Digs: Nebraska Volleyball setters Evans, Orr ready to compete

Let the games begin!

Husker volleyball has its first two matches of the season on Friday vs. Colgate at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday vs. Kansas State at 4 p.m.. Head coach John Cook and setters Anni Evans and Kennedi Orr spoke to the media on Thursday about their upcoming matches.

Nicklin Hames, NU’s three-year starting setter, suffered an ankle injury during the Red/White Scrimmage and will not be playing this weekend. However, Nebraska’s other setters are ready to fill her role.

Here are notes on Cook, Evans and Orr’s comments on Thursday.

*** Cook said that both Evans and Orr bring something unique to the Huskers. Evans, a sophomore, has one year of experience in NU’s offense, unlike Orr, a freshman.

As for Orr, Cook said she is more physical.

“She can play bigger at the net and does some pretty impressive things at the net,” he said. “Our teams are comfortable with either one of them so I’m not worried about that.”

*** Cook said because Orr has bigger hands, her setter reminds him of how men set.

“That’s one of the reasons we wanted to recruit her,” he said.

He said he can’t remember the last time he saw a woman setter do that.

“She’s got a gift with her hands what she can do and she has big hands and she’s can just be in different positions and just set it,” he said. “She can just fling the ball around very easily. And she can be in all kinds of different positions.”

*** NU’s first game against Tulsa was canceled due to COVID-19 protocols and Tulsa withdrew from the invitational. Now, Nebraska opens with Colgate, a tougher opponent, at 6:30 on Friday.

“It creates a little more of a sense of urgency, we got to dial it in so I just don’t feel like we have as much time to mess around,” Cook said. “Colgate will have a big advantage already having played a match in the morning.”

*** Cook still hasn’t decided who the starting lineup will be, he said. His team is prepared to play in two separate lineups. He will make his decision tomorrow based on how the players ”look in the eyes.”

“We got a lot of players that can play we scouted the crap out of them and it’s all very even so probably I’ll lean toward more experience over less experience but we got to throw some of those freshmen in the fire and see what they can do.”

*** Evans said Hames has been helping both she and Orr prepare for their two games a provides coach-like advice.

“She has great advice, always and she just really pumps us up,” she said. “Even when we’re down and we’re having like a tough time when you think she always gives us advice.”

*** Evans has another fellow Waverly High School graduate and teammate Whitney Lauenstein.

“I love playing with Whitney and it’s just amazing,” she said. “It’s so much fun and we have a great connection playing high School, playing club together. It just feels like home.

“It’s just really comfortable. We really know each other. I know what she needs. She knows what I need.”

*** Saturday’s Red/White Scrimmage was the first time Evans, like many of her teammates, playing in front of a crowd in the Devaney Sports Center. For a Nebraska girl, Evans said it was a ‘surreal’ experience.

“I’m really excited to get to play a real game in front of them not just scrimmage this time,” she said.

*** Orr had a severe knee injury before her senior season of high school but has been practicing in 90 percent of practice, Cook preciously said. Orr said on Thursday that she feels “really good” physically.

“The two-a-day really helped me get ready,” she said with a laugh.

*** As the youngest setter, Hames and Evans have been helping Orr a lot during her time at Nebraska.

“They’re such a calming, competent presence as setters,” she said. “And that’s all you can ask for, especially when you’re a young player at Nebraska, and there’s a lot of people. I think as people and setters, they’re the best teammates you could have.”

*** The scrimmage helped Orr get the experience of having a crowd in Devaney before a game. She said that definitely will help her this weekend. Orr also said she had her ‘this is college volleyball’ moment then.

“That sunk in at Red/White, especially when you go and you see the 7,000-plus fans we had out there. That was crazy. I’m excited for the weekend it’d be fun.”