LINCOLN — Former Nebraska assistant Lee Maes has this claim to fame: He was one of the first coaches to get a look at a promising young volleyball player out of Arizona named Tara Mueller.

Maes, now the Virginia coach, for the first time on Thursday watched Mueller play from an opposing bench. If he had forgotten why he recruited Mueller to the Huskers, he got a good reminder during his return to Lincoln.

“One specific thing that was really evident today was the range she has as an attacker now,” said Maes, who worked at NU from 2005 through 2007. “Her ability to hit every single shot in the book makes her very, very difficult to defend.”

Mueller put together her best match of the season, ripping 14 kills on 24 swings to lead No. 5 Nebraska to a 25-20, 25-11, 25-16 win over the Cavaliers. The Huskers opened their Players Challenge tournament with their sixth straight victory, overcoming inconsistent play and overpowering Virginia during the final two sets.

Still, it was a night to remember for Maes, whose work played a big part in the Huskers' 2006 NCAA title run. The sellout crowd of 4,115 recognized Maes' contributions with a loud and long ovation during introductions.

“I miss him,” said Mueller, who at the age of 13 played for a Team USA youth squad coached by Maes. “I was really happy to see him. He was one of my favorite coaches.”

Mueller also had two aces, collected nine digs and hit .583 with no errors. It was the first time in the junior's career that she reached double digits in kills on an error-free performance. During her past five matches, Mueller is averaging four kills per set on .364 attacking. That's a contrast to her season-opening showing of five kills, six errors, 29 swings and minus-.034 attacking in NU's loss to No. 7 Michigan.

“My role is just staying focused as a leader and not allowing myself to play with my emotions and make errors,” said Mueller, who's trying to downplay the idea that she alone has to make up for the departure of Jordan Larson. “It's a process, and our team has continued to grow.”

Despite Mueller's strong play, Nebraska coach John Cook didn't like the way his team started, and he wasn't happy with the Huskers' serves. Four of the Huskers' eight serving errors came during the opening set.

“I thought we started out shaky and nervous. The serving's the telltale sign, and I thought our serving was awful that first game,” Cook said. “But once we settled down, I thought we did some good things.”

Cook also continues to experiment with his starting lineup. Against Virginia, he started freshman outside hitters Gina Mancuso and Hannah Werth. In the new look, Mancuso hit mostly out of the back row while taking rookie defensive specialist Megan Pendergast's spot in the rotation.

Setter Sydney Anderson, who had 34 assists, 12 digs and four blocks, helped Nebraska outhit Virginia .308 to .031. Jordan Wilberger had a season-high six blocks, Lindsey Licht had nine kills and hit .412 and Werth added nine kills and eight digs.

“We're still continuing to tweak our lineup, and I thought that went fairly smooth tonight,” said Cook, whose team takes on BYU at 7 tonight. “Our goal is to get our best players in there, and Gina and Hannah are both too good to have one of them sitting out.”

• Box Score

Cook, UCLA put away BYU

It wasn't the strong match from start to finish that UCLA wanted to play.

But during her collegiate debut at the Coliseum, freshman setter Lauren Cook helped the No. 8 Bruins open the Players Challenge with a 25-16, 25-11, 23-25, 25-15 win Thursday over BYU.

Cook, the former standout at Lincoln Pius X, finished with four kills and 14 digs. She had 43 assists to help the Bruins hit .208. And during team introductions, she earned a rousing cheer from the smattering of fans who showed up for the start of the late-afternoon match.

“I was so amped up ... it was a good one to get out of the way,” said Cook, the daughter of NU coach John Cook. “We had a couple of letups in game three. Hopefully those won't come back this weekend.”

Dicey McGraw led UCLA (6-1) with 17 kills. Kayla Walker, a 6-foot-5 right-side hitter, slammed 15 kills and had five blocks for BYU (4-4). The Bruins will take on Virginia at 4:30 p.m. today.

Contact the writer:

444-1207, chad.purcell@owh.com

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