Volleyball: Jackrabbits get toughest draw

By The Associated Press | Wednesday, November 28, 2007

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LINCOLN, Neb. — Three days before his team’s first-round match in the NCAA volleyball tournament, this was all Nebraska coach John Cook knew about the Cornhuskers’ opening opponent, South Dakota State.

“Their nickname is the Jackrabbits," he said Tuesday.

With apologies to South Dakota State, the Huskers' eyes are on the big prize. Anything less than reaching Sacramento, Calif., as one of the last four teams standing in two weeks will be deemed a failure.

Nebraska, after all, is the defending national champion and in the NCAA tournament for the 26th consecutive year.

“Our team has really been waiting for this tournament, knowing that anything they would do up to this point would be fun and exciting but in some ways not that important because there is so much emphasis placed on this tournament,” Cook said.

The Huskers (27-1) shared the Big 12 championship with Texas and placed five players on the all-conference first team. Sarah Pavan was Big 12 player of the year for the third straight time.

All that is window dressing, Pavan said: The Nebraska volleyball program is all about winning national titles.

On paper, beating South Dakota State on Friday and then either Wichita State or Western Kentucky on Saturday should be formalities, especially with the matches at the Coliseum in Lincoln.

“This place has been so good to us, especially us seniors,” Pavan said. “Being able to play here as many times as possible is only going to help us. Here we have the fans behind us.”

The Jackrabbits will make their first NCAA Division I tournament appearance in any sport, and they'll do it at one of the toughest venues in the nation.

The Huskers are 43-3 all-time in NCAA matches at home — 70-1 overall at the Coliseum the past four years.

SDSU (25-10) won the Summit League’s automatic bid for the national tournament. They are led by two all-conference first-team players in outside hitter Kristina Martin and middle blocker Amy Anderson.

One Nebraskan, freshman outside hitter Ashley Kathol of Omaha, is on the SDSU roster.

“I know they’re going to come out and have nothing to lose against us,” Nebraska setter Rachel Holloway said. “I know they’re going to play as hard as they can. We’re not taking them lightly.”