KORTH: Volleyball season proves unsuccessful after early postseason exit

Nebraska volleyball was on a tear.

The Huskers ranked No. 1 in the nation. They had a record of 19-1 through 20 games, and the single loss could be attributed to early season jitters for a loaded team replacing four starters.

It seemed like every week the Huskers would play a quality opponent. And win. In fact, NU posted a 7-0 record against ranked conference opponents in its first 11 games as a member of the Big Ten, a conference that features six teams in the NCAA tournament's round of 16.

This is when Nebraska won the Big Ten. It was on top of the world; most of its difficult games were out of the way. It held the tiebreaker over Illinois and started its newest road trip off with a victory over Ohio State at St. John Arena.

Then Oct. 29 happened, and things fell apart.

The Huskers were in the middle of their toughest road trip of the season.

It started in Columbus, Ohio, Friday night when NU had to take on the No. 23 Ohio State Buckeyes. Then for Saturday it had to hit the road for State College, Pa., to play the No. 8, and four-time defending national champions Penn State Nittany Lions.

So on an overcast day, the Huskers traveled in. And on a snowy night they lost a humiliating match to PSU 3-1 on the Big Ten Network.

After that loss the Huskers returned home at about 2 a.m. The team was worn out. That loss was hard. The Huskers were previously the top-ranked team in the land. And their season took another turn downwards when Lauren Cook was arrested for leaving the scene of a personal injury accident. That was a distraction added onto distractions that were never discussed in front of the media and never will be.

But the Huskers limped to the finish line with a 5-3 record where they went 2-2 against ranked opponents, won the Big Ten trophy against a pretty awful Iowa squad (1-19 in Big Ten play), then finished off the year with a loss to another cellar-dweller Northwestern (8-12 in conference play).

Then after a victory Iowa could've had over Jackson State, a team NU coach John Cook couldn't find on a map, the Huskers lost a heartbreaker in five sets to unranked Kansas State.

It was the ending to be expected after such a crummy second half.

It's possible to look at a season in two ways: It was a success or it wasn't.

Nebraska accomplished all of its goals, John Cook said following the loss to K-State.

After all, the Huskers won the conference that sent eight teams to the NCAA tournament.

The Huskers had wins over some of the best programs in the country. Purdue, Illinois and Penn State could all very likely be in the final four teams remaining in the NCAA tournament come next Thursday.

But those aren't the parameters to grade Nebraska on. Teams with regular season success aren't remembered forever.

Isn't that the knock on Husker football of late?

Nebraskans have high expectations. They want wins from their team, and when they can't deliver it's a disappointment.

Husker fans expect Nebraska volleyball players to be playing in Hawaii next weekend, not sitting in Lincoln worrying about their finals.

Expectations were high for this team: Everybody thought they could, should and would go all the way.

And that's why I think the 2011 season wasn't a success. The Huskers couldn't capitalize on the momentum of winning the best-represented conference in the NCAA Tourney and even advance to the round of 16.

You can win all the regular season games you want, but if you can't even sniff the big one in the postseason after dominating the SEC of volleyball, then your season is a disappointment.

Programs like Nebraska are designed to win national titles, not close out their seasons at home against K-State.

Robby Korth is a sophomore news-ed major. Reach him at robbykorth@dailynebraskan.com