Volleyball Cook suggests moving Volleyball to the Spring

[knapplc]

In fact, Cook said he can't remember the last time Nebraska played a home volleyball match that conflicted with one of the school's football games. But it will be a new reality for NU on many fall weekends with the Big Ten's Friday-Saturday volleyball schedule.

 

 

Nebraska put in a request with Ohio State for an earlier start time Saturday. But the Buckeyes didn't want to budge, and Cook doesn't blame Ohio State coach Geoff Carlston one bit. The Buckeyes are making a two-match road swing this weekend, starting with a contest Friday night at Iowa.

"They said no, and if I was in Ohio State's position, I would've said the exact same thing," Cook said. "You have to travel and prepare, and you need time to recover from playing the night before. So that's part of the deal in the Big Ten, and this is where we need to open up the discussion of moving the volleyball season to the spring."

That's long been Cook's big-picture solution to solving the problem and growing college volleyball's popularity.

By beginning the season later in the school year, he said, women's volleyball teams could avoid all the conflicts that now exist with football on hectic fall Saturdays. Nebraska is set to play volleyball at Michigan on Oct. 1, the same day the Wolverines football team is hosting Minnesota. Cook called it "ridiculous" how tough it's been for the Huskers to schedule travel and book hotel rooms on a weekend when football is going on in Ann Arbor.

The men's NCAA volleyball schedule already starts in January and ends in May, and Cook said it only makes sense to have the men's and women's seasons coincide.

"I really think it's time we get together and make a push to move volleyball to the spring," Cook said. "We already overlap with basketball, so it shouldn't matter whether that overlap happens early or late. We could have a men's and women's final four weekend — it would be awesome. I just see it as nothing but a win-win."

 

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[VectorVictor]

Can't say I disagree with him. Sure, you may have conflicts with basketball, but you're not going to have packed-full lodging problems to contend with, and I'm sure it would be easier for the BTN to provide more live coverage instead of tape-delay.