Saily (Far Uppl
Grit Pays Off as Tar Heels Tally Win
BYKURTTONDORF
STAFF WRITER
For the third consecutive match, the
North Carolina volleyball team displayed
gritty determination and tough resolve
against an ACC opponent.
And it finally paid off with a win. The
Tar Heels defeated archrival Duke, 15-12,
15-11, 9-15, 15-11 Tuesday night at
Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Lately, UNC (15-12,7-7 ACC) has not
played like a squad enduring a four-match
skid. The numbers showed that the Tar
Heels had played their best volleyball of
the season over
that stretch, I Volleyball
but just UNC 3
couldn’tgetthe Duke 1
necessary
breaks to obtain a ‘W’.
But the Blue Devils (7-15, 6-6 ACC),
with whom UNC has been battling for the
fourth position in the ACC, provided all
the incentive the Tar Heels needed to im
prove its good fortune.
“Oh yeah, it’s good to beat Duke,”
UNC freshman setter Erin Berg said. “It’s
great to get a win, because we have been
playing so well, and things just haven’t
been going our way. The scores didn’t do
this team any justice.”
The match was a preview of a probable
meeting between the two clubs onNov. 17,
when the ACC Tournament begins at
Clemson.
The Tar Heels sweeping Duke during
the regular season? The thought of such a
shift in the ACC hierarchy was once un
heard of — until now.
“As coaches we talked about how criti
cal this match could be forus,” UNC coach
Joe Sagula said. “We knew we had to
come outhere and justplay our best against
Netters Hope to Repeat Caldwell’s Success at Rolex Redonals
STAFF REPORT
The Rolex Region II Tennis Champi
onships open today with qualifying rounds
at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. The tour
nament, hosted by UNC, features several
Tar Heels who will vie for a spot in the
main draw, which begins later in the week.
In addition, players representing vari
ous schools throughout the Southeast will
compete in the tournament.
The semifinal winners inthemainsingles
draw will proceed to the Rolex National
Indoor tournament, which will be held in
January. Semifinal matchesfortheregional
will be played Sunday. Doubles competi
tors may also qualify for the national tour
nament. ___
In today’s qualifying action, UNCplay
— - " - '
ns MX Mel’s Soccer Championships
hosted by Duke University
ililß J|j ' MIiKE Soccer Stadium & four
',°p 20 teams including
I Ticket Prices Per Ban
$5 Mulls
$3 Youth & College
Students with ID
Game limes Tickets sold st the gste
Thursday, November 9 3,5:30,8
SEMIFINALS Friday, November to 4:30,7 r c v/AM I
CHAMPIONSHIP ....Sunday, November 12 4:00
the rival team up the road, and hopefully
catch some breaks. And that’s what hap
pened here tonight.”
UNC, which had been featuring one or
two players at a time in previous matches,
showcased a balanced offense led mainly
by their middle attackers. Anissa
Cronenberg erased a poor hitting perfor
mance against Georgia Tech (one kill in 17
chances) by tallying 17 kills in 31 chances,
and sophomore Jill Peden (10 kills, 14
digs) rose to the occasion as well.
But the match’s real story was UNC’s
defense against Duke’s top player, last
year’sACCFreshmanofthe Year Maureen
Reindl. The Duke outside hitter could only
manage a .039 hitting percentage after be
ing shut downby aggressive Tar Heel block
ing early in the match.
Berg, a strong candidate for ACC Fresh
man of the Year, gave all the credit to her
middle hitters, whose aggressive blocking
made the difference.
“We kept the pressure on them, and we
didn’t give them anything,” she said. “We
played great defense again tonight, been
working on it really hard in practice, so it
was easy to pick up on their hitting and
tipping.”
The Tar Heels have been plagued lately
with an inability to assert themselves of
fensively in the early stages of a match,
often letting the other team establish a lead
and finding themselves always on the de
fensive . That was a factor missing from the
Duke match, in which UNC set out to
dominate and accomplished just that, a
task difficult to fulfill against a team of
Duke’s reputation.
“When we put together a complete
match, we’re pretty much unstoppable,”
Berg said. “Now we have to set our sights
on the ACCs, and just hope that the mo
mentum stays with us.”
ers Sean McDermott, Nate Lipson, Chris
Hill, Shawn Fleming, Eric Gordon, John
Balch, Adam McNab and Fred Lidskog
will compete in singles.
First-round qualifying matches begin
at 8 and 9:30 a.m. A second round of
qualifying will be played in the afternoon.
UNC coach Sam Paul said that this
tournament will give his players valuable
playing time against some of the best
players in the region.
“We’ve got players who will be playing
4, 5,6 (seeds) for us, who will be playing
the top seeds from other schools,” he said.
“Everybody’s going to get to play, and
that’s important.”
- jfe
mas and Tripp Phillips; Balch and*”
The Premier Soccer Conference in the Country presents the
—-* . •->” -x -i
gITNRL^
DTH/CANDI LANG
After struggling through a four-match losing streak, UNC’s determination paid
off Tuesday as it beat Duke 3-1. The Tar Heels swept the Blue Devils this year.
