No. 6 Nebraska volleyball welcomes No. 5 Louisville to the Devaney Sports Center on Saturday. The Huskers are on a two-game losing streak and Saturday’s game is the last before Big Ten play commences.
Head coach John Cook and two players spoke to the media about their loss at Stanford and the importance of the upcoming game against the Cardinals.
*** Cook started four freshmen against Stanford on Tuesday. Along with libero Lexi Rodriguez, who has started every game this season, pin hitters Ally Batenhorst, Lindsay Krause and Whitney Lauenstein took the court first.
Cook has been struggling to find a consistent lineup with so many talented players on his roster. He said he knows more about what Lexi Sun and Madi Kubik can bring from his previous years of coaching them, so it was good to see what the freshmen could bring.
“‘I’m just trying to find out who’s gonna get it done,” he said. “That was a great test to put those guys out there and these guys have been trained really well.”
*** His biggest takeaway from the Stanford match was that his team competed hard. Cook said Nebraska gave up a big scoring run off of the Cardinal serve in sets one and three.
“We had chances in game four to win that game,” he said. “But the bottom line is, we got to find a way to kill more balls.”
*** Cook said Nebraska had faced two “really good” left-side hitters in Stanford’s Caitie Baird and Utah’s Dani Drews. He said they did “everything to stop” Baird, “she’s just really good.”
“We have to be able to match those guys and we’re not there yet,” he said.
*** Cook said the freshmen hitters need to learn to manage a bad set. In high school or club volleyball, they were able to get away with it, he said.
“Against teams like Stanford, Utah, you can’t just error out of it,” Cook said. “You’ve got to find a way to keep it in play and be creative.
*** Louisville’s head coach Dani Busboom Kelly played volleyball at Nebraska and won a National Championship on Cook’s 2006 team. She also coached under him from 2012-2016.
Cook said he takes a lot of pride in the success of the coaches that come through his program.
“For Dani to get Louisville where they’re at, it’s a big compliment,” he said. “It’s going to be a heck of a match.”
*** Busboom Kelly will be the first former player that Cook has coached against. Kayla Banwarth, current Ole Miss volleyball coach and former Nebraska volleyball player and assistant coach, is scheduled to play against Nebraska next season.
“They all want to knock us off,” Cook said with a smile.
*** Cook said outside hitters need to hit .250 or higher to be elite and All-Big Ten. He said Nebraska’s biggest jump needs to be at the outside hitter positions. Against Stanford, the Huskers’ highest hitting pin hitter was Lauenstein with a .176 clip.
*** The head coach said Louisville has a “very good blocking defense” and a couple of “big-time players” in outside hitter Aiko Jones and middle blocker Anna Stevenson, who he described as “dynamic.”
Setter Tori Dilfer is another player Cook pointed out as a difference-maker.
“They’re gonna play relentless, so it’ll be a great team to play for our players to understand how hard they’re gonna have to play and how hard it’s going to be to kill the ball,” Cook said.
*** Setter Nicklin Hames said her biggest takeaway from the Stanford loss was Nebraska needs to eliminate their opponent’s short scoring runs.
“It cost us those couple points that really decided how those sets were going to go,” she said. “We didn’t play in those big moments. And those couple points really turned it Sanford’s way, instead of turning it our way.”
Hames said she recognizes this team is young but believes they will learn to take advantage of those big moments.
*** Hames said she needs to get her hitters in better positions as their setter. She said Nebraska is working on getting the middle blockers going to open things up for the pin hitters.
“We’re setting the go ball a little bit more inside so they’ll have a little bit more range,” she said. “They’re doing a great job. I just got to get them into better positions, especially in transition.”
*** With many new hitters, Hames is still working with each of them to figure out where they like to be set up.
*** Nebraska wore leggings that stopped after their knees against Stanford. Hames said most of the players wear pants like that during practice because they’re more comfortable. The players talk about wearing leggings on game day often with Cook, according to Hames.
It worked out well for Stanford because they have a hardwood court instead of the Taraflex court Nebraska plays on. Hames said they slide better with the leggings, especially on the hardwood.
*** Unlike Hames, who said she prefers the leggings, Batenhorst said she likes the Spandex.
*** Batenhorst said it was “so much fun” playing on the court with her fellow freshmen.
“We’re all so close. It’s easy. It’s comfortable,” she said. “That was really cool. We never did that before.”
She said it’s so easy and comfortable with them because of their bond and experience playing together before Nebraska.
“I know how they play. I know how they are. We know each other, like, what we need from each other, and how to react with each other whenever things go wrong,” she said.
*** As a freshman, Batenhorst is still getting used to playing in huge matches. For example, in the history Nebraska vs. Stanford rivalry.
“There’s some really great players out there and it’s super fun to play against them,” she said. “Just crazy competition. Obviously, I’m a freshman, so I’ve never really played against such a great level of competition like this.”
*** Louisville had 15 blocks in their Wednesday night victory over No. 8 Kentucky. Nebraska is going to have to get creative with their kills against a big block like the Cardinals.
“It’s important that we do get those kills on our system sets, and just all of that and setting up quickly,” Batenhorst said. “We’ve been working on that in practice and that’s something we’re trying to improve on.”
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