Final Four

[NamelessHusker]

 

Darrel Kinnan is into sports. He’s also into chemistry. In fact, he’s the general chemistry lab manager at UNL.

 

So when there’s talk of a Husker team having good chemistry, it gets the beakers bubbling over at the lab, where, by the way, NU star Sarah Pavan is working on a 4.0 GPA as a biochemistry major.

 

“We like to hear it because I think it does give us some good publicity,” Kinnan said, “not necessarily that it has anything to do with what we teach.”

 

Kinnan, I’ve learned, could teach me a little bit about sports. He has season tickets for Nebraska football and basketball, and he was at Qwest Center Omaha for the volleyball regional last weekend.

 

He knows his Huskers, and he knows how this chemistry business figures into the equation.

 

“I think it just has to do with getting along and understanding your role,” he said. “There are times that you have to rely on your teammates, and there are times when you have to go to the star. I think teams that do well know when to do that.

 

“I think they call it chemistry because if you put two products together or two reactives together, they’re going to react in a certain way and give you a product. So I think that’s somehow how it’s related.

 

“You have to have the right reactives, the right conditions, hopefully the right training and the right coaching and those types of things. It also involves the team playing together.”

 

Husker senior Melissa Elmer said you have to have the right mixture of elements to get through the tough times.

 

“If the team has great chemistry, it’s definitely going to show out on the court, especially when you struggle,” she said. “Teams with great chemistry are going to be able to push through that struggle, and this team definitely has that.

 

“And another thing about chemistry, we have such good relationships on and off the court. That just builds it even more.”

 

NU head coach John Cook said the team has used last year’s NCAA regional loss to USC as a reactive force this season.

 

“Last year, when we lost to USC, I think that impacted them as a group,” Cook said. “We only had one senior last year, so the majority of them went through that.

 

“That was the bond right there.”

 

Adding five new players could have upset the formula, but Cook said that was never the case.

 

“Our older players did a great job of embracing them,” he said.

 

Different players have different roles as far as keeping the team chemistry positive.

 

“On the court, it’s Jen (Saleaumua),” he said. “In the weight room, it’s Elmer and Chris (Houghtelling).

 

“Away from the gym or the weight room, they just get along really well. It’s just kind of a team thing. They enjoy being together.”

 

As Kinnan points out, the Huskers’ opponent tonight, Santa Clara, has a key product working in its favor as well.

 

“The only thing you worry about is Santa Clara doesn’t have anything to worry about,” he said. “They’re the underdog. They come in loose.”

 

But if NU follows the law of chemical equilibrium — a relation stating that in a reaction mixture at equilibrium, there is a condition (given by the equilibrium constant) relating the concentrations of the reactants and products — everything should be peachy (don’t look for that in your chemistry book).

 

Kinnan thinks the Huskers’ molecular structure is in championship form.

 

“They have good senior leadership,” he said. “They have very good young players that bring a little more dimension to the team.”

 

And then there’s the most important reactive of all, the reason Kinnan thinks this could be a winning weekend in San Antonio.

 

“The reason I think it could be very successful,” he said, “is the success they’ve had already.”

 

Having an Academic All-American from the chemistry lab doesn’t hurt.

 

“I know all the formulas,” Pavan said.

 

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[NamelessHusker]

 

Huskers not looking past dangerous underdogs

 

John Cook won't even talk about Washington or Tennessee.

 

All the Nebraska head volleyball coach would talk about Wednesday was his team and its next opponent, Santa Clara.

 

That's the kind of focus Cook wants his team to have heading into tonight's national semifinal match against Santa Clara at approximately 8:30 p.m. from the Alamodome. Cook doesn't want his No. 1-rated Huskers (31-1) looking past the 11th ranked but unseeded Broncos (27-4). Cook knows if his players look past Santa Clara, they will be headed back to Lincoln on Friday morning.

 

"Santa Clara, to me, is like the Gonzaga of men's basketball," Cook said. "They're from the same conference and they were an unseeded team. I think they should have been a seeded team but they lost a couple of matches in November that knocked them out.

 

"They are very good defensively and have won three huge matches to get here. They'll have a lot of confidence. Jon Wallace, who I've known for a long time, is an excellent coach. He's done a great job of building at a smaller school and making them a great volleyball program."

 

The Huskers are trying to treat the Final Four as just another tournament. Cook said that's been the team's philosophy all season.

