Volleyball

NU Travels to Kansas State for Fourth Match in Seven Days

Lincoln -- The top-ranked Nebraska volleyball team continues a stretch that includes five matches in nine days Monday, Oct. 1, when it travels to Manhattan, Kan., to take on Kansas State in a 7 p.m. match at the Ahearn Field House. Nebraskas week-long stretch ends Wednesday, Oct. 3, when it plays host to Missouri at 7 p.m. The match will be televised live by NETV.

NU, which has swept Creighton, Iowa State and Baylor during the past week, owns a combined record of 61-1 against Kansas State and Missouri, but the Wildcats havent made things easy on Nebraska in recent years. Two of the last four matches between the two squads have gone five games, and Kansas State holds the distinction of being the only league team to beat the Huskers at home during the past 24 years. KSU, which upset No. 23 Texas Sept. 29, defeated NU in five games Sept. 22, 1999 at the NU Coliseum.

Nebraska enters the week fresh off its most efficient offensive performance of the season. NU swung for a season-high .408 hitting percentage at Baylor Sept 29. Four players hit .393 or better in the match, including junior middle blocker Amber Holmquist (13 kills, .647 pct.), junior outside hitter Laura Pilakowski (11 kills, .500 pct.), junior setter Greichaly Cepero (three kills, .500 pct.) and senior right side hitter Nancy Metcalf (13 kills, .393 pct.). Nebraska is hitting .305 on the season under Cepero, the 2000 AVCA Player of the Year.

Defensively, the Huskers have held their last five opponents to .108 or less at the net, and Nebraska has limited its last eight opponents to a .130 hitting percentage or less. NU is out-blocking teams 141.0-49.5 on the season.

Streaking Huskers
Some Nebraska streaks to watch:

  • The Huskers have won 34 consecutive home matches, including 33 straight matches at the NU Coliseum.
  • NU Head Coach John Cook is 23-0 in the Big 12 Conference.
  • Nebraska has won eight consecutive matches.
  • Nebraska has won 33 straight Big 12 matches.
  • The Huskers have won 24 straight games.
  • Junior defensive specialist Lindsay Wischmier has played in a team-best 78 straight matches.
  • Senior Nancy Metcalf has posted double-figure kill totals in her last 13 matches.
  • Nebraska has held its last five opponents to less than .110 at the net.
  • Nebraska has out-blocked its opponent in 64 straight matches. The Huskers were last out-blocked by Texas A&M Oct. 2, 1999.

A Look at Kansas State (7-3 Overall, 3-1 in the Big 12)
The Huskers will have their hands full Monday night at Kansas State, which upset No. 23 Texas Saturday night. Nebraska owns a 61-1 all-time record against KSU, but the rivalry between the two teams has heated up in recent years, as two of the last four matches have gone five games.

The previously-ranked Wildcats, the only conference team to push Nebraska to five games last season, list five players who hail from Nebraska on their roster. In fact, Kansas States top three attackers are from Nebraska, including Grand Island native Liz Wegner (first, 5.18 kills per game), North Bend native Jenny Pollard (second, 2.90 kpg), and Spencer native Lisa Mimick (third, 2.64 kpg). Other Nebraskans on the KSU roster include Jayne Christen (Tecumseh) and Katie Stanzel (Omaha).

The Wildcats are 7-3, with their losses coming to No. 12 Hawaii, No. 8 UCLA and at Texas Tech. KSU has struggled offensively at times, hitting .223 as a team with first-year setters Laura Downey and Gabby Guerre at the controls.

  • The Coach: The Wildcats are led by first-year coach Susie Fritz, who took over the reigns Aug. 1 after four-year coach Jim McLaughlin accepted the head coaching position at Washington. Fritz spent four years as an assistant at KSU before taking the head job.
  • The Series: Nebraska is 61-1 all-time against Kansas State. The Wildcats lone win came Sept. 22, 1999, at the NU Coliseum. KSU became the first league team to beat the Huskers at home since 1977.
  • The Last Time: The 2000 Nebraska squad became just the second team in school history to finish the conference season undefeated when it beat KSU, 3-2, in Manhattan Nov. 26. The Huskers were led by Anna Schrad, who posted 15 kills and 17 digs starting in place of AVCA All-American Laura Pilakowski, who was sidelined after an appendectomy.