McDermott; Lidskog and Fleming;
Godron and Lipson; and McNab and Hill
will compete for UNC. Tar Heel matches
have startingtimes ranging from 3:30p.m.
to 5:30 p.m., though times will be subject
to the completion of singles competition.
All of the UN C players have seen action
at Cone-Kenfield this fall, competing in
the Tar Heel Fall Invitational and Carolina
Classic tournaments. Thomas and Phillips
won their doubles draw at the Fall Invita
tional, the only title captured by North
Carolina during the tournament.
Last year, seniors David Caldwell and
Brint Morrow competed as a doubles tan
dem at the Rolex National Indoors.
Region II tournament, giving him a spot in
SPORTS
the singles draw at the national tourna
ment as well.
Caldwell will not compete this weekend
though, since he is taking the fall semester
off from school.
“We just miss David, period, especially
from a leadership standpoint,” Paul said.
“We’ve missed him all fall. But prepara
tion has been the same as it’s always been.
There’s not going to be any easy matches. ”
Thomas, Paul Harsanyi and Robert
Tedesco were the only other Tar Heels to
compete in the regional tournament in
1994.
Former UNC standout Roland
Thomqvist is the only player from this
- region to.cyer:winthe
nament.
Even if NFL Nixes Deal,
Modell Will Move Browns
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
GRAPEVINE, Texas Art Modell
declared Tuesday that the Browns’ move
to Baltimore is all but irrevocable, but he
also joined fellow owners in calling for
stability in the NFL.
“It’s a very, very serious problem,”
Modell said of franchise movement after
the Browns joined the Raiders and Rams
as the third team to move within a year.
“It’s something we have to address with
the utmost urgency.”
Modell argued his case at the NFL own
ers meetings, while Cleveland mayor
Michael White appealed to the group to
stop the Browns from leaving.
“They are the Cleveland Browns, and
they will be the Cleveland Browns until the
owners in the NFL say they are no longer
the Cleveland Browns,” White said.
The 70-year-oldModell, however, ruled
out any chance of the Browns staying in
Cleveland even if the city builds him a
new stadium or improves the old one.
“The bridge is down, burned, disap
peared,” Modell said. “There’s not even a
canoe there for me.”
While commissioner Paul Tagliabue
said he had no idea how the owners would
vote on the move, an informal poll indi
cated that while there was initial opposi
tion, the owners are likely to let Modell, a
league insider for 35 years, move on.
The approval of 23 of 30 owners is
needed.
Model] denied a report on ABC’s Mon
day night football that he was SSO million
in debt, claiming the Browns have lost s2l
million over the past two years.
The Browns-to-Baltimore bombshell
gave the meetings an entirely new focal
Athlete 1 Week
MyularlM
4F—l
| ...
MH : I
■’ - 1
The ACC coaches may not credit her talent,
but the DTH will.
This week's Athlete of the Week honors go
to women's soccer standout Debbie Keller. The
junior forward from Naperville, 111., scored an
ACC tournament-setting record five goals last
weekend in College Park, Md., to lead the Tar
Heels to their seventh-straight title.
She was voted MVP of the tourney Sunday,
but was snubbed by the league coaches when
she failed to be named ACC Player of the Year
despite leading the league with 50 points on
the year.
• * *-
Debbie
Keller
Women's
• Soccer
aits*
Wednesday, November 8,1995
point. There was even a demonstration of
about 30 people protesting against the mov e
outside the hotel where the meetings took
place.
Tuesday’s meeting also featured duel
ing news conferences featuring Modell and
White, who each argued their case overthe
Browns’ relocation to Baltimore.
Modell, who hadn’t missed a game in
the 35 years he’s owned the Browns before
his no-show Sunday, said he won’t attend
the three remaining games in Cleveland.
It was White who best stated the prob
lem facing the NFL the “franchise fret
agency” that the Browns’ move implies.
“What’s the impact for the NFL if it
allows that team to kick the city in the
teeth?,” Cleveland’s mayor asked.
“It happened to Oakland, nobody saic
anything. It happened in Los Angeles,
nobody said anything. It’s happening in
Houston, nobody said a word. How many
cities are going to be threatened in this way
before the NFL recognizes that it’s bad fo.
the country and bad for the league?”
And that’s the problem the league is
facing.
While the Browns’ move tops the
agenda, the owners were also preparing to
take up Bud Adams' desire to move the
Oilers from Houston to Nashville, Tenn.,
something Adams discussed again on Tues
day.
Tagliabue has already pledged to fill the
void in Los Angeles, perhaps with the
Seattle Seahawks, and Tampa Bay could
move after the season—in this case, about
90 miles east to Orlando.
Denver, Chicago and Cincinnati also
want new stadiums, as do Pittsburgh, Phila
delphia and Washington.
7