 

The Huskers won two matches at the AVCA/NACWAA Volleyball Showcase to open the season. They won twice in the first weekend of NCAA Tournament play, then twice in the regional.

 

Now they just need two more wins to claim the school's third national championship and first since 2000.

 

"We feel as if it's just another match," Nebraska junior All-American outside hitter Christina Houghtelling said. "We have two more matches this year and we want to come out and play well. We're looking at this as just another road trip."

 

The winner of the Nebraska/Santa Clara match will play the winner of the tonight's 6 p.m. semifinal between third-seeded Washington (30-1) and 15th-seeded Tennessee (24-8) in the championship match at 5 p.m. Saturday.

 

Both semifinals can be seen live on ESPNU (Channel 609 DirecTV, Channel 148 on DISH Network). The championship match will be shown live on ESPN2.

 

Nebraska's semifinal match will be shown on tape delay at 1 p.m. Friday on ESPN2. All of the Huskers' matches can be heard on the Pinnacle Sports Network.

 

Wallace, who has been at Santa Clara for nine years as head coach, said his team is happy to be in the Final Four. He said the first goal for the team was to win its conference title. After the season was over, the Broncos had two weeks off before the NCAA Tournament started.

 

"We went back to re-focus as a group, we went back to make them confident and strong," Wallace said. "We sat in a room and said, 'What do you want to do?' They said Final Four or nothing. That was our goal. Set your goal and get out there and do it.

 

"Since that day, coaching has been easy. I walk in the gym and they are ready to go. I call a timeout and they know what to do."

 

Washington, unlike Santa Clara, expected to be in the Final Four. The Huskies, led by former Kansas State coach Jim McLaughlin, returned all their starters from last year's team that lost to Stanford in the national semifinals.

 

Washington won the regional title this past weekend in College Station, Texas, and just stayed in the state for the Final Four.

 

"I like where we're at," McLaughlin said. "I like where we're at emotionally. I like where we're at physically. I'm glad we stayed here.

 

"It's hard being a Division I college athlete. We understand the demands and we're going to control what we can control and right now, after today's practice, I really like where we're at and what we're doing."

 

Tennessee coach Rob Patrick said not many people believed the Volunteers would be making their first trip ever to the Final Four, especially after the team got off to a slow start this season.

 

The Volunteers lost six of 10 matches after beginning the season 6-1.

 

"We use eight or nine players a match, and they finally found a groove where they have roles," Patrick said. "We were out of sync a lot at the beginning of the year because of injuries, we were out of sync because we were trying to find the correct positions for the players and starting at about the middle of they year, we finally got a set rotation, and the players finally understood what their roles were."

 

Tennessee had to go through the Penn State Regional to get to the Final Four. The Vols defeated No. 2 Penn State on its home court and No. 8 Missouri to earn a trip to San Antonio.

 

"We had three players make the region team when Julie Knytych, (former Nebraska player) Kelsey Fautsch and Sarah Blum weren't even all-conference players," Patrick said. "I think that tells you a lot about our team. They play together as a team, and if you take one of those players out of the mix, we would not even be close to the same team we are."

 

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[NamelessHusker]

 

NU volleyball notebook

 

Nebraska had three players named first-team All-Americans for the first time since 1995. Both Melissa Elmer and Sarah Pavan were named to the first team for the second year in a row. It was the first honor for junior Christina Houghtelling.

 

All three players will be up for national player of the year honors, which will be announced Friday.

 

One surprise omission from Wednesday’s All-America announcement was Nebraska’s Jordan Larson, who many considered a candidate for freshman of the year. Nicole Fawcett of Penn State, one of two freshmen named to the first, second or third teams, received that honor. Five other freshmen were honorable mention selections.

 

Nebraska’s Jennifer Saleaumua was named a third-team All-American by the coaches’ selection committee.

 

Among the other honorees were Missouri’s Lindsey Hunter (first team) and Nicole Wilson (honorable mention). Both are Nebraska natives. Former Husker libero Amanda McCormick, now of Ball State, was an honorable mention selection.

 

-- FEELS LIKE HOME: Officials are expecting a near-capacity crowd of 12,000 for tonight’s semifinals. The court has been set up on the east end of the dome, with a large curtain separating the playing area from the remainder of the facility. “For a dome, I’m impressed with how the set up is,” Nebraska head coach John Cook said. “It should look good on TV.”

