John Cook has seen it happen plenty of times before.

When the Nebraska volleyball team’s players are too stirred up — riding too high on an abundance of nervous energy — they rarely play up to their potential.

On Saturday, Nebraska’s fervor was all Kentucky’s nightmare.

The second-ranked Huskers flattened the No. 14 Wildcats, rolling to a 25-9, 25-14, 25-20 season-opening sweep at the AVCA Showcase. Most people in the Qwest Center Omaha crowd of 5,853 showed up hoping to watch Cook’s new-look Nebraska team prove it’s a contender for the 2010 national crown.

None of them left disappointed, unless they were hoping NU’s first match might last longer than 83 minutes.

“It was crazy,” said Nebraska’s Kayla Banwarth — who finished with more digs (20) than Kentucky totaled in team kills (18). “Adrenaline was pumping. We were all so excited to get back out on the court.”

Banwarth, NU’s standout senior libero, earned her spot on a long list of Huskers who enjoyed spectacular season debuts.

The Wildcats had no answer for 6-foot-5 lefty Lindsey Licht, who crushed 14 kills on .650 hitting and added six blocks. Hannah Werth had 11 kills and 10 digs, while Brooke Delano turned in eight kills and four stuffs.

“It’s always great to win your first match of the year,” Cook said. “It was good for us to see how we can run a lot of points. I thought our team did a really good job of that — whereas last year, I’m not sure if we had the mentality to run four, five, six, seven points.”

The Huskers did such a good job of scoring in bunches that their two-setter attack hardly had a chance to get on track. Sydney Anderson started set one and got the offense humming. Lauren Cook’s turn in the rotation didn’t arrive until NU had built a 15-4 lead.

In set three, it was Anderson who cheered from the sideline for a significant stretch as Lauren Cook dished out kill after kill. There’s always a risk during a match like Saturday’s, John Cook said, that his two setters might struggle to find a rhythm.

But the coach loved the way his quarterbacks carved up Kentucky, and neither setter skipped a beat after sitting out. Lauren Cook had 18 assists, Anderson had 15, and Nebraska had 49 kills and hit .267 as a team. Banwarth even chipped in six assists — which pleased John Cook plenty, because he said the stat shows how well NU can click while out of system.

And, as efficiently as the Huskers scored kills, they might’ve been even better defensively. They used nine team blocks and 57 total digs to limit the Wildcats to a miserable minus-.010 attack percentage.

“That’s what our defense is designed to do — suffocate teams,” Banwarth said. “As a (libero), I don’t even hit the ball and I get annoyed when teams are scrappy and playing really good defense. So I want to be that person to help us suffocate other teams.”

Kentucky, which came within a few points of advancing to the round of eight in last year’s NCAA tournament, will try to bounce back on Sunday against No. 9 Iowa State.

Wildcats coach Craig Skinner said his squad clearly didn’t perform up to its abilities. But, he added, if there’s another team in the country better than Nebraska, it’s a frightening thought.

“You’re going to feel the heat at all times playing them,” said Skinner, a former assistant with the Huskers. “You’ll never feel a sense of relief, ‘Hey, we’re going to score a few points here because they’re in this rotation..’ All the rotations seem the same ... they’re all good.”

The Huskers hope to keep things rolling Sunday when they take on No. 13 Florida. Earlier Saturday, the Gators turned in an impressive 25-22, 25-21, 10-25, 25-20 win over the Cyclones.

Nebraska’s win, Licht said, “shows what we’re great at — but it also shows what we need to work on.”

“I definitely think it’s going to help us going into tomorrow, but we can’t overlook Florida,” she said. “They’re a great team as well.”

Kentucky (0-1).....................9 14 20
Nebraska (1-0)..........................25 25 25
• Kentucky (kills-aces-blocks): Rapp 2-1-2, Giesler 0-0-2, Armes 0-0-0, Hiler 5-0-1, Pavan 1-0-1, Hartmann 1-2-1, Billings 9-0-1, Klefot 0-0-0, Greenberg 0-0-0.
• Nebraska (kills-aces-blocks): Anderson 0-0-0, Delano 8-0-4, Broekhuis 6-0-3, McNeal 3-0-3, Mueller 7-0-0, Werth 11-1-0, Banwarth 0-1-0, Licht 14-0-6, Cook 0-0-0.
• Set assists: Kentucky 16 (Hartmann 4); Nebraska 43 (Cook 18, Anderson 15, Banwarth 6, Delano 3). A: 5,853.

Contact the writer:
444-1207, chad.purcell@owh.com

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