had three starting on defense against e Colts, for understanding what coaches are doing in game plans and u We’re just focused on being a better football team, and we have to continue to improve in order to finish strong in mid-November and into December. — Eddie George Titans running back then applying it when they take the field for the game each week. “Basically, what we’ve done is said, ‘Each one of you three groups take care of your own business. Don’t worry about what the other side’s doing.’ It doesn’t minimize the importance of the team,” he said. He said the offense had worried too much about trying to score on every drive when the defense struggled early and that only increased the pressure if they went three-and-out. The defense played its best game against the Colts despite allowing 378 yards by forcing three turnovers, and the offense held the ball for more than 31 minutes. Fisher isn’t happy yet. The Titans still ran a wrong pass route. Drew Bennett dropped a ball when grabbed by a defender and Kevin Dyson was tripped up on a screen play where he could have scored. “It’s certainly a lot more enjoyable to correct little things after a win than a loss. We’re still not doing all the little things correct. There would’ve been many more points scored in that football game,” he said. The good news is that Titans may get defen sive end Jevon Kearse back against Houston for the first time since he broke his left foot on the second play of the sea son. Running back Robert Holcombe also may be back from a cracked hip. Pittsburgh (5-3) is their only opponent remaining with a winning record, although the New York Giants, Colts and New England all are currently at 4-4 just like the Titans. “It’s not like we’re relaxing right now,” quarterback Steve McNair said. “We still have a long ways to go. You have to go out there each and every week to prepare yourself to win. Every Sunday is different and every team is a great team.” NEW YORK (AP) — Randy Johnson won yet another Cy Young Award and then he teed off. No, not on baseball. The Big Unit was getting ready to play Pebble Beach Golfs Links when his lat est honor was announced Tuesday, and rather than delay his round, Johnson grabbed a cell phone and talked about his fastballs and sliders while deciding among woods and wedges. “I’m trying to make a putt on No. 2 right now,” he said, the California coast off to his side. No doubt, his score Tuesday was far lower than his perennially high strikeout total. Johnson was a unanimous pick over Arizona teammate Curt Schilling, winning a record-tying fourth straight National League Cy Young and fifth overall — one short of Roger Clemens’ record. The Big Unit, who will earn an additional $4 mil lion because of the award, received all 32 first-place votes and 160 points from a panel of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. “The big picture, obviously, is to get to the World Series. If you remain consistent and have a good year, it’s kind of a bonus,” Johnson said, referring to the award. “This has come from maintaining consisten cy, hard work and dedication, and my teammates being very supportive offensively, defensively and in the bullpen.” Schilling was runner-up for the second straight season, getting 29 second-place votes and three thirds for 90 points. Atlanta closer John Smoltz was third with 21 points. Johnson matched Greg Maddux (1992-95) as the only pitchers to win four straight Cy Youngs and became the NL’s 11th unanimous winner, the first since Maddux in 1995. Johnson and Schilling became the first pitchers to finish 1-2 in Cy Young voting in consecutive years. Johnson, who has won the award in all four sea sons since signing with the Diamondbacks as a free agent, earned his first Cy Young with Seattle in 1995. “I’ve got them in my office, and they’re dis played nice,” he said. “I’m a very simple person, and I work hard, and I push myself, and this is the reward.” Jerry Colangelo, the Diamondbacks managing general partner, signed Johnson hoping the left-han der’s best days were ahead. “He’s just done an incredible job. He’s an extraor- dinary individual,” Colangelo said Tuesday. “He has a tremendous work ethic. The fact that he’s been able to maintain this intensity level for as long as he has is amazing.” Johnson went 24-5 with a 2.37 ERA and 334 strikeouts, becoming the first major leaguer since Boston’s Pedro Martinez in 1999 and the first NL player since the Mets’ Dwight Gooden in 1985 to win pitching’s triple crown. The 39-year-old Johnson set a career high for wins, led the major leagues in strikeouts for the ninth time and became the first pitcher to reach 300 in five straight seasons. He also led the majors in innings (260) and complete games (eight), and led the NL in opponents’ batting average (.208). Schilling went 23-7 with a 3.23 ERA, 316 strike outs and just 33 walks in 259 1-3 innings. Schilling, who has never won a Cy Young, was 21 -5 with a 2.77 ERA though Aug. 31, while Johnson was 19-5 with a 2.63 ERA. Johnson sealed the award by going 5-0 with an 0.66 ERA in September as Schilling was 2-2 with a 6.19 ERA. On Sept. 20, Schilling allowed eight earned runs for only the third time and a career-high 14 hits in 9-4 loss to Colorado at Coors Field. Arizona, the NL West champion, was 55-15 when Johnson or Schilling started, 43-49 the rest of the time. The defending World Series champions were swept by St. Louis in the first round of the playoffs. Last year, Johnson and Schilling were co-MVPs of the seven-game World Series win over the New York Yankees. Johnson called that the “top of the mountain” and recalled the thrill of having his fami ly at the Diamondbacks’ parade. s or fill out ^ Til mmm Student Health Services is offering a limited number of free flu $Hon Thursday, Nov. 7 and Friday, Nov. 8 to all currently enrolled A&M students Meningitis shots ore also available for a fee of $85 Rec Center Lobby 11am - 7pm MSC Flagroom 9am - 5pm Commons Lobby 11am - 7pm Wehner 9am - 5pm Special thanks to the following TAAAU departments for their donations: Athletics Recreational Spni-ts Memorial Student Center Residence Life Corps of Cadets VP of Student Affairs Mr. Gcitti's EYtll Buffet Savings! O U P O N Lunch Buffet All-You-Care-to-Eat- &-Drink Adult Buffet Monday thru Thursday ~ 11am-2pm Up to four people per coupon. Must purchase a buffet to enter. Coupon not valid in combination with other coupons or special pricing. Valid thru 12/30/02. B O U P O N ) Dinner All-You-Care-to-Eat- &-Drink Adult Buffet Monday thru Thursday ~ 5pm- 9pm Up to four people per coupon. Must purchase a buffet to enter. Coupon not valid in combination with other coupons or special pricing. Valid thru 12/30/02. B I I I 1 I I ■J Don’t miss our Mondlay-TYtesday-Wednesday night Gameroozn Savings and Buffet Specials...going on NOW!!! B£on«lcsY Night Every Kid's Buffet comes with $2.50 in Gameplay FREE! Tuesday Night Mr. Gatti's Gourmet NigHt featuring any of our delicious Gourmet Pizzas and a special Italian Entree! Wednesday Night Double Gameplay!! Buy $5 in Gameplay, get $5 Bryan 1673 Briarcrest 776-1124 The Best Pizza In Town... flmetdr! 10/23/02