A Look at Missouri (10-2 Overall, 2-2 in the Big 12)
The Huskers have not lost to the Tigers in 19 years, but Missouri is considered a program on the rise in the Big 12 Conference. MU finished the 2000 season tied for second in the league standings and earned an NCAA Tournament berth. The Tigers returned five starters from that team for the 2001 season, including All-Big 12 selection Lisa Morris. The junior outside hitter leads MU with 4.17 kills per game. Junior middle blocker Christi Myers averages 3.41 kills per game and a best-best 1.39 blocks per game.

  • The Coach: The Tigers are led by Susan Kreklow, who is 34-9 in her second year at the helm. Krelows husband, Wayne, serves as associate head coach.
  • The Series: Nebraska is 52-2-1 all-time against Missouri and hasnt lost to the Tigers since 1982.
  • The Last Time: The Huskers defeated Missouri, 3-0, in Columbia, Mo. Kim Behrends led NU with a career-high 14 kills while swinging at a .379 clip.

Pilakowski Power
As Nebraska has continued to improve each week, junior outside hitter Laura Pilakowski has made the most dramatic gains statistically. In the Huskers first five matches, Pilakowski, a 2000 AVCA First-Team All-American, averaged 2.43 kills per game on a .124 hitting percentage with 2.50 digs per game. In Nebraskas last six matches, the Columbus, Neb., native has increased her numbers in all three categories, averaging 3.44 kills per game (+1.01) with a .326 hitting percentage (+.202), and 2.89 digs per game (+0.39).

Dominant Defense
Nebraska has shown noticeable improvement statistically in every defensive category since its Sept. 1 upset loss to then-No. 8 Long Beach State. Against Long Beach State and in the two matches prior to the loss, the Huskers allowed a .211 opponent attack percentage while posting just 2.82 blocks per game and 14.73 digs per game. Since the loss, Nebraska has held its opponents to a .063 hitting percentage, while out-blocking teams 4.58-1.31 per game and and out-digging them 17.54-13.83 each game.
Defensively, the Huskers have held their last five opponents to .108 or less, and Nebraska has limited its last eight opponents to a .130 hitting percentage or less. NU is out-blocking teams 141.0-49.5 on the season.

Sure Shot
Through the Huskers first 11 matches, Amber Holmquist has been their most effective attacker. The junior middle blocker has 96 kills in 154 swings. She has hit for a .333 percentage or better in 10 of NUs 11 matches, including four performances of .600 or better and seven of .400 or better. The 2000 AVCA Second-Team All-American tied her season-high hitting percentage Sept. 29 at Baylor, posting 13 kills ond two errors in 17 swings (.647).

Holmquist leads the Huskers and the Big 12 Conference with a .487 hitting percentage in 2001, and she is hitting .495 against ranked teams. Holmquist is on track ot shatter the Nebraska single-season record for hitting percentage of .440, set by Virginia Stahr in 1989.

Holmquist finished the 2000 season ranked fourth nationally with a .406 hitting percentage. Holmquist hit .500 or better in 14 matches last season, and she swung at a .600 or higher clip six times.

Home Sweet Home
The Huskers have won 34 consecutive matches at home, and 33 consecutive matches at the NU Coliseum (NU defeated Colorado, 3-0, last season at the Bob Devaney Sports Center). Nebraskas last loss in Lincoln was a five-game defeat to Kansas State Sept. 22, 1999. The Huskers have gone undefeated at home 11 times in program history and have been perfect at home five times in the past seven years.

Top Dog
The Huskers were voted No. 1 in the AVCA/USA Today Coaches Top 25 poll released Sept. 24. The vote extended the Huskers streak of consecutive weeks ranked No. 1 to 17. NU is one of just three teams to be ranked in the AVCA poll for all 239 weeks, 211 of which have been in the top 10.

Last Time Out: Huskers Sweep Baylor
Waco, Texas - Four Nebraska volleyball players swung for a .393 hitting percentage or better as the top-ranked Huskers defeated Baylor, 31-29, 30-21, 30-18, Sept. 29, at the Ferrell Center in their best offensive performance of the season.

NU posted a season-high .408 hitting percentage while improving to 10-1 overall and 3-0 in the Big 12 Conference. Junior middle blocker Amber Holmquist tied her season-best with a .647 hitting percentage, pounding 13 kills and erring just twice in 17 swings. Junior outside hitter Laura Pilakowski posted 11 kills on a .500 percentage, and senior Nancy Metcalf recorded a team-best 13 kills while swinging at a .393 clip.

