What Cook calls ‘a big deal’; Hames’ status; scouting Delaware State

The Nebraska volleyball team’s defense is limping into the postseason a little bit, with two of its worst outings coming in the final week of the regular season, against top-10 opponents Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Also, the Huskers lost key defensive player Kenzie Knuckles to a season-ending knee injury.

But NU was able to maintain its spot as the No. 1 defense in the nation. Nebraska’s opponent hitting percentage average is .129. Interestingly, Nebraska’s first-round opponent in the NCAA Tournament, Delaware State, has the No. 2 defense (.132).

During the NCAA Tournament selection show Sunday, the hosts talked about Nebraska coach John Cook, who started out as a high school football coach in California coaching defense.

“They were all giving me a hard time on that,” Cook said of the Nebraska players.

Cook is proud to have the top defense in the country.

“To be ranked No. 1 in (opponent) attack efficiency in the country is really hard to do it in our conference,” he said. “It’s a major accomplishment for our team because we play so many great teams. Usually it’s some team like Alabama A&M, or something, that plays in a conference that they just dominate. Those are the ones that usually win that. So to win it coming out of the Big Ten Conference is a really big deal.

“And I think we’ll end up being the least-aced team in the Big Ten. Statistically, we’ve done some really good things. Just against the big teams we haven’t hit well enough. That’s something we’ve got to be better at going down the stretch here.”

It’s a team effort to have the No. 1 defense. But it helps that NU senior Kaitlyn Hord is No. 4 nationally in blocking (1.55 per set).

Hames’ return: Setter Nicklin Hames didn’t play in NU’s last match because of illness, and her availability could be key for the Huskers. Cook said Hames took part in about 40% of Nebraska’s practice Wednesday. 

Delaware State making first appearance: Delaware State (24-6, 11-3) won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time.

In addition to their strong defense, the Hornets are second nationally in ace serves (2.22 per set).

Senior middle blocker Sydney Lewis is No. 2 in the nation in hitting percentage at .449, and averages 1.92 kills per set.

“They are very well coached,” Cook said. “Their coach (Bruce Atkinson) has a doctorate. So he’s done some good stuff. They’re athletic. They run a 6-2 (offense), but one of their setters (Malgorzata Andersohn) does a really nice job. She’s a very athletic, flies around and fires the ball around.”

Hornet got college start in Nebraska: One of Delaware State’s top players played junior college volleyball in Nebraska for two seasons. Karen Cordero was a junior college All-American while at Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff. She went to high school in Chula Vista, California.

The 5-foot-9 outside hitter ranks second in kills for the team with 249. 

Another strong TV rating: Last week’s match between Nebraska and Wisconsin had 587,000 viewers, which is the best for a volleyball match on Big Ten Network and the most for any college match on any network this season. That was 200,000 more than the same match last season.

Back to KFC Yum! Center?: Players and coaches can’t look ahead in the NCAA Tournament, but fans can. And if Nebraska and Louisville each win two matches this week, NU would be headed to Louisville, Kentucky, for the Sweet 16. The matches would be played at the KFC Yum! Center, and not the smaller on-campus arena in order to accommodate a larger crowd, according to a Louisville spokesperson. The KFC YUM! Center is where the Nebraska women’s basketball team played in the NCAA Tournament just eight months ago.

Worth quoting: “We’ve talked about this. We have potentially six more matches, that’s the maximum. And if we can play great volleyball, and believe that we can win for six matches, I think this team can beat anyone in the country.” — Nebraska’s Madi Kubik.