Monday, November 17, 2008
Nebraska native Savannah Noyes could not have dreamt of a better start.
Sophomore outside hitter Jenna Kaiser attempts to hit a shot past two Nebraska blockers. Nebraska blocked the shot on the play. Kansas was swept by Nebraska 3-0 Saturday night at the Horejsi Center.
The senior middle blocker had Kansas’s first two kills as the Jayhawks roared to an 8-4 first set lead. But the Cornhuskers flexed their muscles soon after that.
NOTES
HUSKERS HIT HARD
The sellout crowd at the Horejsi Family Athletic center got a workout themselves at Saturday night’s game. Whether it were hitters Jordan Larson, Tara Mueller, or Lindsey Licht they all had one thing in common.
They hit the ball with authority. It led to plenty of balls spiking of Jayhawks attempting a dig, and flying into the home crowd. Too bad this isn’t baseball as fans have to give back these potential souvenirs, but if Kansas’s fans didn’t know about the strength of Nebraska before Saturday, they do now.
LARSON WOOS CROWD
Senior outside hitter Jordan Larson is an All-American candidate for Nebraska. And once again she showed one of her tools: her impressive jump serve. Potentially the best in the nation, Larson only had one ace against the Jayhawks, but each serve was followed by a ‘woo’, ‘ooh’, or ‘wow’ from the Kansas fans. The serve is fast and effective as even if it didn’t lead to an ace, it kept Kansas’s offense off balance in the third set.
LICHT OFFERS HER THOUGHTS ON JAYHAWKS
Even though Nebraska has swept the season series against Kansas, it doesn’t mean the Jayhawks didn’t earn the Cornhuskers respect. Sophomore right side hitter Lindsey Licht said nothing but good things about this up and coming Jayhawk squad.
“Kansas is a great team, they have great hitters, they’re a great defensive team and they came to play tonight as well,” she said. “We have a lot of respect for them and they’re a great team.”
Kansas fell in three sets to No. 3 Nebraska Saturday night, and the emotion on Noyes’s face was obvious. She wanted this one more so than the others.
“Think of a team in any time of your life when that was the most important game of your career,” Noyes said she told her teammates before the game. “That’s how it is for Nebraska.”
Kansas played as well as any team has played against Nebraska early during sets one and two. Set one had nine ties and three lead changes. Unfortunately, Nebraska held onto the last lead change, and prevailed late in set one, 25-21.
Set two was same song, different tune, as Kansas played well early and fought to a 10-10 tie before Nebraska stepped on the gas and won 25-18.
But set three was a different story.
“We didn’t react well, especially late in set three,” coach Ray Bechard said.
It was hard to watch, as the Jayhawks seemed to fall apart right before everyone’s eyes. An 11-3 run from the Cornhuskers filled with Kansas errors let Nebraska waltz to a 25-12 set and match victory.
Sophomore outside hitter Karina Garlington had a night to forget as she had only nine kills while hitting .156. It was hard for her to find the right words to describe the atrocious set three after the match.
“With Nebraska it’s hard to be down two sets to none anyways,” Garlington said. “We were giving it our best, but just couldn’t get it done tonight.”
Set three was filled with errors, miscommunication, and bad offense as the Jayhawks had five kills with seven errors. That’s a negative hitting percentage and against a team like Nebraska, the match won’t last very long.
That third set was terribly disappointing considering how sets one and two went. Kansas hit an impressive .301 combined for the two sets, but Nebraska was just that much better.
The Cornhuskers hit .461 for sets one and two combined with only three errors.
Junior setter Katie Martincich gets low to return a Nebraska serve Saturday night at the Horejsi Center. Martinich finished with six digs in Kansas' 3-0 loss to the Cornhuskers.
“The first two sets, we were in it offensively,” Bechard said. “They were hitting at such a high clip that it made it very difficult on us to get any string of points together.”
Kansas was actually out digging Nebraska after the first two sets, but coach Bechard said while Nebraska’s digs were leading to offensive opportunities for the Cornhuskers, Kansas’ digs weren’t.
“Our digs got to lead opportunities for us offensively,” Bechard said. “Our digs just prolonged the rally, and when you prolong the rally against Nebraska, eventually you’re going to be in trouble.”
In the end, Nebraska continued it’s impressive dominance over Kansas. The Jayhawks haven’t beaten the Cornhuskers in Bechard’s 11-year tenure. In fact they haven’t won against Nebraska since 1975.
It wasn’t the way Noyes wanted to end her career against the Cornhuskers, especially at home. She will never get another shot to end the streak, but can only hope for what lies ahead for the program.
“I definitely want to break that streak,” she said. “I didn’t do it, but I hope some of these girls can, and it needs to happen soon.”
— — Edited by Arthur Hur
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