Husker setter Greichaly Cepero tallied 43 assists, three kills on a .500 hitting percentage, five digs and eight blocks in leading NU to a season-high .408 hitting percentage.

Baylor, which fell to 8-4 overall and 0-4 in the league, was led by sophomore Stevie Nicholas 14 kills.

Nebraska led, 28-27, in game one after a kill from Holmquist, but the Bears tied it at 28 and 29 with back-to-back kills from Stevie Nicholas. But Pilakowski answered with back-to-back kills of her own, sealing the 31-29 first-game win for NU when she slammed down a Baylor overpass.

Leading 16-14 in the second, the Huskers reeled off five straight points - including two blocks of Stevie Nicholas by Metcalf and Holmquist - to widen their lead to seven. The Bears never got closer than that. With the Huskers leading, 28-20, Pilakowski forced a game-point situation with a kill. Metcalf finished it off when she slammed a cross-court strike two plays later for the 30-21 victory.

The Huskers were never threatened in game three. NU led 12-2 early, as Metcalf reeled off eight straight points from behind the service line. Baylor pulled within five after two Nebraska errors, but Cepero followed a solo block of Laura Daniela Lloreda with a kill to give the Huskers a 22-13 advantage.

Shes Baaaack ...
One of the most dynamic attackers in school history, senior Nancy Metcalf (formerly Meendering) missed the 2000 national title run but has made an impressive return to the court this season. Metcalf has been the Huskers go-to player offensively, averaging 4.40 kills per game on a .357 hitting percentage. Metcalf, a two-time AVCA All-American, has also been a clutch performer defensively, averaging a team-best 3.26 digs per game, including a career-best 23 at then-No. 12 Pacific, Aug. 25.

Metcalfs performances have not gone unnoticed. She earned State Farm/NACWAA MVP honors after averaging 4.71 kills per game, a .377 hitting percentage, and 4.00 digs per game against then-No. 5 Hawaii and Pacific.

Metcalf was also named the Big 12 Conferences first 2001 volleyball player of the week Sept. 3 on the strength of her performances at the Sept. 1-2 Long Beach State Tournament. Metcalf led NU with a match-high 25 kills on a .477 hitting percentage in a 3-1 loss to No. 3 Long Beach State Sept. 1. The Hull, Iowa, native also posted the team-high in kills with 12 on a .375 percentage in the sweep over No. 13 UC Santa Barbara Sept. 2.

Metcalf already owns five school records, including single-season kills per game with 5.09 in 1999. The 1999 Big 12 Player of the Year, Metcalf redshirted in 2000 after training with the U.S. National Team during the offseason.

Super Setter
Nebraska junior setter Greichaly Cepero continues to baffle opponents with her all-around game. Cepero is averaging 12.77 assists per game, 1.97 digs per game, 1.26 blocks per game and 1.03 kills per game while leading NU to a .305 team hitting percentage this season.

Cepero virtually redefined the setter position as a sophomore last year and had one of the most successful seasons by a setter in school history, guiding the Huskers to a No. 1 ranking, a 34-0 record and a .312 hitting percentage (second in the nation) in her first season at the position.

A unique setter because of her blocking ability, Cepero was the only setter in the country to rank among the nations top 20 in blocking (18th, 1.48 per game). Cepero led Nebraska in solo blocks with 28 and was responsible for 34 percent of the Huskers total blocks (161 of 477.5). For the season, the Dorado, Puerto Rico, native, averaged 11.90 assists, 2.14 digs, 1.48 blocks and 1.83 kills per game.

Cepero capped her incredible 2000 season with countless awards. She was named the Honda Award winner for volleyball, the AVCA Player of the Year, a first-team AVCA All-American, the Big 12 Female Athlete of the Year, the Big 12 Player of the Year, the NCAA Tournament Central Regional MVP, a Second-Team Academic All-District VII selection and a First-Team Academic All-Big 12 selection.

Cepero became the seventh NU setter to earn All-America honors and the first to be named player of the year. Husker setters have combined to win 13 All-America awards.
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The Big 12s Best
Nebraska is looking to capture its fifth Big 12 Conference title in six seasons in 2001. The Huskers have won four Big 12 championships and 23 Big 12/Big Eight conference titles in the past 25 years. Nebraska owns an all-time record of 376-32-1 (.919) against Big 12 schools, and NU is 91-9 against Big 12 schools since the leagues inception in 1996. The Huskers have lost just once at the NU Coliseum in Big 12 history, a 1999 five-game defeat to Kansas State.

