Cook coaches Huskers against daughter’s volleyball team

Nebraska volleyball coach John Cook has a unique game-time decision to make Sunday.

Deciding how he plans to handle coaching against his daughter, Lauren, is something Cook has put off discussing. 

"You guys probably think I'm wearing a UCLA shirt under here," Cook said with a laugh at Tuesday's press conference. "Well, you'll just have to keep wondering."

Jokes aside, Cook made a valid point about his daughter's presence on the court this season. The Lincoln Pius X graduate entered this week's Ameritas Player's Challenge with a .519 hitting percentage for the Bruins while averaging one kill per game. The freshman is also averaging more than 30 assists a match.

"As a setter, that's pretty impressive," Cook said. "We're going to have to deal with that whether she's my daughter or not."

That kind of competition is something the Huskers need, Cook said, in order to prepare for the upcoming Big 12 Conference season. 

NU junior libero Kayla Banwarth said she too was anxious for the reunion and the test UCLA will provide for her team.

"It'll be interesting to see how it works out. I know she's hitting like .520," Banwarth said. "We've all seen her play before and we all know her style of play. I don't know if that will be an advantage to us, but I'm excited to play against her, and I think everybody else is, too."

UCLA comes into Lincoln as the winningest program in the country with 1,088 wins after Thursday's defeat of Brigham Young University. Nebraska ranks second with 1,066 all-time, and BYU is fourth with 1,035 wins.

Before the Huskers get to take on UCLA, though, they will host BYU tonight at 7 p.m. Even with the match-up of two storied programs, the focus of the weekend will be on Sunday's top-10 game pitting fifth-ranked Nebraska against the No. 8 Bruins.

Nebraska's contest against UCLA will be more than just a big match on the court. The game will be held at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, and Nebraska has the possibility of breaking it's own record with the largest crowd in NCAA regular season history.

"I think to keep all this in perspective for me, how I'm approaching it, it's going to be two top-10 teams playing in a sold-out arena," Cook said. "It's going to be maybe the biggest crowd in the regular season in college volleyball. It's really a celebration."

That celebration will go just a bit deeper for Cook. Not many parents get to schedule when their children come home, let alone from halfway across the country.

"She's really excited to come home," Cook said. "I'm really excited to see her, obviously, as a dad when your daughter first goes away to college."

davehoufek@dailynebraskan.com