Cornhusker volleyball wins over Illinois, 3-2

Nebraska volleyball snuck past visiting Illinois Saturday night in five sets (23-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-18, 15-12) behind the strong play of middle blocker Brooke Delano.

Delano, who earned second-team All-American awards last year, led the Cornhuskers with 16 kills and three blocks. The Bellevue West product finished the night with a .448 hitting percentage.

Delano said she's used the spring to clean up her game.

"Now I really want to focus on little things and be a smart attacker," Delano said. "For example, if my feet aren't there I might tip it. Now I know when it is a good time to tip it rather than just blast it and possibly get blocked."

Delano didn't have to do it alone, as former All-American Tara Mueller showed why she earned the distinctive honor in 2008 with 16 kills and a .328 hitting percentage. Her play was encouraging to NU coach John Cook considering the struggles she had last season.

"Tara was ‘All-American Tara' tonight," Cook said.

Hannah Werth continued to excite fans throughout the night with several powerful kills, finishing with 11.

The team's overall play, however, had Cook less excited.

"I'm alarmed, because I know we've got to get a lot better," Cook said.

Cook was most disappointed with Nebraska's inability to hold onto leads. Nebraska gave away the first and the third sets despite holding the lead throughout most of the action. Cook said the team didn't stay sharp through those sets.

"We continue to make batches of errors," the coach said. "That's the one thing that allows teams to play with us."

Delano said she thinks the exhibitions are a good way for the team to learn more about itself.

"These are great matches to learn from," Delano said. "These are great matches to fix things so next fall we can make it better."

This spring Cook has experimented with his lineup, trying out several different players. Saturday night, Morgan Broekhuis, a redshirt freshman from Colorado, made her home debut. Broekhuis finished the night with six kills and four blocks, with most of her playing time coming early in the evening.

Cook said Broekhuis started strong but might have worn down with the adrenaline surrounding her first home match.

Nebraska also received contributions from Allison McNeal, Hayley Thramer, Megan Pendergast and Gina Mancuso. Setter Lauren Cook did not play as she has been sidelined by illness all spring.

Last night, Delano stated how excited she is for next season.

"I think this is just a glimpse of what we can do," she said. "We are going to do big things and this was a fun night."

michaelschaefer@dailynebraskan.com