Adversity Prepares Huskers for NCAA Tourney

John Cook's formula for his team advancing in the NCAA Volleyball Tournament sounds simple enough.
 
Play Husker volleyball, and manage emotions.
 
Yet Cook, the veteran Nebraska coach, can point to the just-completed regular season as an example for why it's not that easy – especially for a team with no seniors.
 
"It's been challenging at times," Cook said.
 
Especially so, he said, with the type of adversity his team has faced, including the death of 22-year old graduate manager Dane Leclair and the leave of absence of teammate Capri Davis for health reasons.
 
"This has been a really challenging season," Cook said. "These guys have had to really deal with a lot. More than I can remember in a long time."
 
That's probably one reason Nebraska wasn't "playing great volleyball for a while," Cook said.
 
However, it may have Nebraska and its senior-less team prepared as much as possible for yet another run to the Final Four.
 
"Adversity helps build strength," Cook said, "and pulls a team together."
 
No. 6 Nebraska (25-4) begins NCAA Tournament play Friday with a 7 p.m. match at the Devaney Sports Center against Ball State (20-11). The winner plays Saturday at 7 p.m. against the winner of Friday's match between Missouri (21-7) and Northern Iowa (24-10).
 
Sophomore setter Nicklin Hames, who played in the national championship match as a true freshman, knows what advice to give to this year's freshmen entering NCAA Tournament play for the first time.
 
"I think it can be nerve wracking at first because you don't know how the whole experience goes," Hames said. "I would tell them to trust yourself and just go for it. Just have to go out there and you got to battle, you got to play with heart."


 
With a plethora of newcomers, Hames wasn't surprised it took this team a while to mold, and said communication and consistency has steadily improved.
 
"I feel like we have this ultimate trust in each other, and this group is really close," Hames said. "Now when you watch us go out there, we just have so much fun playing with each other."
 
Cook has seen the same maturation process. Early in the season, some players may have been flustered when momentum swung the wrong way. Now, they learn to weather the storm.

Stay in moment. Breathe. Relax. Trust. Focus on winning the next point.
 
"It takes mature, experienced teams and players with a lot of confidence that they can block that (adversity) out," Cook said, "and figure out how they're going to win the next point."
 
He points to the strong, steady leadership of his captains, Hames and Lauren Stivrins, for helping engrain that thought process with the younger players. He lauded Stivrins for guiding the Huskers through a tense game-five victory at Minnesota after Nebraska had dropped two straight games.
 
"She really re-focused that team," Cook said, "and we probably almost played a perfect game – as close you can get."
 
Cook warns his team that anything can happen come NCAA Tournament time. He's seen underdogs come to Lincoln for first-round matches and "play out of their minds." The level of play won't be perfect for six straight matches. Teams might have to win ugly, and adjust on the fly.
 
"The key is winning three games by two points," Cook said. "Trust your training and win three games by two points. We don't care how it looks, what your stats are – nothing matters anymore. It's all about winning three games by two points."
 
Nebraska, which has a 52-match winning streak against unranked opponents, is looking to become the first team in program history to advance to five straight Final Fours. As motivation, players have a vivid memory of last season's narrow loss to Stanford in the national championship match.
 
"It's definitely been something we've had in the back of our minds," Stivrins said. "It's still been that picture of Stanford winning. It's still hanging up in our locker room, so we see it pretty much every day and use it as motivation."
 
Stivrins admits the team may have lost track of that "a tad" at the beginning of Big Ten Conference play; the Huskers finished 17-3 and in a three-way tie for second.
 
"We've definitely turned it around," Stivrins said. "This team is competing harder than we ever have."

Reach Brian at brosenthal@huskers.com or follow him on Twitter @GBRosenthal.