How To Get Good At Volleyball

Nebraska volleyball's schedule is about to get much tougher

John Cook on his "player-driven" team

LINCOLN — Nebraska traversed the first part of its Big Ten schedule with relative ease, going 9-0 and dropping just two sets.

The Huskers enter the final match of the first half of their league schedule atop the standings, but the road ahead will become much more challenging with ranked opponents awaiting around every corner.

That journey starts Saturday when the No. 9 Huskers take on No. 7 Purdue at 8 p.m. at the Devaney Center.

Nebraska (15-3, 9-0 Big Ten) will face four top-15 teams during the next two weeks. After Purdue it's No. 3 Wisconsin, at No. 12 Minnesota, at Illinois (received votes in this week's poll) and at No. 6 Ohio State. Seven of the Huskers' final 11 matches will be against ranked teams.

Senior setter Nicklin Hames said they look forward to the challenge and are excited to see how they stack up against the teams battling for a conference title.

"I think we're in a really good groove now defense-wise, offense-wise, and it just feels like we're finally starting to get it together," Hames said. "That's why I'm excited that now we get to play these top-10 teams when we feel like we're hitting our stride."

Nebraska volleyball's Callie Schwarzenbach is ready to play even if she isn't starting

This match will also be the first between NU and Purdue in almost two years. Purdue was one of two teams not on the Huskers' schedule during the spring season.

But NU will see a lot of familiar faces from their last meeting, which Purdue won in five sets in West Lafayette. Purdue (14-4, 6-3) features seven seniors, including outside hitter Caitlyn Newton, libero Jenna Otec, four-year starting setter Hayley Bush, outside hitter Grace Cleveland and middle blocker Jael Johnson.

The Boilermakers are effective at the net, ranking second in Big Ten matches in blocks per set and first in fewest blocks allowed.

Nebraska defensive specialist Kenzie Knuckles said she's impressed by Purdue's scrappiness and expects a lot of long rallies.

"They have really good defenders, so we just have to be ready to play knowing that we're not going to get a first-ball kill all the time," Knuckles said.

Facing multiple top-10 teams in a few weeks isn't unprecedented in the Big Ten. The Huskers faced a similar gantlet in 2018, when they played seven top-10 teams over five weeks and went 2-5 against them. In 2017, the Huskers played four ranked teams in a five-match stretch, including three in the top 10, and beat them all.

A reminder of the Big Ten's depth came Wednesday night when Iowa pushed Nebraska in each set of a sweep, and Purdue lost in five sets to unranked Michigan State.

"It doesn't matter if you're ranked or not in the Big Ten," NU coach John Cook said. "You're going to play a lot of really good teams in the Big Ten. It's a way of life."

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The second left-side hitter will be key to Nebraska's success during the next few weeks.

Freshman Ally Batenhorst has started every Big Ten match, but she's struggled at times. For every productive match (15 kills vs. Penn State, five kills on seven attacks against Indiana), she has one where she struggles (five kills and five errors at Iowa, a negative hitting percentage against Illinois).

Senior Lexi Sun has made late appearances in the last four matches, but hasn't looked like a two-time All-American. She has just five kills and four errors on 22 swings in those matches.

Cook said Sun, who has been seen wearing a back brace at times, is 100% healthy but hasn't found a rhythm this year because it's more challenging to come off the bench.

"Those guys competed for a long time, and Ally was better," Cook said. "Lexi rotates in there, and we're keeping her in there because at some point we're probably going to need her."

The determining factors between Batenhorst and Sun have been blocking and hitting. Cook said Sun will get the more spectacular stuffs, but Batenhorst gets her hands on more attacks because of the two-inch height difference.

Another option in the front row is Whitney Lauenstein, who Cook said is close to playing time, but inconsistency holds her back.

While the Huskers' lineup has produced good results so far in Big Ten play, Cook said he wants each player to continue to push themselves.

"We're going to find out in the next couple of weeks here who can step up," Cook said. "We've had some people already step up at times. The thing is, can we do it consistently against a bunch of great teams? I think we got a lot of players that want to try to prove it, and we'll see."

Looking back at the last five seasons of Nebraska volleyball

2020-21

2019

2018

2017

2016

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