Nebraska volleyball team hopes for a strong finish after surprisingly slow start

Nebraska volleyball team hopes for strong finish

LINCOLN, Neb. — The leaves are yet to turn colors here, and the Nebraska volleyball team already has lost four matches.

That’s one more loss than the Cornhuskers had all of last season. It’s more, in fact, than any of the previous five Nebraska teams had in a single season.

At 9-4, the Cornhuskers are off to their worst start since 1978.

Last week, the five-time defending Big 12 champion Huskers lost to unranked Texas A&M on the road and then to second-ranked Texas at home, ending their 82-match Nebraska Coliseum win streak and marking the program’s first back-to-back losses since 2003.

The sluggish start is an anomaly to the fans who have sold out the 4,030-seat Coliseum 125 consecutive times. They expect nothing short of excellence from a program that for 27 straight years has produced at least one All-American and gone to the NCAA tournament.

This is, after all, a program that has won three national titles and the only one to reach the final 16 in the NCAAs every year this decade.

The leaders of the 2008 team — All-Americans Jordan Larson and Rachel Schwartz, along with Amanda Gates — are gone, and the void is still felt.

“Right now, who is our All-American? Who is stepping up like those players were able to do and take over a match?” wondered coach John Cook. “We have to find somebody or they have to do it together as a team. Those are your only two choices. They’re working at it and trying to figure it out. As a coach, you can’t just fix it in a day. You have to stay with your plan.”

Nebraska, which has dropped to No. 10 in the ratings after starting the season No. 3, has experienced players in setter Sydney Anderson, defensive specialist Kayla Banwarth, right side hitter Lindsey Licht, outside hitter Tara Mueller and middle blocker Kori Cooper.

But Cooper is easing her way back into the lineup following knee surgery last November. First-year starter Brooke Delano is among the Big 12 leaders in blocks and kills and fellow sophomore middle blocker Jordan Wilberger has been solid. Freshmen such as Hannah Werth, Gina Mancuso and Megan Pendergast are seeing regular action.

“The game knows no age. Speaking as a freshman, you’re not a freshman. You’re a Nebraska volleyball player,” Werth said. “You’re expected to meet your goals, and not meeting your goals is unacceptable. One day it is going to click. We have all of the talent in the world. Once we get out of our old ways we’re going to do great things.”

Texas coach Jerritt Elliott, whose team beat the Huskers in four sets Sunday for its first victory in Lincoln since 1988, said Nebraska has enough talent to be among the nation’s top five teams. But Elliott said the Huskers’ serving, serve receive and defense aren’t nearly as good as a year ago.

“The last three weeks you’re seeing the same repetitive errors from them,” Elliott said. “I know their staff is very good and will get them trained. If they can figure that portion of their game out, they’re going to be a very good team.”

Cook said he is pulling out motivational books and notes from past seasons to look for answers. He also plans to turn to Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski to get ideas on how to will more out of an underperforming team.

“To me, he’s a coach who deals with the same types of expectations that we do here,” Cook said. “He has had years where you can tell he doesn’t have as much talent — North Carolina will have more — and (Duke) is expected to win. Maybe they don’t always win. How does he handle expectations? How does he keep kids positive?”

Russ Rose, coach at top-ranked Penn State, was a graduate assistant on the 1978 Nebraska team that started 6-7. He suggested that the fans of Nebraska and other volleyball powers like Penn State, Stanford and Hawaii are spoiled and he doesn’t think the Huskers will flounder all year.

“I’m sure there are people who are in crisis about them losing a few matches,” Rose said Tuesday. “It’s September, and the goal is to win in December. They have a great track record of the players getting together as the season progresses.” Cook said he hopes the woes don’t last much longer.

“This team is taking us on a journey,” he said, “and it could end up being a great journey. Nobody is going to remember September. They’re going to remember how we finish.”