UTVballfan
100+ Posts
When the Horns thump Nebraska, I go book length on the coverage. Only die-hards will want to hang with this, no worries for the rest of you, check you later. Let’s dive right into it.
In the Godfather movies, when the bad guys wanted to send a message, they had some picturesque approaches. Like, send a dead fish, wrapped in newspaper. Or, you know, slip a horse head under the bed spread. Crude, but effective.
So, in like spirit, but in a far less gross way, Faucette sent a message on the first point of the match. Namely, she absolutely pounded the stuffing out of the ball! Point texas! Kinda her way of saying, “Tonight, Huskers, you sleep with the fishes!”
Amber said, “I copy that, J” and slammed a kill out of the back row.
On the next point, Jordan Wilberger was facing Rachael across the net, didn’t like that, and threw her ball wildly out of bounds.
3-zip! Welcome to Gregory, Huskers!
Next up, though, Kocher had to take the first ball, and Sha’Dare had to set the high outside ball, giving the big Husker block all the time in the world to trap our hitter. This scenario would get replayed several times during the night.
Big Hannah Werth stepped up, and sent her serve into the net, for 4-1. Perhaps her goggles got foggy.
Licht got a kill, and on the next point they went right back to her, but Rachael said “Not twice in a row, big girl,” and roofed her.
We then had a sequence where Amber was our offense, with 3 kills and an ace on Werth. And then Kocher awesomely stuffed a ball down between two blockers, Kobe-style, to put us up 11-6.
Big Daddy Cook started to get that sinking feeling, like “Oh no, not another one of these nightmare’s in Gregory.” T.O.
The first play back, Jen wanted in on the fun and roofed Wildberger. Jordan would continue to suffer through the night and end up hitting .067. But Jen was, like, gimme some slap, girls!
Kocher now rotated sets to Jen, Rachael and Sha’Dare, and even though Baby Cook got away with a way questionable jump-dump, we cruised to 17-9.
We then had a rough patch. We suffered on some of those forced high outside sets, and passes that didn’t cross the 10 foot line. At 18-14, with half our lead gone, Elliott felt gabby and TOed to talk it over. Probably something about passing and getting the middles involved.
As a side benefit, this wellworn volleyball ploy worked, since after the break, Tara Mueller biffed her serve, stopping their mo’. Then Jen crunched one to put us back up to 20-14, and it was Cook’s turn to pontificate.
After the TO, Werth finally got a K, but we then reeled off 5 straight to take the set. First, Jen planted a soaring attack, and Amber scored out of the pipe.
After Werth blasted a ball out to the bathrooms, we had a way cool play. Sarah had a great dig and Michelle tracked it down, Ashley-style, to keep it in play; and subsequently Doris snuffed the Husker attack and man was she stoked!
Anti-climactically, Tara errored one more time, and we had the set, 25-15. That’s a ten point beat-down on the country’s number 2 team. Don’t step on Bevo’s tail, Cook!
Set 2 opened with some back and forth, and then Juliann got involved with three big boomers, and then Michelle and Rachael connected to finish a great rally for a 7-4 lead.
Rachael would end up over .400 for the night, but I kinda miss the magic connection that Hannah and Rachael had. That was lightning-in-a-bottle type stuff, hard to find, and beautiful to watch. But Rachael and Michelle are doing well.
Anyhow, we then had a period of choppy play with as many errors as clean points, and the sides huffed and puffed to a 12-all deadlock.
Our girls then stepped it up. Jen killed a pretty one from right behind Michelle, and after Sha’Dare made a sterling 1-handed dig, Amber padded her stats. Werth strongly, powerfully hit wide, and we went into the TV timeout up 15-12.
Broekhuis then suffered, hitting wide and getting blocked. But then Juliann got trapped. She got it back with a hard kill, but then she got royally hosed by a bad call on a stellar line shot. Sha’Dare got revenge, though, for 19-16.
The next play, Palmer dug supremely, and then the 6-5 Licht collided with the maybe 5-8 Baby Cook. Look, most volleyball players are big girls, but Licht is a Very Large Human. Big Cook TOed so the trainer could see if Baby Cook had a collapsed lung, or something.
Resuming play, Licht was still feeling bad about popping her setters’ spleen, and hit her ball into the popcorn machine, and we were at 21-16. After some back and forth, we had a nice rally at 24-18. Baby Cook dumped twice, but we got ‘em both. Ha! We still lost the point, though.
