Huskers romp past Long Beach State

[Eric the Red]

Huskers romp past Long Beach State

 

BY TODD HENRICHS / Lincoln Journal Star

Monday, Sep 04, 2006 - 12:09:40 am CDT

 

Nebraska's Rachel Holloway (left) and Tracy Stalls go up for a block in the Huskers' win against Long Beach State in the Labor Day Tournament at the Coliseum on Sunday. (Jill Peitzmeier)

 

It wasn’t magic, yet Nebraska’s top-ranked volleyball team showed some sleight of hand in earning the nickname “Amazing” from head coach John Cook on Sunday afternoon. In blitzing Long Beach State 30-15, 31-29, 30-25 at the sold-out Coliseum, the top-ranked Huskers thrilled their fans and coach with the kind of floor-rattling kills that you don’t normally see against a championship-winning program that prides itself on great defense.

 

“We have a hard time doing that with no block up in drills,” said Cook, describing how Nebraska was able to repeatedly bounce balls inside the 49ers’ 10-foot line. “To see that, to see the level of defense we played and the speed … and the precision that we played at was impressive.”

 

The Huskers’ excitement was evident in matching up with Long Beach State, a team that, although unranked, had swept No. 13 Missouri earlier this season.

 

Even though the scheduled start of Sunday’s match was delayed by over an hour as Middle Tennessee needed 2½ hours to get past Saint Mary’s 30-24, 23-30, 36-34, 23-30, 15-13 in the preliminary, Nebraska came out of the locker room humming.

 

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A startling statistical line — Nebraska had 21 kills in only 27 first-game swings — told only part of the story of the Huskers’ opening-game win. From trailing 8-7, the Huskers put a big move on.

 

First Jordan Larson served four consecutive points, including three straight aces. Then there were back-to-back four-point runs for the Huskers, the first featuring three kills from Sarah Pavan, and the second highlighted by two kills and a block from Tracy Stalls.

 

Like the hitting, Nebraska’s ballhandling was near perfect. Notable was Larson’s dig that led to Mancuso’s kill through a double block. Later, Mancuso dug a ball that setter Rachel Holloway flipped for a winner.

 

“It felt like a slow start, and then zoom, we just took off,” Stalls said.

 

The same could be said for game three, when Nebraska took what Cook described as a “huge step” in rallying to close out the 49ers. Down 22-18, the Huskers stormed back with Pavan and Stalls both stringing together three straight kills in separate stretches.

 

“Everybody was getting the job done,” Pavan said.

 

The junior from Canada pounded 24 kills to earn MVP honors in the Labor Day Tournament. Pavan, who went 8-for-8 in Sunday’s opening game, credited Holloway with putting the ball in the right position time after time.

 

Nine of Pavan’s kills came from the back row. Defensively, Nebraska outdug the 49ers by a 59-38 margin.

 

Stalls, who capped a productive week with a career-high 14 kills on Sunday, said she’s impressed by the progress the Huskers are making. Stalls, Larson and Holloway all joined Pavan on the all-tournament team.

 

“Being able to pick out things where we can get better and being really deliberate with getting better at those things as practice progresses, I see that happening,” Stalls said. “We don’t want to peak too soon.”

 

Reach Todd Henrichs at 473-7439 or thenrichs@journalstar.com.

[gamecocks]

Its good to hear that the VB team is off to a good start. Hopefully they can finish what they started last year.