It's unknown if Qwest Center Omaha will host another NCAA final four. But Omaha's arena again will be the site for the AVCA Showcase the next two seasons.

AVCA Executive Director Kathy DeBoer confirmed this week that Nebraska and the Qwest Center will be the hosts for college volleyball's premier opening-weekend event in 2011 and 2012. Because the other teams that will participate next year haven't been finalized, DeBoer said, the organization is waiting to make a formal announcement.

The Qwest Center has held the AVCA Showcase five of the past six seasons. In the eight previous Showcase sessions held in Omaha, the Huskers' contests have attracted a total of 69,527 fans, an average of 8,691 per match.

The American Volleyball Coaches Association is discussing, DeBoer said, whether it will continue the Showcase's conference-challenge format beyond 2010. Nebraska is set to move to the Big Ten in 2011.

“Nebraska has been a great anchor, and Omaha is a great city to bring any volleyball event to,” DeBoer said. “It's a volleyball-knowledgeable crowd. It's a volleyball-appreciative crowd.

“Omaha has made the Showcase something that players and coaches really want to be a part of.”

Iowa State thrilled to get regional

It won't happen for another four years. But it's one more sign how far Iowa State volleyball has come under sixth-year coach Christy Johnson-Lynch.

The NCAA announced this summer that the Cyclones' Hilton Coliseum will be one of four regional sites for the 2014 postseason. It marks the first time in program history that ISU could be home for the third and fourth rounds of the NCAA.

In 2009, the Cyclones hosted the first and second rounds of the tournament for the first time in 14 years.

“Getting to host the first and second round last year, it was a big benchmark,” Johnson-Lynch said. “Then to land a regional, that's huge.

“One of the really cool things is that you see the other teams that are hosting regionals, you think, ‘Wow, these are our counterparts now.'”

Nebraska's next opportunity to host an NCAA regional comes in 2012 at the Qwest Center.

'Cats climb under Skinner

Much as Johnson-Lynch has led Iowa State to a big turnaround, former Nebraska assistant Craig Skinner has done impressive things since taking over Kentucky's program in 2005.

Before Skinner's arrival, the Kentucky volleyball program had not experienced a winning season in five years and hadn't made the NCAA tournament since 1993.

Skinner has guided Kentucky to five straight NCAA tournaments for the first time in program history. His 2009 team finished 29-5, losing a five-set heartbreaker against Florida State in the NCAA round of 16.

Skinner and the Wildcats visited Lincoln for a spring exhibition match in 2008. But on Saturday, Nebraska and Kentucky will meet in a regular-season match for the first time since 1994.

“This is an awesome event, and it's an honor for us to be involved in it,” said Skinner, whose wife, Megan Bechtold Skinner, was an assistant women's soccer coach at NU. “It's exciting for me and my family to come back to Nebraska.

“I owe a lot to that program, and if I hadn't coached at Nebraska, I probably wouldn't be the head coach at Kentucky.”

— Chad Purcell

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