Déjà vu all over again.
From the onset of Wednesday night's match, nothing seemed to go right for the No. 2 Nebraska volleyball team as it fell 3-1 to the Colorado Buffaloes 19-25, 25-27, 25-18 and 16-25.
It was the second time in three years the Buffs defeated the Huskers in Colorado.
In 2006, the then No. 1 Nebraska Cornhuskers traveled to Boulder, Colo., and lost in five games to the unranked Buffaloes.
In that match, the Huskers edged out the Buffs in every single statistical category and even had a 2-0 lead before the wheels came undone.
Colorado beat Nebraska in five sets.
At Tuesday's press conference NU Coach John Cook said 2006's matchup was a learning experience for his team.
Senior Jordan Larson referred to the 2006 game as "weird."
Wednesday night's matchup wasn't weird. It all boiled down to execution.
CU out-hit NU .188 to .153. Nebraska committed 30 errors on the night, including 14 service errors.
Those mistakes were the key factor in Colorado's win.
NU Coach John Cook said he talked to his team about their level of complacency this past week.
Cook said players weren't putting the team first, paying attention to detail in practice or working to get better; they were continually making errors.
"We talked to (the players) about it, and now they got a dose of reality," Cook said after the loss. "Colorado took advantage of our complacency and played a great match, and we kept giving them great opportunities to get the momentum and take it to us."
Senior Jordan Larson echoed similar sentiments following the loss.
"I think this whole year we've been really playing well as a team," Larson said. "We weren't really playing together as a team, and I think we were trying too hard for the little things."
Despite edging out the Buffs .070 to .059 in attack percentage in the opening set, the Huskers committed six costly service errors.
CU won the first set by six points, 25-19.
Nebraska had not dropped an opening set since the team faced off against USC at the Runza/AVCA Showcase on August 31.
The venue in Boulder is well above sea level, and balls have been known to travel further in the thinner air at the Coors Event Center.
But, Cook said, there were no excuses for his team's 14 service blunders.
"We talked about where to put the ball, but those service errors were in the bottom of the net," Cook said. "I don't care where you're playing. I don't care if you're up at 29,000 feet, you can serve it over the net."
In the second set, the Big Red looked to have regained their composure.
Despite momentum swinging in Colorado's favor, the two teams were knotted up at nine, when NU went on a 13-6 run to pull ahead 23-16.
It looked as if NU had regained control of the match.
However, coupled with three attack errors and the team's ninth service error on the night and third of the set, the Buffs erased the deficit and pulled ahead 24-23.
Colorado won the second set 27-25.
Cook said the Huskers handed the match to the Buffs right then and there.
But NU continued to fight and won the third set 25-18.
However, things still weren't right.
In the set the Huskers held a 15-6 lead, but Colorado mounted another comeback and pulled to within 20-16.
With two kills apiece from Larson and sophomore hitter Lindsay Licht, NU won five of the last seven rallies to pull out the win and hold off a stampeding sweep.
But in the fourth set, Nebraska's complacency got to them.
Down 10-13, Larson took to the air for a kill. Larson hit the ball, which dropped to the floor.
However, the referees ruled the ball never touched the block and fell out of bounds.
Both Larson and setter Sydney Anderson argued the call but to no avail.
"I thought if (the referee) was going to make the call, he should have looked at the other (referee) if he considered it out," Larson said. "It looked in to me. I'm not going to try to remember a lot of it."
With the team's first loss of the season, Cook said rebounding to prepare for Iowa State on Saturday is out of his hands.
"The players determine (how to respond)," Cook said. "We'll still stay with the plan, the weekly routine, but it's up to the players to make the adjustments and learn from this match."
NU vs. CU: By the Numbers
6 - Number of service errors in the first set for NU
14 - Number of total service errors for Nebraska in the match
4 - Number of service errors by Jordan Larson
2 - Number of times Nebraska has dropped an opening set this season
.070 - The Cornhuskers' opening set attack percentage
.059 - Buffaloes' opening set attack percentage
nickfilipowski@dailynebraskan.com
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