Huskers sweep Aggies in return to action
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BY TODD HENRICHS / Lincoln Journal Star
Wednesday’s sweep of Texas A&M marked Nebraska’s ninth straight win since Texas came to town.
In that time, the Huskers have grown in confidence, head coach John Cook says. They’ve continued to take steps while successfully avoiding any stumble.
But in those 32 days since facing another top-25 opponent, has Nebraska been able to keep pace with its rivals for the national title? Fans likely won’t know anytime soon since it’s still another long 2½ weeks before a ranked team returns to the Huskers’ schedule.
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“We’re improving in practice, and that’s our time to improve,” said senior Amanda Gates, who had eight blocks in Nebraska’s 25-16, 25-18, 25-13 dusting of the injury-riddled Aggies at the sold-out NU Coliseum.
From the point where Texas A&M led 15-14 in the opening set, Nebraska won 61 of the final 93 rallies. In the 11-1 run to close out the first set, Gates alone had a hand in four blocks.
Cook said that coming off a six-day layoff, serving was the best part of the Huskers’ game.
“We attacked with our serve tonight, and we were relentless with that,” he said. “We got some easy points because we took A&M out of system.”
Cook admitted to some hesitation as to how NU would bounce back from the time off. The Huskers practiced twice Monday to try to shake the rust from two days away from the gym.
“You just lose that edge, and it took us awhile to play into it tonight,” he said. “In game three, you could see it started coming back. We pretty much blocked and dug everything they hit.”
But what will be Nebraska’s edge when it pays Texas a return trip in November? The Longhorns will have faced no better competition than the Huskers in rolling through the Big 12, yet the same can’t be said for the other powerhouse programs.
Since Sept. 20, Penn State has played five matches against teams listed in this week’s top-25. California and Stanford? Four each.
Perhaps because there’s nothing he can do about it, Cook isn’t focused on that.
His aim is on the things that Nebraska must do better. Things like developing a consistent middle attack. Nebraska’s Gates and Kori Cooper combined for only six kills on 18 swings against the Aggies (9-11, 4-6 Big 12).
Lindsey Licht had seven kills, but hit .200 and was pulled for a stretch of the second set. The bulk of NU’s offense came from outside hitters Jordan Larson and Tara Mueller, who each had 13 kills and hit better than .400.
Nebraska (18-0, 10-0) now begins the second half of Big 12 play, where the Huskers will play six of 10 matches on the road, including the Nov. 19 showdown at Texas.
“We’ve got to find a point here, a point there as we go through the second half to get better,” Cook said. “Whether that’s one more tough serve, one more great pass, one more great dig, one more great kill or one more great out-of-system play, we’ve got to continue to find those points.
“I think this team is craving that.”
Reach Todd Henrichs at 473-7320 or thenrichs@journalstar.com.
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