LINCOLN — Brooke Delano knows she couldn't have made the statement two years ago while keeping a straight face. But three months into her first full season at Nebraska, Delano now has no doubt:

She's far better at volleyball than she is at basketball. And that's exactly what the former Bellevue West standout envisioned when she decided to join coach John Cook's program.

“I had been playing basketball my whole life, but I really felt I had more potential in volleyball,” said Delano, who was recruited to play hoops at Missouri, Iowa State, Kansas State, Duke and Creighton. “And even though I'm playing OK, I still feel like I have so much room to get better.”

Delano, Nebraska's 6-foot-4 middle blocker, is starting to show glimpses of her full potential on the volleyball court. Combine Delano's emergence with Kori Cooper's return to full health, and it's little wonder why the sizzling Huskers will take a four-match winning streak into today's match at Kansas.

Delano and Cooper have become a dangerous duo in the middle, and Cook said that's opened things up significantly for NU's other attackers — especially right-side hitter Lindsey Licht.

“Having Brooke and Kori both going strong, that's huge,” Cook said. “There's so much focus right now on (the middles), because everybody's looking at our stats and thinking that they have to stop them.”

Since returning to the starting lineup full-time on Sept. 23, Cooper is averaging 2.37 kills and 0.88 blocks per set. She's hitting a Big 12-best .381 in league matches.

Overall for the season, Delano ranks third in the conference in both hitting percentage (.351) and blocks per set (1.18). During the Huskers' four-match surge, the redshirt sophomore is averaging three kills per set on .517 hitting.

All of that from a player who appeared in 13 total matches during her first two seasons at NU. She redshirted as a true freshman in 2007, then played sparingly in 2008 before undergoing season-ending surgery last November.

“Emotionally, physically — Brooke's not even the same person now as she was when she first got here,” Cook said. “As coaches, sometimes it just hits us where Brooke is now compared to back then, and we can hardly believe it. We knew it would take her time to adjust, but it's really been an amazing journey. It's really exciting to think she still has two more years of eligibility here.”

And a big part of Delano's development happened because Cook wasn't sure which position she'd play in 2009. All through the offseason, she trained at outside hitter, middle blocker and right-side hitter.

That variety, Delano said, forced her to become a better all-around player. She's now serving and playing in the back row for the Huskers, and she's even made an impact at times with her digging.

“My competitiveness has always been the same, because I just love to compete,” Delano said. “But this is really my first year playing, and I still feel like I'm making too many mistakes. The more I play and the more I get comfortable, the more I think I'll keep growing as a player.”

Contact the writer:

444-1207, chad.purcell@owh.com

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