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Santa Clara v. NU--9/1/18

carrolltonsker

Husker Immortal
15 Year Member
I couldn't do the PBP today, but here is the write-up of the match.

http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=211770262

LINCOLN, Neb. - The No. 5 Nebraska volleyball team capped an unbeaten weekend with a 3-1 win over Santa Clara to win the Ameritas Players Challenge title in front of a crowd of 8,047 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center on Saturday afternoon.

The Huskers (4-1) dominated set one, 25-13, before slipping in set two and falling 21-25. But the Big Red recovered emphatically to win the final two sets, 25-9 and 25-15. Jazz Sweet led all players with 14 kills on .345 hitting with four blocks, and Mikaela Foecke had 10 kills, 10 digs and three ace serves to earn tournament MVP honors.

Capri Davis came off the bench to chip in eight kills on .375 hitting with three blocks, while Callie Schwarzenbach had a career-high nine blocks to lead the defensive effort. Lauren Stivrins added seven kills and three blocks along with two more aces. Stivrins and libero Kenzie Maloney, who had nine digs, were also named to the all-tournament team.

Freshman setter Nicklin Hames produced her third double-double in five matches with 37 assists and 13 digs. She also had five kills and served three aces.
 
Great job ladies. I honestly can't see a loss, in the rest of the noncon games.
 
Odd.......
Odd as in strange, odd as in weird, odd as in "Odd Thomas" odd.

Not sure I've seen a line of scores quite like what resulted from the Nebraska - Santa Clara match, at least not in recent memory. 25-13, 21-25, 25-09, 25-15. One of these things is not like the other, one of these things is not quite the same......
If you remove the second set score, you end up with a result almost the same as the annihilation of Wake the previous day (25-14, 25-11, 25-09). So what happened in that 2nd set? Can it be explained with natural laws and causes? It is almost as if at 15-12 Nebraska, we slipped into an alternate universe where up is down, in is out, left is right, and right is wrong. A service error here, a passing error there, and a hitting error yonder and before you could blink twice, the Broncos had won the set. The 2nd set was inexplicable, but of course the Head Coach made a stab at it in the post-match presser. His thoughts were when the team made a couple of errors, they collectively tightened up a bit which caused additional errors. He said that when someone makes an error, they (the team) needs to put it behind them, and just play for the next point (point by point). He also indicated that last year's team had perfected that point by point mentality. It should be noted that the bulk of the service errors occurred in the 2nd set.
Fortunately, all the ghosts of errors past where left in the locker room at intermission, the universe righted itself, and Nebraska cruised in the last two sets.

Sweet was outstanding the last two matches of the Ameritas Players Challenge and probably would have made the all tournament team if she had a better game against Ohio. Can she maintain that level of performance when the level of competition ratchets up? Foecke, Stivrins, and Maloney did make the all tournament team for the Huskers, with Foecke being the MVP.

The middle play continues to impress. Stivrins' impact nearly rivals Foecke's, particularly now that her service game has improved. She (Stivrins) just doesn't get the same number of attacks. Schwarzenbach had NINE blocks and continues to improve offensively. Unless there is an injury, the middle blocker position looks to play at a championship level by the time the B1G schedule rolls around.

And then we come to the drama that IS the competition for the 2nd Outside Hitter. At the post game presser when the subject was brought up, I'm not sure if Coach Cook feels frustrated by the situation, but he certainly is baffled. Slaughter was more consistent, but is hitting at too low a percentage. She has an issue beating single blocks, nevermind when 4 hands are in her face. Davis is too wildly inconsistent. To paraphrase Coach Cook, "today she (Davis) came in and played like an All-American, yesterday it was like she had never touched a volleyball." This is where we miss Ty Hilderbrand. I mention this in another post, but he was largely responsible for last year's 2nd Outside Hitter development. After the Ameritas Challenge last year, there were still question marks about the 2nd Outside Hitter position. Then the light came on for Anika Albrecht, all the training fell into place, and she dominated in the UCLA matches on the way to an All-American season. I'm not sure the new assistant has the same skill set, or level of proficiency, as Hildebrand did. Regardless, there is Lexi Sun in the wings. Hopefully Lexi's play matches the hype and she can stay injury free.

Cook seemed please with the improvement of the team, particularly in the service game. This was the first match this season where the team had more service aces (10) than errors (8), despite the rash of errors in the 2nd set. He has several servers that can stress the opposition, and adding Stivrins to that list only helps.

Nationally, No. 1 Stanford lost to No. 9 BYU (a home match for BYU), and No.7 USC traveled to No. 4 Florida and beat the Gators in 4 sets. USC then turned around and lost to UCF in 4 sets the next day. The Huskers may move up to No. 4, unless they decide to push the Cougars past Nebraska.

Next up is Creighton who also won three matches in Dallas over the weekend. They beat Arkansas State, NC State, and SMU each in straight sets, however, the Mustangs pushed the Blue Jays in their match by taking two sets into deuce (27-25, 26-24, 25-21).

Edit on the national scene: No. 2 Texas lost to No. 8 Wisconsin in 4 sets at Madison. So both 1 and 2 lose this weekend, plus Florida losing at number 4. I'm still guessing Nebraska moves up to 4, but there are a lot of moving parts in this week's poll.
 
