NamelessHusker
Banned
From OWH
[SIZE=14pt]Final Four is NU's obsession[/SIZE]
LINCOLN - Melissa Elmer knows it's the loss she'll never forget
And remembering that loss is the entire point.
One, two, three points, to be precise.
Game five of the 2004 NCAA regional finals: Southern California 15, Nebraska 12 - three points separating finality and Final Four.
Eight months later, the Huskers are just about everybody's preseason pick to win it all in 2005. And Elmer and her teammates have spent all eight of those months obsessing over the three points that kept them from competing in last year's national semifinals.
"Just the way it ended is what's really bothered me," said Elmer, who - along with fellow senior Jennifer Saleaumua - is entering her last year at NU. "You're so close, and you're just right there, and then it's gone."
During the Huskers' grueling summer conditioning drills, run by strength coach and former Husker Laura Pilakowski, the workouts became even more punishing with the addition of "three-point" exercises.
When the day's scheduled workout was completed - and everybody on the team could hardly move - the team had to finish the session with a series of timed sprints, for example, in sets of threes.
"It really made you push," Elmer said during team media day Wednesday. "But I think it really benefited everybody and just really reminded us how close we were last year."
The motivation tactic is modeled after the one used by the NU football team after its 18-16 loss to Florida State in the 1994 Orange Bowl.
When the football team began its summer conditioning the following season, the players took inspiration in the message on the Memorial Stadium scoreboard. It read: NU 16, FSU 15 with 1:16 on the clock - the last time Nebraska led in the Orange bowl against the Seminoles.
The Husker football team, of course, went on to win the next two national championships - and the volleyball team is hoping to start a similar run in 2005.
"We think about that USC match every day," sophomore Sarah Pavan said. "It's still a really sore spot with all of us, and I know all of us never want it to happen again."
The Huskers return six starters from a team that went 30-2 and ended 2004 rated No. 5, including All-America selections Elmer, Saleaumua and Pavan. NU's incoming class of freshmen also includes highly touted recruits Rachel Holloway and Jordan Larson from Logan View, and standout setter Maggie Griffin also joins the team after transferring from Michigan State.
Last December, Nebraska entered the NCAA tournament ranked No. 1 in the country. The Huskers made it to the regional finals on the strength of their 27 straight victories - and only a handful of those 27 wins were even mildly competitive.
Then NU met defending national champion Southern California in the Louisville, Ky., regional - the final hurdle to a spot in the 2004 Final Four.
With the match tied 2-2, and the fifth game knotted 12-12, the Huskers stumbled on a series of errors and breakdowns.
But even more than last year, the Huskers' 2005 schedule is loaded with Top 25 teams. And Cook hopes the experience of losing to USC last year, combined with the rigors of playing one of the toughest schedules in the country, will have NU ready for anything it might see in this year's NCAA tournament.
"We had an epic match against USC," Cook said. "And I think the edge that we have when we get to the big matches this season is that we'll know how to take it and make sure we're the ones that come out on top."
[SIZE=14pt]Final Four is NU's obsession[/SIZE]
LINCOLN - Melissa Elmer knows it's the loss she'll never forget
And remembering that loss is the entire point.
One, two, three points, to be precise.
Game five of the 2004 NCAA regional finals: Southern California 15, Nebraska 12 - three points separating finality and Final Four.
Eight months later, the Huskers are just about everybody's preseason pick to win it all in 2005. And Elmer and her teammates have spent all eight of those months obsessing over the three points that kept them from competing in last year's national semifinals.
"Just the way it ended is what's really bothered me," said Elmer, who - along with fellow senior Jennifer Saleaumua - is entering her last year at NU. "You're so close, and you're just right there, and then it's gone."
During the Huskers' grueling summer conditioning drills, run by strength coach and former Husker Laura Pilakowski, the workouts became even more punishing with the addition of "three-point" exercises.
When the day's scheduled workout was completed - and everybody on the team could hardly move - the team had to finish the session with a series of timed sprints, for example, in sets of threes.
"It really made you push," Elmer said during team media day Wednesday. "But I think it really benefited everybody and just really reminded us how close we were last year."
The motivation tactic is modeled after the one used by the NU football team after its 18-16 loss to Florida State in the 1994 Orange Bowl.
When the football team began its summer conditioning the following season, the players took inspiration in the message on the Memorial Stadium scoreboard. It read: NU 16, FSU 15 with 1:16 on the clock - the last time Nebraska led in the Orange bowl against the Seminoles.
The Husker football team, of course, went on to win the next two national championships - and the volleyball team is hoping to start a similar run in 2005.
"We think about that USC match every day," sophomore Sarah Pavan said. "It's still a really sore spot with all of us, and I know all of us never want it to happen again."
The Huskers return six starters from a team that went 30-2 and ended 2004 rated No. 5, including All-America selections Elmer, Saleaumua and Pavan. NU's incoming class of freshmen also includes highly touted recruits Rachel Holloway and Jordan Larson from Logan View, and standout setter Maggie Griffin also joins the team after transferring from Michigan State.
Last December, Nebraska entered the NCAA tournament ranked No. 1 in the country. The Huskers made it to the regional finals on the strength of their 27 straight victories - and only a handful of those 27 wins were even mildly competitive.
Then NU met defending national champion Southern California in the Louisville, Ky., regional - the final hurdle to a spot in the 2004 Final Four.
With the match tied 2-2, and the fifth game knotted 12-12, the Huskers stumbled on a series of errors and breakdowns.
But even more than last year, the Huskers' 2005 schedule is loaded with Top 25 teams. And Cook hopes the experience of losing to USC last year, combined with the rigors of playing one of the toughest schedules in the country, will have NU ready for anything it might see in this year's NCAA tournament.
"We had an epic match against USC," Cook said. "And I think the edge that we have when we get to the big matches this season is that we'll know how to take it and make sure we're the ones that come out on top."