Nebraska needs 4 sets to beat Kansas
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By TODD HENRICHS / Lincoln Journal Star
Give it up for the fan who dared to unveil his best Jordan Larson imitation in Wednesday night’s serving contest.
He missed out-of-bounds, which was in many ways the theme of the night for Nebraska’s second-ranked volleyball team.
The sellout crowd of 4,123 at the NU Coliseum was able to celebrate Larson’s record-setting ace for a few scant moments, but once that was in the books, the only real drama was seeing how long it would take for Nebraska to finally put away Kansas, the team picked to finish 10th in the Big 12 Conference this season.
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Nebraska coach John Cook joked that the four-set win (25-15, 25-19, 22-25, 25-15) kept him from getting home in time to watch “Dancing with the Stars.” Nebraska’s seniors, however, didn’t dance around what they considered a subpar performance.
“It’s important that we max out every night, and we didn’t tonight,” said Amanda Gates. “That’s why it feels like a loss.”
It wasn’t, of course, and as a result, Nebraska (11-0, 3-0 Big 12) extended its home-court winning streak to 77 and its mastery of Kansas to a fourth decade.
Wednesday’s match, however, was the first time that the Jayhawks took a set from Nebraska in the Coliseum since 1998.
Cook said the Jayhawks (7-5, 1-2) deserved credit for not crumbling, even as Nebraska tried to storm back from a 19-13 third-set deficit and secure a sweep.
But there were other times when the Huskers were dominant. In the first set, NU had runs of 5, 5 and 4 points in building an 18-6 lead.
Cook compared Nebraska’s play to that of a jet that burns the bulk of its fuel load upon takeoff. Admittedly, the Huskers started on less than a full tank of gas after last week’s emotional wins against Texas and Kansas State.
“Last week probably caught up with us a little bit tonight, not only physically but mentally,” Cook said.
For evidence, he pointed to Nebraska’s season-high 12 serving errors and the 16 hitting errors that came after a first set in which the Huskers hit a scorching .520.
By the end of the night, Nebraska’s hitting percentage had cooled to .258. Of NU’s attackers, only Tara Mueller (12 kills) hit at a .300 clip or better.
“You could see mental toughness go out the window,” said Larson, who had a double-double of 12 kills and 11 digs to lead Nebraska.
She added three aces, the first of which broke Val Novak’s 18-year school record of 161 career aces.
“It’s cool,” she said, but it was obvious this wasn’t the night to reflect on any individual achievement.
“We hold a pretty high standard for everybody,” she added, “and to see a little lull, when you didn’t think it was going to happen, that hurts.”
Kansas hit just .067, as Karina Garlington, the Jayhawks’ top scorer, offset her 10 kills with 10 errors. Nebraska native Savannah Noyes was the bright spot, scoring nine kills and hitting .263 for the Jayhawks.
Kori Cooper added nine kills and four blocks for Nebraska, and Lindsey Licht, on the heels of Saturday’s 17-kill milestone against Texas, had eight kills Wednesday and hit just .143.
“There’s a lot we can work on,” Gates said.
Reach Todd Henrichs at 473-7320 or thenrichs@journalstar.com.
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