?Toughest Schedule Ever? Prepares Huskers for NCAA

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Randy York’s N-Sider

For every NCAA Volleyball Tournament, December is peak performance month. If you’re John Cook, the last month of the year is the perfect payoff for a head coach whose career record is near the top of his sport. It’s an inherent part of Nebraska volleyball history and why the Huskers are woven into the ultimate trifecta – Stanford, Penn State and Nebraska. The Huskers have made 33 consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament, the second highest total nationally. Nebraska also ranks second in NCAA Tournament victories with 89 and third in overall winning percentage (Stanford leads with .788, followed by Penn State at .757 and Nebraska at .754).

We post the exceptional, the elite and the excellence of all three perennial powers to point out why a very young Nebraska team has done everything humanly possible to prepare for the 2014 NCAA Volleyball Tournament. The Huskers (20-9) are ranked No. 11 in the latest AVCA Division I Coaches’ Poll. Three Big Ten Conference teams are ranked ahead of Nebraska – No. 2 Wisconsin (28-2), No. 4 Penn State (30-3), and No. 10 Illinois (24-7). That’s good news, not bad news, because the Huskers are hoping to capitalize on lessons learned from “the toughest schedule we’ve ever had at Nebraska,” Cook told me Tuesday. “You look at our record and look at the top 10 seeds in the tournament, and you’ll see that we’ve played six of the top 10, and we’ve played some of those top 10 teams more than once.”

Rank	School (First-Place Votes)	Total Points Adjusted	2014 Record	Previous Week
1	Stanford (43)	1464	29-1	1
2	Wisconsin (10)	1422	28-2	2
3	Washington (5)	1389	29-2	5
4	Penn State (2)	1313	30-3	4
5	Florida	1259	25-3	6
6	Texas	1232	23-2	3
7	North Carolina	1131	26-2	7
8	Florida State	1080	28-2	8
9	Colorado State	1008	29-2	9
10	Illinois	957	24-7	11
11	Nebraska	843	20-9	10

 

The Secret to NCAA Excellence: A Tough Schedule

In Cook’s mind, playing at the highest level of competition is a Nebraska hallmark. He sees it as step one in a three-level process in search of excellence. “Nebraska has always played a tough schedule,” Cook said. “When you’re in a really good conference, you’re always trying to play the best teams outside the conference. That’s No. 1 behind our (NCAA) accomplishments. No. 2 is playing a lot of games at home. It’s a six-match tournament and earning a seed to host the first two rounds is always a big help. No. 3, I think our off-season preparation and how we work in the summer help prepare us to be fresh and strong for the season.”

Cook also puts a premium on a disciplined approach to train and teach. “That goes all the way back to when Terry Pettit was here,” he said. “We’re always trying to get better every day,” Cook said, reaffirming how preparation is paramount “when you’re playing the best teams. That’s our theme every day in practice. We are always asking ourselves ‘What do we have to do to beat Stanford or Penn State?’ That’s our standard – to be at that level, so I think practicing hard every day is what allows us to be good at the end.”

Nebraska vs. Hofstra; Kansas State vs. Utah

Cook was breaking down film Tuesday when he took time to accommodate an interview while multi-tasking in the midst of game preparation. Even though the Huskers continuously benchmark the NCAA elite programs, they never look past any opponent. The No. 14 overall seed in the 64-team NCAA Tournament field, Nebraska will play Colonial Athletic Association champion Hofstra (28-5)   Friday about 7 p.m. at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.  The Nebraska-Hofstra match will start 30 minutes after the conclusion of the 4:30 p.m. opening match between Kansas State (22-8) and Utah (19-12). Five fellow Big Ten teams joined Nebraska in the NCAA Tournament field, including No. 4 seed Wisconsin, No. 5 Penn State, No. 9 Illinois, plus Ohio State and Michigan.

Cook has coached two national championship volleyball teams at Nebraska, so I ask him for perspective on a team that features only one senior, setter Mary Pollmiller, who Tuesday earned All-Big Ten Conference Honorable Mention honors. “We’re a very young group,” Cook said. “We’re a group that has a very high ceiling (winning three of four sets against Penn State last Oct. 3) but also have shown that we can have a low ceiling as well. We’re a work in progress, and it’s been that way all year. We’re good enough to beat anybody in the country, but we’re going to have to play our best volleyball of the season in the next two weeks.” Cook compartmentalizes what he sees as three distinctive competitive chunks of every season – 1) the non-conference season that included what he sees as the toughest in school history; 2) the Big Ten Conference season that started slowly, included eight straight triumphs (six with 3-0 sweeps and two 3-1 wins); and 3) the NCAA Tournament. “Everything is magnified in the NCAA because every point is very big and every play is really big as well,” Cook said. “The NCAA Tournament is what we’ve been playing for all year. Our mindset is to play the very best volleyball we’ve played all year. We’re confident. Now, we have to do what we know.”

Stress a Factor; Leadership the Defining Moment

Cook is convinced his team is ready to play more consistently at a higher level. “We have to trust our training and understand how we prepare,” he said. “The key question is what we do under stress. That’s going to be the big test. All the experiences we’ve had, dating back to last summer’s trip to China, will determine how much we’ve learned and what kicks in. These guys know what we can do, and they know how we have to play. Now, the defining moments are to go do it, and I know they can.

“Our leadership goes through Mary (Pollmiller), our only senior, and our other co-captains – (junior outside hitter) Alicia (Ostrander) and (sophomore libero) Justine (Wong-Orantes),” Cook said. Pollmiller has helped unify a lineup that includes two freshmen. Cook also credited outside hitters Kadie Rolfzen and Kelsey Fien, both of whom were named first-team All-Big Ten selections Tuesday. Rolfzen, a sophomore from Papillion, Neb., “has shown at times that she can take over a match,” Cook said. Fien, a junior from Bakersfield, Calif., has made a big breakthrough. “She’s played at a really high level for two months," Cook said.

Cook: NCAA Tournament is a Total Team Theme

“The NCAA Tournament is a total team theme,” Cook said. “Everyone will be playing for each other and playing with a lot of heart. You find out how true that is when you get there. The goal is always to make the Final Four. That’s why you play the game and we fell one match short of getting there last year. Teams playing here this weekend are not accustomed to crowds like we have, and in some ways that might help them. I like being in our own home and our own gym. We have a great fan base behind us. Our fans have been unbelievably supportive this year. They know when we need help and they find the way to muster it up. I think they’re enjoying watching this team develop.” 

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