“coll “ I’m not sure at the
beginning of the year I thought we could win a national cham- pionship … [but] this team has really maxed themselves out. I can’t remember when we have had a bad practice. I have to kick them out of the gym, and they love to be in the weight room. They have embraced the journey and worked really hard.
a West Coast team. (The 9th-seeded Jayhawks, led by two first-team AVCA All Americans – opposite Kelsie Payne and setter Ainise Havili – stunned top-seeded University of Southern California in the regional final with a six-point run that erased a 13-9 fifth-game deficit.) In the title match against Texas, the Huskers rolled to a 25-23, 25-23, 25-21 victory by continu- ally serving the Longhorns out of system and riding the offense of freshman outside hitter Mikaela Foecke, whose .385 hitting efficiency on a match-high 19 kills, most of them hard, flat and wisely targeted to the deep court, earned her the tournament’s Most Outstanding Performer award. For the Huskers, who finished 32-4, this season wasn’t without turbulence. The team’s four losses were twice the combined total of the previous three Nebraska title teams, which went 32-1 (1995), 34-0 (2000) and 33-1 (2006). In September, af- ter a loss to the Longhorns in Austin, Cook decided changes were needed, so he flipped outside hitter Kadie Rolfzen from the left to the right and inserted Foecke on the left. In late October, things still hadn’t clicked, and the Huskers lost back-to-back home matches in a single weekend (to Minnesota and Wisconsin) for the first time since Cook became coach in 1999. It had been a high stress week – the Big Ten title was on the line, family members were in town and recruits were visiting – and the losses raised questions about how the team would man- age a hometown NCAA finals, or if they’d get there at all. Nobody was burdened more than Cook, who says he always feels extra pressure when Nebraska hosts because “you don’t want to let everybody down.”
” — Nebraska coach John Cook Kadie Rolfzen (6) and Amber Rolfzen (5) block as one and form one of the top twin sister collegiate tandems of all-time. The winning twins The way to tell Nebraska twins Amber and Kadie
Rolfzen apart? Look at their jerseys. Amber is No. 5, Kadie is No. 6. If they’re in street clothes? Good luck. Sometimes Amber will be walking across campus
and she’ll see people giving her a look of uncertainty. “They hesitate, and then they’ll wave because they’re
like, ‘I don’t know if I know you or I know your sister,’” Amber says. “Sometimes people will say hi to me and I don’t know who they are, but I’ll say hi anyway because I know they know Kadie.” When they arrived at Nebraska, they were both left-
sides, but Cook wanted them to have their own identities, so he moved Amber to the right. “They had been compared their whole life,” Cook
says. “They traded off awards. One year one was an MVP, the next year the other one was an MVP. So I wanted to get separation for them.” Last spring, he decided they needed even more sep-
aration, so he moved Amber to middle blocker. It worked out great. “Amber has just blossomed,” he says. “Not only has she blossomed as a player, she’s blossomed with her confidence. Now she doesn’t get compared to Kadie.” One more switch was ahead, though. Early in the
2015 season, after Nebraska lost to Texas in Austin, Cook moved Kadie from the left to right. Kadie ran with it. “I like the right,” she says. “It’s fun to play a position
I’ve never played and have new challenges.” For the first time this year, Amber joined Kadie
on the AVCA All-American team – she was on the third team, Kadie on the first. (Kadie was a third-teamer as a freshman and a sophomore.) And they both made big contributions in Omaha, with Kadie logging a team-lead- ing 14 kills for .343 and assisting on four blocks in the semifinals and Amber hitting .625 in the title match for
10 kills and assisting on four blocks. Next year, they’re seniors, but it’s likely there will be
volleyball for them beyond Nebraska. Both are on the radar of the U.S. National Team coaches. “They both move really well, and I think their ability
to switch positions has been awesome,” U.S. Women’s National Team Assistant Coach Jamie Morrison says. “Something we stress in our gym is the ability to learn, and that’s the epitome of it – going from opposite to outside or opposite to middle. We value that quite a bit.” The bond between the twins is a strong one. They
live together, share a car – and often share the same thoughts. “We kinda know what each other is thinking, and we know if something is bothering each other,” Amber says. “It’s like an unspoken language. We just look at each other and we know.” In Omaha, they had a moment like that – a good
one – after Husker outside hitter Kelsey Fien ripped the match-winning kill off the Texas block. “I looked to Amber; I just wanted a hug from her,” Kadie says. “We’re each other’s biggest fans.”
2015 NCAA Division I Championship Omaha, Nebraska
Semifinals • Texas def. Minnesota 26-24, 27-25, 23-25, 25-21
• Nebraska def. Kansas 25-20, 25-21, 20-25, 25-16
Final • Nebraska def. Texas
25-23, 25-23, 25-21
USAVOLLEYBALL.ORG | 45
–D.P.
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