Last edited:



Odd.......
Odd as in strange, odd as in weird, odd as in "Odd Thomas" odd.

Not sure I've seen a line of scores quite like what resulted from the Nebraska - Santa Clara match, at least not in recent memory. 25-13, 21-25, 25-09, 25-15. One of these things is not like the other, one of these things is not quite the same......
If you remove the second set score, you end up with a result almost the same as the annihilation of Wake the previous day (25-14, 25-11, 25-09). So what happened in that 2nd set? Can it be explained with natural laws and causes? It is almost as if at 15-12 Nebraska, we slipped into an alternate universe where up is down, in is out, left is right, and right is wrong. A service error here, a passing error there, and a hitting error yonder and before you could blink twice, the Broncos had won the set. The 2nd set was inexplicable, but of course the Head Coach made a stab at it in the post-match presser. His thoughts were when the team made a couple of errors, they collectively tightened up a bit which caused additional errors. He said that when someone makes an error, they (the team) needs to put it behind them, and just play for the next point (point by point). He also indicated that last year's team had perfected that point by point mentality. It should be noted that the bulk of the service errors occurred in the 2nd set.
Fortunately, all the ghosts of errors past where left in the locker room at intermission, the universe righted itself, and Nebraska cruised in the last two sets.

Sweet was outstanding the last two matches of the Ameritas Players Challenge and probably would have made the all tournament team if she had a better game against Ohio. Can she maintain that level of performance when the level of competition ratchets up? Foecke, Stivrins, and Maloney did make the all tournament team for the Huskers, with Foecke being the MVP.

The middle play continues to impress. Stivrins' impact nearly rivals Foecke's, particularly now that her service game has improved. She (Stivrins) just doesn't get the same number of attacks. Schwarzenbach had NINE blocks and continues to improve offensively. Unless there is an injury, the middle blocker position looks to play at a championship level by the time the B1G schedule rolls around.

And then we come to the drama that IS the competition for the 2nd Outside Hitter. At the post game presser when the subject was brought up, I'm not sure if Coach Cook feels frustrated by the situation, but he certainly is baffled. Slaughter was more consistent, but is hitting at too low a percentage. She has an issue beating single blocks, nevermind when 4 hands are in her face. Davis is too wildly inconsistent. To paraphrase Coach Cook, "today she (Davis) came in and played like an All-American, yesterday it was like she had never touched a volleyball." This is where we miss Ty Hilderbrand. I mention this in another post, but he was largely responsible for last year's 2nd Outside Hitter development. After the Ameritas Challenge last year, there were still question marks about the 2nd Outside Hitter position. Then the light came on for Anika Albrecht, all the training fell into place, and she dominated in the UCLA matches on the way to an All-American season. I'm not sure the new assistant has the same skill set, or level of proficiency, as Hildebrand did. Regardless, there is Lexi Sun in the wings. Hopefully Lexi's play matches the hype and she can stay injury free.

Cook seemed please with the improvement of the team, particularly in the service game. This was the first match this season where the team had more service aces (10) than errors (8), despite the rash of errors in the 2nd set. He has several servers that can stress the opposition, and adding Stivrins to that list only helps.

Nationally, No. 1 Stanford lost to No. 9 BYU (a home match for BYU), and No.7 USC traveled to No. 4 Florida and beat the Gators in 4 sets. USC then turned around and lost to UCF in 4 sets the next day. The Huskers may move up to No. 4, unless they decide to push the Cougars past Nebraska.

Next up is Creighton who also won three matches in Dallas over the weekend. They beat Arkansas State, NC State, and SMU each in straight sets, however, the Mustangs pushed the Blue Jays in their match by taking two sets into deuce (27-25, 26-24, 25-21).

Edit on the national scene: No. 2 Texas lost to No. 8 Wisconsin in 4 sets at Madison. So both 1 and 2 lose this weekend, plus Florida losing at number 4. I'm still guessing Nebraska moves up to 4, but there are a lot of moving parts in this week's poll.
If that’s your write up..... that’s a great write up!!!!
 
If that’s your write up..... that’s a great write up!!!!

It is, and thanks for the feedback. I'm sure some people wonder why I do it. The main reason I do the write up is as a mental exercise. I'm older, so I'm trying to do things to stave off the inevitable mental decline like reading, puzzles (sudoku), etc. Writing uses different parts of the brain so I find it useful. I could do a dear diary thing, but I find introspection mind-numbingly boring. So I picked Husker volleyball which is something I enjoy.
Of course I could give up something else which would probably help maintain my mental acuity more, but I simply refuse. Can you say........beer.....ummm......
The secondary reason is that I hope that it drives some comments, some back and forth. Like your post on Stivrins and Hames. If the team contends for the B1G and is highly ranked going into the NCAA's, I agree Stivrins could get some All-American chatter this year, probably Honorable Mention. What makes her unique to other Middle Blockers is her ability to serve. At the collegiate level, MBs serving is rare, at the international level apparently it is required. So again, Cook is not just grooming his girls for success at the college level, he prepares them for the next level.
 

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