Top of the List
In the Big 12 Conference statistics released Monday, Sept. 24, Nebraska led the league in hitting percentage (.300) and blocks per game (3.87). NU players led both of the categories individually as well. Junior middle blocker Amber Holmquist ranks first in the conference with a .492 hitting percentage, and senior middle blocker Jenny Kropp leads the league with 1.77 blocks per game.

Holmquist ranks second in blocks per game (1.62), and Nancy Metcalf is fourth in kills per game (4.42) and ninth in digs per game (3.38).

Full House
Nebraska ranks second nationally in the latest NCAA volleyball attendance rankings. The Huskers are averaging 4,146 fans per contest through their first three home matches. Hawaii is first with 6,580 fans per match. Penn State, Long Beach State and Wisconsin round out the top five. Texas is the only other school ranking in the top 10. The Longhorns are eighth with 1,760 fans per match.

Nebraska finished second nationally in attendance last season, drawing a school-record 80,252 fans in 19 matches for an average of 4,224 per contest. The Husker faithful broke the NCAA regular-season attendance record, as 12,504 fans cheered Nebraska to a 3-0 win over Colorado Nov. 4 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

All-America U
Nebraska is the only team in Division I with four All-Americans in its starting lineup. Junior setter Greichaly Cepero and junior outside hitter Laura Pilakowski earned first-team All-America honors in 2000, while junior middle blocker Amber Holmquist was recognized on the second team. Joining the three 2000 All-Americans is Nancy Metcalf, a first-team All-America selection in 1998 and 1999. Metcalf, the 1999 Big 12 Player of the Year, redshirted 2000 after training with the U.S. National Team during the offseason.

The Nebraska volleyball program has now earned 38 AVCA All-America certificates, the second-highest total of any Division I institution. A total of 21 Huskers have earned All-America status, ranking Nebraska second all-time in total All-America athletes.

Nebraska Coach John Cook
John Cook (205-74) is in his second year as the Nebraska head coach after guiding the Huskers to one of the most successful seasons in NCAA history in 2000. Cook, who was named the AVCA Coach of the Year, guided the Huskers to a 34-0 record as they became just the second team in NCAA history to cap an undefeated season with a national title.

Nebraska was ranked No. 1 in the AVCA/USA Today Top 25 poll for a record 14 straight weeks and broke single-season school records for wins and winning percentage. Sophomore setter Greichaly Cepero earned AVCA National Player-of-the-Year honors. Three Huskers won AVCA All-America certificates, and five Nebraska players were named to the All-Big 12 teams. Laura Pilakowski earned Verizon/CoSIDA Academic All-America honors, and a conference-best seven Huskers earned Academic All-Big 12 recognition.

Cook, 44, has continued his success in 2001, as the Huskers have gone 10-1, defeating seven ranked teams. Cook has improved his Nebraska record to 44-1, and he is 23-0 in Big 12 matches.

Cook took over the Nebraska head coaching job after serving as associate head coach during the 1999 season. Before returning to Nebraska in 1999, he led Wisconsin to six straight postseason appearances in seven seasons as the Badgers head coach.

Cooks accomplishments at Wisconsin earned him praise as one of the games top young coaches. He built the Badger program into a top-10 program during his seven-year career in Madison, which included back-to-back trips to the NCAA regional finals in 1997 and 1998. Cook compiled a 162-73 record at the helm of the Badgers, including an 89-51 Big Ten record. He was named the Big Ten Co-Coach and AVCA District 2 Coach of the Year in 1997 after leading the Badgers to a share of the Big Ten title with a 19-1 mark and school-record 30-3 overall record. Cook coached four All-Americans, nine AVCA All-District award winners, 11 All-Big Ten honorees and two Big Ten freshmen of the year at UW. He also coached 21 academic All-Big Ten selections during his seven seasons.

A graduate of the University of San Diego, Cook earned his bachelors degree in history in 1979. He completed his masters degree in teaching and coaching effectiveness from San Diego State in 1991.
Cook and his wife Wendy, a former two-time All-America setter at San Diego State, are the parents of two children, Lauren, 10, and Taylor, 7.