Young Huskers Seek Right Combination to Continue Nebraska’s Tradition of Success
LINCOLN – In 13 of the past 14 years, the Nebraska volleyball team has finished in the top eight of the final AVCA poll. Let that sink in for just a moment.
In fact, in the 36 years of the AVCA poll, Nebraska has finished in the top 10 a whopping 31 times. So, pressure is an annual thing for the Huskers, regardless of the fact they are the defending national champions.
“Playing at Nebraska you always feel that pressure, but it makes it more competitive and fun for us,” senior libero and team co-captain Kenzie Maloney said Tuesday at the team’s media day. “No matter if we won last year or not people are going to give us their best shot and that’s what we like.”
Without a doubt, the 2018 version of the Huskers has a lot of holes to fill and coach John Cook has an overhauled roster to mold this fall.
“There’s going to be a lot of great teaching moments and development over the course of the season. I’m excited about that and we’ll see where we go,” Cook said. “We know in the Big Ten we better be ready to go by the time we get there because the Big Ten is going to be really tough again.
“I don’t think there is any pressure because this is such a building opportunity and it’s going to be building for a while and trying to figure out who’s going to be on the court and how to make a great team and that just doesn’t happen overnight.”
Senior outside hitter Mikaela Foecke, also a co-captain, said expectations remain the same in Lincoln.
“We’ve gone every single year to the Final Four,” Foecke said of the first three years of her career. “We just want to make sure we’re able to max out this team as senior captains. That’s our biggest goal.”
Here is a position-by-position breakdown of the 2018 Huskers.
Setters (alphabetically)
Nicklin Hames, 5’10, Fr., Knoxville, Tenn.
Mari Kurkova, 5’11, Jr., Opava, Czech Republic
Brooke Smith, 5’10, Sr., Weatherford, Texas
The loss of All-American Kelly Hunter is clearly the biggest hole the Huskers have to fill and it’s really more of a crater than a hole. The departure of Hunter Atherton via transfer following last season basically wipes the slate clean at the position for Nebraska.
Hames was a top recruit out of high school and an Under Armour All-American. She was ranked as the #4 overall prospect in the nation for the 2018 class and the top setter, according to PrepVolleyball.com. She played high school varsity starting as an eighth-grader. Hames has shown big-time ability and certainly has a bright future ahead of her at Nebraska. But, true freshman starting setters at Nebraska are as rare as an empty seat at Devaney Center.
In fact, it’s a very similar situation to when it looked for all the world like Hunter would start as a true freshman in 2013. Hunter came in as the top setter recruit in the country and #13 overall by PrepVolleyball.com. But, Cook brought in junior transfer Mary Pollmiller and she started for two years as Hunter sat her freshman year and redshirted the following. Now, Cook has brought in Kurkova from the Czech Republic who – like Pollmiller – has two years of eligibility left.
Kurkova is 22 and has already earned a bachelor’s degree and is pursuing a master’s degree at Nebraska. She was part of the Czech Republic’s women’s national team and played in the FIVB World Grand Prix. She also was part of the U20 Czech Republic team that competed in the 2015 World Championships. Cook said on Tuesday, Kurkova’s experience is a plus but still cautioned that playing in the Big Ten is a different level.
“She’s older … she’s a little more experienced, but this is still a big adjustment,” Cook said. “It’s going to take her a while to get acclimated to this because it’s much different than where she came from. She’s an experienced, savvy setter.”
Also in the mix is Smith, who is the only setter on the roster that has actually started a match for the Huskers. After seeing limited playing time as a freshman and playing in five matches as a sophomore – starting one – at Nebraska, Smith transferred to Kansas State. For the Wildcats last season Smith averaged 4.71 assists and 1.71 digs per set and was second on the team with 27 service aces. Smith, however, transferred back to Nebraska for her senior season.
“We’ve got three setters now, so just like football, we’re going to let them battle it out,” Cook said. “I think competition will bring out the best in them and prepare them for what we see in the Big Ten and the tournament and down the road. I’m kind of excited to see what shakes out and I think it will be some really good competition.”
It was interesting to hear Cook say during the press conference that he actually started recruiting Kurkova before the 2017 season even began. At that point, all indications were that Atherton and Hames were going to be competing for the start job in 2018. But, clearly Cook wanted to add a Kurkova to that mix as far back as the summer of 2017. That should tell you something.
It seems fair to think that Kurkova is the starting setter until Hames can beat her out. That might be after two matches, two months or possibly two years. She wasn’t recruited here from the Czech Republic to sit the bench and get her master’s degree. Smith provides a great security net and by all accounts is a great culture addition that could also see time in the back row or as a serving specialist.
Pin Hitters (alphabetically)
Capri Davis, 6’1, Fr., Mansfield, TX
Mikaela Foecke, 6’3, Sr., West Point, Iowa
Anezka Sabo, 6’3, Soph., Sioux Falls, S.D.
