After two emotional wins against Kansas State and Texas, the biggest fear Nebraska volleyball coach John Cook had was that his team might suffer a letdown against Kansas.
He may have had good reason. Even though Nebraska defeated the Jayhawks Wednesday night at the Coliseum, the match took a little longer than expected.
KU pushed the Huskers to a rare fourth set (25-15, 25-19, 22-25, 25-20), but NU improved to 11-0 on the season. Judging by the players' attitude afterward, however, one would think they lost.
"I think it's important that we have to max out every night," said NU senior Amanda Gates. "We definitely didn't do that tonight, and so that's what makes it feel like a loss."
The Huskers stormed out of the gates with victories in the first two sets, but their adrenaline ran out in the third set when the Jayhawks mounted a 19-13 lead.
NU fought back in the set to even the score at 20-20, but KU rallied for three straight points and eventually shut the door on the Huskers forcing a fourth set.
Cook said he was pleased with how his team performed early on but said the adrenaline wore off and his team started scoreboard watching.
"Once you start looking at the scoreboard, you forget how to play and compete," Cook said. "We just looked sluggish, and we were a step behind and kind of lost our focus. All the parts of the game started struggling, and Kansas took advantage of it, especially in game three."
Nebraska responded well in the fourth set by busting out to an early 5-0 lead and never looking back.
After the third-set loss, Cook said he didn't have to say much to his team.
"That was a chance for them to decide how they were going to handle it," Cook said. "At that point, the ball was in the players' court. What are they going to do now, how are they going to respond, and we came out and went up 5-0, which was a big statement."
Cook said looking at the amount of errors the Huskers had indicates a lack of concentration. NU had a season-high 12 serving errors on the night and 19 attack errors, including six from senior All-American Jordan Larson.
"(Larson) made some really un-Jordan like errors tonight, hitting into the net," Cook said. "So it's all focus. It's all getting your feet there and moving. Last week probably caught up with us a bit, not only
physically, but also mentally."
Larson made history, however, when she broke Val Novak's school record of 161 career service aces when her first-set jump serve painted the back line drawing a thunderous ovation from the crowd. It was one of three service aces Larson had on the night.
Larson and sophomore Tara Mueller led the Huskers with 12 kills each. Mueller had a team-high .300 hitting percentage.
As a team, the Huskers only hit .258 after hitting a staggering .520 in the first set.
Cook said the disappointing thing about the game was that it gives Kansas confidence for when the two teams meet again and gives Iowa State - Nebraska's opponent on Saturday - confidence as well.
He said hopefully the team will be able to build on this and learn from it.
"Hopefully it'll send a message to our players that they've got to learn," Cook said. "These guys have got to work through that, to learn to be good every night."
lukenichols@dailynebraskan.com
Be the first to comment on this article!