 

-- NAME CHANGE: In her eastern European accent, Washington’s Sanja Tomasevic referred to the tournament as “The Fabulous Four,” during the Huskies’ news conference. Washington has called Texas home for a week now after playing in the Texas A&M regional last weekend. “I’m glad we stayed,” Washington coach Jim McLaughlin said. “I like our approach and I like the look.”

 

-- FAUTSCH REUNION: Former Nebraska player Kelsey Fautsch is at the final four this weekend as a starter for Tennessee. A junior, Fautsch has been key for the Lady Vols since switching from the right side to the left earlier this season. “She has improved just like our whole team has improved,” Tennessee coach Rob Patrick said. ... Former Husker assistant coach Craig Skinner, now the head coach at Kentucky, shared hugs with several of the Huskers following Wednesday’s workout.

 

-- DON’T BLAME THE BABY: Making it to the final four has taken some of the heat off young Whitney Wallace, the new daughter of Santa Clara coach Jon Wallace. After the baby was born Nov. 12, Santa Clara lost three straight.

[NamelessHusker]

 

Holloway is ready if needed

 

Rachel Holloway is ready to play.

 

Why wouldn't she be? Holloway, a freshman from Smoky Hill, Colo., is one of the team's best players. Coach John Cook has said so all season.

 

Only there's one catch. Holloway has yet to play a single minute this season.

 

She will take a redshirt season, unless the Huskers need her this weekend at the Final Four in San Antonio that starts tonight with a match against Santa Clara.

 

Cook said he talked to her before the regional last week at the Qwest Center in Omaha.

 

If he needs her to help win a national championship, she will be on the floor.

 

"She's ready if we need her," Cook said.

 

Yes, indeed, Holloway is ready if she's needed, but the 5-foot-10 setter who joined the program a year early after graduating from high school following her junior year doesn't expect to be on the court.

 

"I'm ready if I'm needed," Holloway said. "But our setters are doing a great job. I don't think they'll need me, but I'm ready."

 

Holloway wasn't ready at the start of the season. Last summer she captained the U.S. Youth National team to a fourth-place showing at the under-18 World Championships in China.

 

But all that summer playing caught up with her. Her knees just needed a rest after the pounding they took playing overseas.

 

Still, Cook was glad Holloway had that opportunity, even though it may have slowed her development a bit.

 

"When a kid gets the opportunity to play in a tournament like that, you have to encourage them to go because it's a lifetime experience," Cook said.

 

The Holloway situation is in ways similar to what Nebraska football coach Bill Callahan faced with highly-touted quarterback Harrison Beck. Callahan ended up using Beck to help win the Kansas State game.

 

It was certainly an important win because it made the Huskers bowl eligible and maybe helped take some heat off Callahan at least for a while.

 

There's no heat on Cook, at least as far as his job security is concerned.

 

The only pressure on him and the Huskers is to win a national championship.

 

There's one other difference between Holloway's situation and what Beck faced.

 

We still don't know -- and possibly the coaches don't know -- how good Beck can be.

 

On the other hand, Cook leaves no doubt how good Holloway is right now.

 

He says she's one of the team's best players, and that's on a team with three first-team All-Americans.

 

"Eventually when she gets on the court people are going to see it," Cook said. "We've had tremendous success with what we've been doing, so she'll just be a back-up for us if we need it."

 

A national championship is the goal of all the Huskers, including Holloway. At this point in the season she would be perfectly happy to stand on the sidelines and cheer her teammates on to a national title.

 

On the other hand, if something should go wrong, she's more than ready to jump in and lend a hand.

 

To her way of thinking, it wouldn't be a wasted season if she helped the team to a national title.

 

"If I'm needed, I'm 100 percent for it," Holloway said.

 

It's unlikely that Holloway will be needed, because the unorthodox 6-2 system Cook has employed with Dani Busboom and Maggie Griffin manning the setter position has worked to perfection.

 

But sometimes unexpected things happen, and Cook wants Holloway to be ready just in case.

 

"First of all it would be injury, somebody getting sick or somebody just having a bad night," Cook said. "You get to this point, you have to go for it. You can't worry about next year or four years from now. You've got to go for it.

 

"We owe it to (Melissa) Elmer and (Jennifer) Saleaumua to do everything we can."

 

And Holloway is ready to do everything needed to help those seniors come out on top -- even burning a redshirt season.

 

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[Eric the Red]

See you guys...I'm going to the bar to watch the BIG RED...these ladies are great