LINCOLN — Typically at this time of the year, the X's and O's are enough to keep John Cook's mind racing. But this season, the Nebraska volleyball coach's concerns also involve H1N1.

Cook's son, Taylor, attends Lincoln Pius X, where 13 cases of H1N1 flu have been confirmed among a large number of students who have called in sick in recent days.

And this weekend, the No. 6 Huskers will play three matches in Louisiana State's Tiger Classic, including a Saturday meeting with Tulane. Just six days ago, Tulane pulled out of Creighton's Bluejay Invitational because six players on the team came down with flulike symptoms that were indicative of H1N1.

But the Green Wave are set to open their season today and Saturday in Baton Rouge, La., where they'll take on Louisiana-Lafayette, LSU and the Huskers.

“Between Tulane and Pius High School, it seems like it's everywhere,” Cook said. “I talked to our medical people here, and they cleared us to go. We're always careful with this kind of thing. We just have to hope everybody's immune system stays strong, because at some point we're all going to get exposed to it.”

Coming off wins over Creighton and 13th-ranked Minnesota and a loss to No. 7 Michigan, Nebraska takes a 2-1 record into the second weekend of the season. The Huskers play two matches today, first against Louisiana-Lafayette and later against host LSU. NU's meeting with Tulane will be Saturday.

The matches will be the Huskers' first true road contests, and Cook is eager to see how his players respond.

LSU and Tulane received votes in the latest AVCA Top 25. Last weekend, LSU nearly upset No. 11 Stanford before falling in five sets. Tulane went 28-6 last year and reached the second round of the NCAA tournament.

“I'm as interested as anybody to see how we handle this,” Cook said. “We need to go on the road and play tough matches to prepare for the Big 12, and this provides a great opportunity to do that.”

The condensed tournament format will have Nebraska playing four matches in the span of five days. Cook said he plans on taking advantage of his roster's depth in hopes of keeping the team fresh.

“It will be a challenge for everybody on our team, both older players and younger players, to be on the road for the first time,” setter Sydney Anderson said. “You have to put in that much more effort to be great.”

Bluejays off to Kansas

The top-10 portion of Creighton's early schedule has passed. But this weekend the Bluejays play their first matches outside their home state.

Creighton (1-2) gets a chance to record another win over a Big 12 school when it plays three matches in two days at Kansas' Jayhawk Invitational. The Bluejays take on Florida International and Lipscomb today before meeting KU on Saturday.

Creighton opened the season by sweeping Texas Tech last weekend, but it lost back-to-back matches against No. 8 Illinois and No. 6 Nebraska.

All three CU opponents in Lawrence return the bulk of their lineups from 2008. Lipscomb was 21-11 a year ago, while Florida International returns all six starters from a team that finished 28-7 and made the NCAA tournament.

The Bluejays are 0-2 all-time against Kansas, but the schools haven't met since 2003.

“We definitely didn't play a perfect game (against Nebraska),” said Creighton coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth, whose team was swept in Lincoln on Tuesday. “But I saw a lot of things that we can build off.”

Contact the writer:

444-1207, chad.purcell@owh.com

CU WEEKEND

What: Kansas Jayhawk Invitational

Where: Lawrence, Kan.

Today: Creighton vs. Florida International, 10 a.m.; Creighton vs. Lipscomb, 5 p.m.

Saturday: Creighton at Kansas, 1 p.m.

Radio: CU's first and third matches will be on KOIL, 1180 AM. The CU-Lipscomb match will air on KKAR, 1290 AM.

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