VB: Sacred Heart Short On Height

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Huskers’ first-round opponent has no players over 6-foot

By Chad Purcell

 

 

LINCOLN — As an assistant at Southern California, Rob Machan worked with the most elite kind of volleyball players — some of the sport’s all-time greats — and felt the rush as the Women of Troy captured back-to-back NCAA titles in 2002 and 2003.

 

But as much as he enjoyed coaching on the sunny West Coast, Machan said, what his Sacred Heart team has done this year — some 3,000 miles east of Los Angeles on the Gold Coast of Connecticut — is an accomplishment he’ll cherish forever.

 

Machan, in his fourth season leading the Pioneers, will be on the NU Coliseum sideline on Thursday as Sacred Heart takes on No. 3 Nebraska in its NCAA tournament debut. The Pioneers in 2010 boast a program-best record of 29-6. They captured the school’s first regular-season Northeast Conference championship, and they locked up their first postseason bid by winning their league’s tournament title on Nov. 21.

 

 

“My experience at USC was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and I’ll always appreciate those days,” Machan said during a phone interview Monday. “But I don’t think anything in my career has matched what we’ve done out here at Sacred Heart. To watch these women work so hard and improve so much over the last four years, it’s the most gratifying thing I’ve been a part of. There are an awful lot of firsts going on here, and it’s been a very emotional run for our team.”

 

After working for five seasons on hall of fame coach Mick Haley’s staff at USC, Machan spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Azusa (Calif.) Pacific University.

 

He took over in 2007 at Sacred Heart, located in Fairfield, Conn. Machan inherited a team coming off a 3-23 finish in 2006. But since his arrival, the Pioneers have gone 79-50. This year, they put together a school-record 20-match win streak from Sept. 11 through Nov. 2, and they rank eighth in the country (just three spots behind the Huskers) with a team average of 14.54 kills per set.

 

Machan in part has used his West Coast roots to help turn the Pioneers around. His roster features seven Californians, including standout senior Courtney Kidd-Kadlubek (Santa Barbara, Calif.). The Northeast Conference player and setter of the year, Kidd-Kadlubek ranks eighth in the NCAA with 11.89 assists per set.

 

With no players who stand above 6 feet tall, the Pioneers will be at a distinct size disadvantage against the Huskers at the net. But Kidd-Kadlubek has her choice among a group of attackers who all can bury the volleyball.

 

Sacred Heart’s top four hitters all average better than 2.60 kills per set. They are 5-7 outside hitter Dianis Mercado (3.42 kps); 6-foot outside hitter Elise Sage (3.19 kps); 5-11 middle blocker Johanna Ovsenek (2.66 kps); and 5-9 outside hitter Ashlyn Trimble (2.60 kps).

 

“We really move the ball around a lot,” said Machan, who began working as a club volleyball coach in California in the 1980s. “It’s a very free-flowing offense and a very reactionary offense. On any given night, any one of our starters can lead our team in kills.”

 

While at Southern California, Machan in 2003 experienced first-hand the electric atmosphere at the Coliseum. On the way to a perfect 35-0 finish and the NCAA title that year, the Women of Troy defeated Texas A&M and rival UCLA at the Lincoln regional — the last time the third and fourth rounds were held at Nebraska’s on-campus gym.

 

USC didn’t get its anticipated showdown with NU that season because the Bruins knocked off the Huskers in the regional semifinals. But the environment at the Coliseum left a strong impression on Machan — and he can’t wait for his players to live it themselves.

 

The Pioneers knew that they’d be getting a tough draw for the first round of the NCAAs, so Machan said there’s no place he’d rather open the postseason than Lincoln.

 

“There really isn’t another place in the country where volleyball is more appreciated than Nebraska,” the coach said. “Just the way the fans are there, the way they run the event — it’s just going to be such a spectacular experience for our players.

 

“Obviously Nebraska is a very, very strong team. They are one of the favorites, if not the favorite, to win the national championship. In our position as a first-time team coming in, I think it’s a great opportunity for us to get a chance to play against the best team out there.”