The Coliseum gives a tremendous home court advantage to the Nebraska Volleyball team partly because of how close the crowd can get to the action on the floor.
Wednesday night, however, somebody got a little too close.
The Huskers had a slim 20-18 lead over Oklahoma in the second set when sophomore Lindsey Licht went back to make her approach for a kill, but she never made it the net because she stumbled over a courtside cameraman.
The officials originally awarded the point to Oklahoma, but they conferred and eventually reversed the decision and ruled a re-serve.
"I think what happened is she slipped on that cable or got caught up with that cameraman," said NU Coach John Cook. "I'm always asking the refs to make sure those guys stay back. And you watch them, and they move around, and they just tend to forget where they are."
Oklahoma Coach Santiago Restrepo was not too happy about the overruling. The game was delayed for about three minutes while he argued. Even after play resumed, Restrepo continued to argue.
The overruling seemed to deflate the Sooners as the Huskers would go on a 5-1 run to win the set and eventually the match.
Cook said he felt like the officials got the call right.
"A point should be replayed if a camera takes out one of our players," Cook said. "So I guess it's good TV and good controversy, but the fair thing to do is replay it."
The issue raises the question of how close is too close in a volleyball match. The Coliseum presents one of the tightest playing venues in volleyball.
"It is snug," Cook said. "But that's one of the great things (about the Coliseum). I heard several times that old Nebraska fans used to come watch basketball in the Coliseum, and they'd talk about how they could pinch the basketball players legs when they're taking the ball out of bounds.
"That's part of it. It doesn't happen very often."
Senior All-American Jordan Larson has started since she was a freshman, so she's played a fair amount of games in the Coliseum. She said people being too close to the court has never been a problem for her. In fact, she doesn't even notice them.
"I don't really pay attention to it," Larson said. "I just go on with what I'm doing, and if I step on them, it's probably going to hurt them more than me."
lukenichols@dailynebraskan.com
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