But the mojo began to flow in Novem-
ber. In fact, after those consecutive home losses, the Huskers never lost again. The difference? Cook says a big one was the team’s improved communication – specifi- cally, hitters let Hunter know what sets they liked and what sets they didn’t like. Also, they embraced a more aggressive style of play. “We learned that when you’re tentative and playing uptight, it’s not going to get you what you want,” Cook told the Lincoln Journal Star in mid-November. “I feel like we’ve really been attacking in everything we do. It starts with serving; it’s passing; it’s the tempo we’re running. It’s a mindset.” Sixteen consecutive wins later, includ-
ing an impressive four-set regional final victory in Kentucky over a very good Washington Huskies team, the Huskers were dogpiling in celebration on the floor of CenturyLink Center. Cook was asked afterward where this team ranks as far as improvement from start to finish. “It’s number one,” he said. “Once
we made that [lineup] change, it wasn’t smooth for awhile, but ever since that Minnesota/Wisconsin weekend, this team has continued to go [up]. I’m not sure at the beginning of the year I thought we could win a national championship … [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.”
Just being big doesn’t do it Not unlike many Nebraska teams, this
year’s Huskers were overflowing with bigs. Middles Cecilia Hall and Amber Rolfzen, left-sides Foecke and Kelsey Fien and oppo- site Kadie Rolfzen are all 6-3. But, as the Huskers discovered last season, big by itself isn’t enough, and even the combination of big and athletic doesn’t necessarily get it done. “I thought we should have been in the final four last year, but we lost in the regional final (to Brigham Young) because we couldn’t pass,” Cook says. “So I told the team in January, ‘If you want to be on the court, you’d better be able to pass.’ We work on passing every day, and I have my core set of drills. It’s the same dang drills every day. Sometimes I think it’s mindless for them, but we don’t let them out until they pass. “If you look at the national team, the
three passers are from Nebraska: Kelsey (Robinson), Jordan (Larson) and Kayla (Banwarth). So we feel like we do a good job training passing. It’s a really strong
NCAA Division I
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Washington priority for us.” Cook has another strong priority:
serving. He used the same line before the season as he did about passing, “If you want to be on the court, you’d better be able to serve.” His office overlooks Devaney Center, the Huskers’ home gym, and last summer, one day before the team started two-a-days, he looked out the window and saw Foecke. She was all alone in the gym with a couple hundred volleyballs scattered across the floor. “She had served every one of them, and
she was down there shagging by herself,” Cook says. “I took a picture of it and sent it to my team and said, ‘Here’s somebody who wants to serve in a match.’”
Speaking of passing... After winning the title in 2012, Texas
returned to the semifinals in 2013 and again last year but didn’t reach the finals either time – losing to Wisconsin in 2013 and to BYU last season. Inconsistent pass- ing and spotty ball control held the Horns back.
This year, with the exception of a dip in the championship match brought on by Nebraska’s tough serving, passing was a strength. In fact, Longhorns coach Jerritt Elliott said this is the best passing team he’s had since 2009, when the Longhorns lost to Penn State in the finals. Senior outside hitter Amy Neal, who is only 5-9 but found enough room in the Minnesota block to rack up a match-lead- ing 25 kills in the Longhorns’ semifinal win over the second-seeded Golden Gophers, was a big part of Texas’s improved serve- receive. Recruited originally as a defensive specialist/libero, she widened her role to become a point-scoring outside, mak- ing what Elliott describes as the “greatest transformation” of any player he has ever coached. Part of that transformation was chang- ing her passing mechanics, a process de- scribed by Longhorns assistant coach Erik Sullivan as putting less emphasis on getting the midline behind the ball and more on
7 6 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 1
Ray Bechard led the Kansas Jayhawks to the NCAA Division I semifinals.
Pulling away from hoops Kansas’ amazing fifth-set comeback against top-seeded
Southern California in the regional finals put Coach Ray Bechard’s Jayhawks in volleyball’s semifinals for the first time, which helped to produce the first-ever semifinals without a West Coast Team. Naturally, that sparked some talk that volleyball is widening its
reach. “I think we absolutely are,” says Kathy DeBoer, executive director
of the American Volleyball Coaches Association. “We’re seeing region- als at neutral sites that are putting 2,500 people in the stands. At neutral sites [in the past], we were playing in front of parents.” Looking at participation, there are several positive indicators,
one being the comparison between juniors girls’ volleyball and juniors girls’ basketball. Last year, volleyball passed basketball as the U.S. team sport with the most participants, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. The number of girls participating in volleyball has gone from 391,194 in 2005-06 to 432,176 in 2014-15, a 10.48 percent increase. During the same period, girls’ basketball has dropped from 452,899 to 429,504, a 5.2 percent decline. Another sign of growth: In the past five seasons, five new teams
have reached the NCAA semifinals for the first time: Florida State (2011), Michigan and Oregon (2012), BYU (2014) and Kansas (2015). There are also anecdotal indicators. Longhorns coach Jerritt
Elliott’s observation is that the sport’s presence in Texas is night and day different than when he arrived in 2001. “When I got to Texas, California was the hottest state and Texas wasn’t very hot,” he said. “Now [Texas] is arguably one of the best states. You look at the Midwest in terms of how many great players are coming out of here. … We’re getting better athletes that are coming over from different sports.” Not only are they coming from other sports in the Midwest,
they’re coming from California to play in the Midwest. That wasn’t always the case. Nebraska’s first three championship teams had no Californians; this year’s team had two, libero Justine Wong-Orantes (Cypress) and outside hitter Kelsey Fien (Bakersfield). Both were key contributors. The flip side is, more coaches around the country are optimistic
that they’ll have a chance to keep in-state blue chippers at home rather than watching them go to the traditional powerhouses. That’s the hope of University of North Carolina coach Joe Sagula. His Tar Heels made a nice run toward the semifinals last year but came up just short, losing to Texas in the regional finals. For him, Kansas’ success this year is further reinforcement that breakthroughs are within reach. “Having Kansas here gives hope for other kids,” he says. “Now,
when people say they want to make the final four, it’s not just a dream. It’s realistic. It’s like, if you get the right situation and get a little luck along the way, ‘It could be us.’”
USAVOLLEYBALL.ORG | 47
PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
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