Sami Slaughter, 6’1, Soph., Harrisburg, S.D.
Lexi Sun, 6’2, Soph., Encinitas, Calif.
Jazz Sweet, 6’3, Soph., Tecumseh, Kan.
Nebraska must replace Annika Albrecht, not only in the front row, but in the back row as well. According to Cook, that will hopefully be done – not by another outside – but by Sweet on the right side.
“My expectation is that she becomes a six-rotation player that can hit out of the front and back row and really replace what Anni Albrecht did last year,” he said when asked of his expectations for Sweet. “And, taking it up another level hitting and blocking.”
The left-handed Sweet had 277 kills a year ago while hitting .273 and Albrecht finished with 377 kills and hit .253. To attack from the back row, though, Sweet’s passing game will get tested. She had just 43 digs a year ago. Albrecht, meanwhile, was second on the team with 342. Cook, though, said Sweet has been working all off-season on her back-row skills with the hopes of handling that work load.
Of course, Foecke is back after leading the team with 441 kills and hitting .290 a year ago. What remains to be seen is if Foecke holds on to the L1 spot or if incoming Texas transfer Sun, a highly-touted sophomore, takes that spot. Cook offered an interesting response when asked about his expectations for Sun.
“Lexi’s had a lot of expectations placed on her her whole life, so we’re not putting any expectations on her,” he said of Sun, who was the National Gatorade Player of the Year coming out of high school. “Her job is to try and make the starting six right now and that’s what her focus is.”
Sun played in all 30 matches for Texas a year ago and was second in kills for the Longhorns with 337 and fifth on the team with 151 digs.
Cook also said that because of a lack of depth in the middle, either Slaughter, Sabo or Davis will train as the third middle, noting that all three of them had trained in the middle at times during their prep and club careers. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.
Davis seems to be the most dynamic of the three athletes and was an Under Armour All-American last year in high school and the #21 overall prospect according to PrepVolleyball.com. She seems to be the one you would want to get on the court and her best shot might be as a third option in the middle as opposed to being the third option on the outside. That would leave Slaughter and Sabo – who combined for 20 kills and five blocks a year ago – to provide that extra layer of depth on the outside and right side.
Middles (alphabetically)
Callie Schwarzenbach, 6’5, Fr., Kearney, MO
Lauren Stivrins, 6’4, Soph., Scottsdale, Ariz.
There really isn’t much to hypothesize about when it comes to who is handling the middle for the Huskers. Stivrins really established herself as a big-time middle as her redshirt freshman season went along last year, culminating with seven kills and nine blocks in the NCAA semifinal win over Penn State and nine kills on .316 hitting in the title match against Florida. She finished the year averaging 2.07 kills and 1.02 blocks per set and played in all 125 sets for the Huskers.
Gone is Brianna Holman and freshman Schwarzenbach has some massive shoes to fill there. Holman was honorable mention AVCA All-American and Big Ten a year ago when she averaged 2.41 kills and 1.16 blocks per set while hitting .358. Schwarzebach is a completely different kind of middle than Holman, who was undersized but a strong and physical presence at the net. Schwarzebach has a taller but less muscular frame with a whip of an arm. She was the #10 overall prospect in the 2018 recruiting class nationally according to PrepVolleyball.com.
Liberos/DS (alphabetically)
Chen Abramovich, 5’6, Fr., Kfar Saba, Israel
Hayley Densberger, 5’9, Soph., Malcolm, Neb.
Kenzie Maloney, 5’8, Sr., Louisville, KY
Megan Miller, 5’6, Fr., Alexandria, Ind.
Nebraska had four players with more than 300 digs a year ago and three of them – Sydney Townsend, Albrecht and Hunter – are gone, leaving just Maloney, who led the squad with 452 a year ago. Maloney and Foecke are the only two returning Huskers with more than 50 serve receptions last year. While it would seem Sun and Jazz will absorb a lot of what is missing from last year, it will be interesting to watch the battle for the top defensive specialist gig between Abramovich, Densberger and Miller. Not only are they competing for the top DS spot this year, but you could argue they are trying to see who is most likely to challenge incoming 2019 freshman Kenzie Knuckles for the starting libero spot next fall.
Densberger returns after primarily being a serving specialist as a freshman, putting the ball in play at a 92% clip with 10 aces while also contributing 38 digs and appearing in 30 matches.
Abramovich might be a freshman, but she is 20 and brings international experience to the Huskers. Her teams took first in the U17 Israeli League in 2013 and 2014 and won the U20 title in 2017 and she played with Israel’s Junior National Team at the 2016 European Championships.
Miller comes from one of the top club programs in the nation in Munciana and was considered the fourth-best libero recruit in the nation coming out of high school and the #55 overall prospect in the country. She finished her high school career with 2,600 kills, 1,620 digs and 455 ace serves.