Husker volleyball’s Mueller excited to lead team to success

Doug Burger

DAILY NEBRASKAN

The tears shed after the Cornhusker volleyball team's loss to Texas in December indicated the team wasn't satisfied with how its season ended.

The current Husker squad is nearly identical to the team that reached the Elite Eight in last season's NCAA tournament. It's almost exactly the same team that won its final seven Big 12 Conference matches.

Now, the players are a year older and know what kind of potential they have.

"I do expect big things for this team." senior Tara Mueller said. "And I am really excited for this year, especially because since our whole team is here already. I know what we can do, so I'm really excited to just see it all start to come together."

Nebraska will finish its spring season this weekend in Minneapolis against Minnesota. The Huskers defeated the Golden Gophers in five sets at the beginning of last season.

Although the matches during the spring season don't count in any standings, the practice time is valuable.

"When we have the opportunity to play six-on-six, a three-and-a-half-hour practice goes by a little quicker than if you only have eight people," NU coach John Cook said. "We have a lot of players we have to give a lot of work to. We are also trying to build some mental toughness."

In a drill during Wednesday's practice, Cook lined up Mueller, Hannah Werth and Gina Mancuso in the back row and had all three receive serves. For each pass that went awry, Cook had his three outside hitters run.

The players continued to seem more focused as the drill went on.

"We're not being harder on them," Cook said. "We are raising the expectation of what they can do. We're trying to push the envelope on how good they can be. Sometimes you have to push them a little bit so they can find out how far they can go."

Mueller will be an important part of the success for this Husker team. She was an All-American during her sophomore season, averaging 3.51 kills and 2.37 digs a set. Mueller was given an increased role with more defensive responsibilities last season.

"I think the biggest thing that has changed with me is figuring out how to be a leader and how to lead by example and just still be me on court," Mueller said. "I've really learned how to control what I can and worry about that."

Mueller said the work the Huskers are putting in this spring will make things easier during the fall. Mueller saw her attack numbers go down in 2009, but other aspects of her game got stronger.

"I think Tara realizes that this is her senior year and she wants to have a big impact, but she will also have people pushing her for playing time so she's trying to fight for her spot," Cook said.

Nebraska has a chance to be one of the top teams in the country in 2010, and players like Mueller will have to lead the way.

"Our younger players look up to the seniors so she has more eyes on her," Cook said. "I think she understands what it takes and hopefully she's bringing that to practice every day and impacting the other players so they know what it's going to take."

dougburger@dailynebraskan.com