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Sports briefs

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 17, 2000

Nebraska wins volleyball crown

Laura Pilakowski had 23 kills, including the winner, as Nebraska rallied to beat Wisconsin in the NCAA women's volleyball tournament final Saturday at Richmond, Va.

The Cornhuskers, led by first-year coach John Cook, the former Wisconsin coach, finished 34-0 to become the second team to go undefeated.

Wisconsin (33-4) led 2-1 but Nebraska came back to win 15-9, 9-15, 7-15, 15-2, 15-9.

Nebraska's Greichaly Cepero was named tournament MVP.

"We had the people and the chemistry. We were committed to work hard and believe in each other," Cepero said.

Her team never doubted, including Cook.

"It was hard," he said. "My hat's off to Wisconsin. They stressed us like no other team this year."

Despite losing Claudia Rodriguez to an injury in the first game, and with Meggan Kohnen playing at 85 percent, Wisconsin coach Pete Waite said his team made a "gutsy effort."

"Obviously, we're disappointed," Waite said. "We ran out of gas a little bit. We were passing, digging and sagging defensively. We tried to make people chase us at the block."

AUTO RACING: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway is widening its pit road by 10 feet to give race teams more room to work in the two Winston Cup races each year. Martinsville reconfigured its pit road two years ago, eliminating pit stops along the backstretch by extending the road from near the Turn3 exit down along the frontstretch and around to the Turn2 exit. Hank Parker Jr. will join Tim Fedewa and David Green as drivers for the Cicci-Welliver Grand National team in 2001.

TENNIS: Home-crowd favorites Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi defeated top seeds Rick Leach and Ellis Ferreira 6-3, 7-5 to advance to the final of the ATP Tour World Doubles Championship in Bangalore, India, for the third time in four years. In today's best-of-five championship, Peas and Bhupathi face Donald Johnson and Piet Norval, who beat Simon Aspelin and Johan Landsberg 6-4, 5-7, 6-3. ... Venus and Serena Williams signed three-year endorsement deals with Avon.

BASEBALL: Milwaukee pitcher Jeff D'Amico, a Northeast High graduate, agreed to a $2.3-million, one-year contract, about seven times the $325,000 he earned last season. D'Amico, a 24-year-old right-hander, had an eight-game winning streak and finished 12-7 with a 2.66 ERA, third in the National League. ... The Red Sox will seek revisions in the Fenway Park legislation enacted in July to make it easier to obtain private financing for a new stadium, the Boston Globe said. The team wants to remove its liability for cost overruns, limit real-estate taxes, and increase new tax revenues.

HORSE RACING: Laurica beat I No Best by 13/4 lengths in the first division of the $75,000 Frances A. Genter Handicap for 3-year-old fillies at Calder in Miami.

BIATHLON: Magdalena Forsberg missed a shooting target but had the fastest cross-country skiing time to win a women's 7.5-kilometer sprint at Anterselva, Italy. Liv Grete Skjelbreid-Poiree was second.

SKIING: Alessandro Fattori led an Italian sweep of the top three places in a World Cup downhill at Val D'Isere, France. Fattori covered the course in 1 minute, 52.25 seconds, followed by Kristian Ghedina and Roland Fischnaller. ... Brigitte Obermoser led an Austrian sweep of the top two places in a women's downhill at St. Moritz, Switzerland. She finished in 1:38.68, .35 seconds ahead of Renate Goetschl, for her first downhill victory.

TRACK AND FIELD: Olympic long jump silver medalist Jai Taurima injured his knee in a car accident in Brisbane, Australia, and is doubtful for the world indoor championships next year in Portugal. Taurima's manager, Jason Coorey, who was in the car, flew to Sydney to arrange a series of tests with an orthopedic specialist.

SPEED SKATING: Olympic champion Hiroyasu Shimizu won the 500 meters in a World Cup event before his home fans in Nagano, Japan. He beat Jeremy Wotherspoon by 0.41 seconds. In the women's 500, Olympic champion Catriona LeMay-Doan beat Eriko Sanmiya by 0.17 seconds. Sanmiya and Adne Sondral won at 1,000 meters, where American Casey FitzRandolph was third.

NORDIC SKIING: Per Eloffson won his third straight event, taking the cross-country combined by 31.1 seconds over defending World Cup champion Johan Muehlegg at Brusson, Italy. Bente Skari-Martinsen won the women's 10-kilometer classical style by 26.6 seconds over Olga Danilova.

GOLF: Dottie Pepper and Juli Inkster, seeking their fourth straight LPGA title, beat Grace Park and Kelli Kuehne 4 and 3 in the Hyundai Team Matches at Newport Coast, Calif. Pepper and Inkster face Annika Sorenstam and Lorie Kane in today's final. Sorenstam and Kane beat Meg Mallon and Beth Daniel 2-up in the best-ball event. ... Paul Lawrie eagled the 17th hole and finished at 8-under-par 63 to share the lead at 198 with Kim Felton after three rounds of the Hong Kong Open. Felton, who double-bogeyed the last hole, shot 69.

SWIMMING: Sweden broke its world record in the women's 200-meter medley relay at the European Short Course Championships at Valencia, Spain. The team's time of 1:48.31 beat the mark of 1.49.47. Germany was second in 1:50.96 and Britain third in 1:51.20. Ilona Hlavackova won the 50-meter backstroke, Marina Moracova won the 100 individual medley and Irina Oufimtseva won the 400 freestyle. In the men's races, Massimiliano Rosolino broke the 18-year-old European 1,500 free record of 14:37.60 by Vladimir Salnikov, finishing in 14:36.93. Mark Warnecke won the 50 breaststroke.

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