Back in the spring, the NCAA Division I Committee passed a blanket waiver granting volleyball teams five extra days of preseason practice this year, bumping the total from 17 days prior to the season-opener to 22 days.
For Nebraska, which opens the season at the AVCA First Serve Showcase in Louisville on Aug. 27, that meant an Aug. 5 start date. It also meant a different approach than the typical sprint through the preseason to make sure the team was ready to play in match one.
Coach John Cook said he’d typically run two-a-day practices four days a week, but with the extended runway he hasn’t felt the need to do so. Through a week and a half of practice, Nebraska has only practiced twice in the same day once, instead opting for a light morning lift before an afternoon practice most days. The one two-a-day was designed to give the team an opportunity to experience a morning practice, which the team will hold during road trips.
“It’s almost like they go through a recovery every morning in the weight room with Brian [Kmitta], and then we’re getting great effort and high-level play in the afternoons because they’re fresh, they’re feeling good,” Cook said. “Sometimes in two-a-days, you’re struggling to get through those and they’re hitting the wall. So that’s how we’re taking advantage of it. And I would love to practice twice a day, but I think this is what’s best for our team, and I really like it.”
Sophomore middle blocker Andi Jackson said she’s seen the difference on the practice court.
“Here at Nebraska, Coach really values our recovery, and I think that’s been super important throughout this fall training,” Jackson said. “Having those mornings off and not having a double day every single day has been super beneficial, and you can definitely tell when we come in every day that there’s a change in our energy, because everyone’s bodies are doing well. Not having a double day, it saves a lot.”
Nebraska has four newcomers, but the three freshmen all enrolled early and went through the spring with the team, learning the drills the team uses on the practice court regularly. That has lessened the need for extra practice time early on with only transfers Taylor Landfair and Leyla Blackwell still learning the ins and outs of playing at Nebraska.
One player who has stood out to her peers early is senior Lindsay Krause, the outside hitter from Papillion who saw her junior season ended prematurely by a severe ankle injury. Krause has gradually been working her way back to full strength since late in the 2023 season, and Cook chose her alongside fellow senior Kennedi Orr to represent the Huskers at Big Ten Media Days last week.
“Lindsay has made tremendous strides coming back from her injury, and I’m just super happy for her to see it, because I know she wants it really bad,” Jackson said. “Our entire team, though, everyone — you can tell — has grown in some sort of way, whether it’s mentally or physically.”
The Huskers received a boost ahead of Wednesday’s practice when program legend, assistant coach and new Olympic silver medalist Jordan Larson returned from Paris, though she is “a little banged up” according to Cook after a car accident in an Uber at the end of her stay at the Olympics. Cook said seeing her walk into the facility was “uplifting.”
“Jordan has the experience, and hearing feedback from someone who’s been through it, been at the highest stage, was literally just there four days ago,” sophomore setter Bergen Reilly said. “I think it just means a little more coming from her, and we all have the utmost respect for Jordan and obviously all of the coaches. But Jordan’s been through it, she’s still going through it, and so I think it just means a little more coming from her.”
Though Nebraska returns most of its lineup from the 2023 national runner-up, every team is unique and Cook said in the spring a big focus for the team was to build a strong culture. One idea the team came up with is to hang chains in the Devaney Center, and each player gets to add a link to the chain for big plays or positive actions. Additionally, the Kelly Hunter and Lindsay Peterson made a necklace that features program mantras such as WEOFEO (With Each Other, For Each Other), and each week a new player gets to wear the necklace, serving as a reminder.
“Another thing is, this is the 50-year anniversary of Nebraska volleyball,” Cook added. “This is the 50th team. So we’re doing a lot of stuff with our alumni, and our players are doing presentations about the alumni that they talk to and what they learn from them. It’s blown me away how good these things are.”
Cook is embracing the team’s ties to its past, labeling this year’s squad Team Fifty.
BTS: Team Fifty campaign launch 🎬
We wanted to celebrate the incredible history of Husker Volleyball's legacy within this year's set.
Huge s/o to our Devaney Facilities crew for making this idea a reality! 🤩🔴🏐👷♂️ #GBR https://t.co/zjMar09xun pic.twitter.com/NXb1ek0unG
— Nebraska Volleyball (@HuskerVB) August 2, 2024
“I think one of the things with college athletes today is it’s about them, it’s about how much money they can make, it’s about how many followers they have, but the bottom line [here], it’s always about Nebraska volleyball, and we want to connect them with the past,” Cook said. “We’ve got Lindsay who played 20 years ago, we’ve got Jordan who played 15 years ago, Kelly who played six, seven years ago, and then we’ve got all these alumni around that are in Lincoln, and so we’re tapping into them.
“So again, we honor the past, and I think over 100 alumni are coming back for the Red-White game. So we’re trying to do things for these guys to understand, and I give them history lessons all the time because I was a history major. So we talk about those things and I think it’s important that they know that it always hasn’t been this way.”