On the next set point, Tara ended the set on an error, again - kinda symmetrical to the end of the first set.
We win 25-19, and our girls headed into the break, high fivin’ and jivin’. Seriously, what’s cooler than the locker room when you’re bageling your opponent?
The third set had three phases.
Early on, we played well. Kocher circumnavigated our hitters, starting with Amber from the back porch. Rachael deftly put up a sweet bump set for J, and then obliterated an overpass.
Juliann then really harmed the ball, then did it again!
Then Kocher made a bee-yoo-tiful, amazing, sideways set, and a little later lofted a juicy one that Sha’Dare cranked. We took a 6-3 lead.
We then phased into a period where both sides played some pretty rocky ball. Missed serves, missed receptions, attack errors galore. Texas fell back to 9-12, but then, Jen Doris jammed up a Mueller attack big-time, and then, spicy mama, she gave a little attitude to the Huskers. Loved it!
Jen’s intensity incited her team to a mini-run. Faucette tooled a block, and then Hannah Werth’s ball got called out, and she started up with the dirty talking. And on national TV! While she fumed, Amber stepped back and served an ace.
So Cook’s short fuse started sparking, and he TO’ed, with us up 13-12.
Shortly thereafter, Kocher dissed Wildberger by stuffing her overpass attack! Then Baby Cook finally got busted on one of her iffy dumps, and we were at 16-13.
We then stepped on a banana peel, and skidded until we were at 19-all. But then Delano netted, and then Jen blocked Big Hannah, and did a little dance, KC-and-the Sunshine-Band-style! The crowd was loving it: Jen’s fist pumping, giving attitude, and even dancing!
We even drove Cook to another TO, and Elliott was the gym’s biggest cheerleader, by about 200 pounds. But then we suffered, and Jerry had to TO too, at 22-all.
We then went into a hard, well-fought battle, with back-and-forth kills.
We got a match point, after Faucette hammered one for 24-23, and the fans were up on their feet. Sweep?! But we couldn’t quite seal the deal. We battled off a set point, and the fans went ape, but Nebraska salvaged some dignity with a 25-27 win.
Set 4 opened up with the same level of intensity. Early on, Michelle went down to the basement to set a low ball, and Rachael scored for the tie, 3-3.
Ray-A scored a little while later for 5-5, one of those sharp angles only she can make. You know, Juliann brings the heat, but Rachael brings the funk. I mean, she hits it hard too, but with those crazy angles, and no one can get that ball.
Sarah missed her 3rd serve, and Elliott made a mental note to slot in Lauren next time around. More on that later.
Doris killed twice running, in the middle and wide right. 8-6. Then at 9-7, the Horns got down and dirty with some scrappy play, but Broekhuis prevailed.
Banwarth missed a serve, then sought redemption with a stellar up, but Werth wasted the save by biffing her attack. That really chapped Cook, and he TO’ed at 11-8.
Soon after the hiatus, Baby Cook had a nice overhand dig, but her teamies fumbled around, and pretty princess looked pretty pissed off about that.
After kills by Amber and Sha’Dare, it was 14-12, and Lauren Dickson stepped in with an impressive, tough serve. She’s cool as a cucumber, and low error.
Soon, Amber killed deep, and Jen flushed an overpass. Then Nebraska had a pancake save, but Amber negated it, to push us to 17-13, and Papa Cook called for recess, hoping to stall our run.
That plan fizzled, cause we ran off three more to go 20-13. But Nebraska wouldn’t die, and clawed back to 20-16. So you guessed it, Jerry TO’ed.
But check this – guess who served right after the break? Tara Mueller! And guess what she did, again? Bungled the serve! Jerry giggled – “dang it, that worked again?!” - and Cook choked.
Big Hanna Werth scored some, although one was a freebie, and at 21-19 Elliott had to TO again.
After a couple Husker blocks, Sarah had a good pick-up, and Faucette converted. 22-20.
Then a play where first Sha’Dare had a great dig, and then Jen Doris went down for her own sweet dig!! Tall girls are cool, and I love it when they get low for a dig like that! J converted with a sweet roll shot, better than a Cinnabon. 23-20.
From this point on, there were no errors, just kills, and it was tense.
We got a match point, 24-22. Nebraska saved. Then saved again! We were tied at 24-all, and again at 25-all. Then Amber killed, and the pressure was on.
Lauren Dickson stepped up with some more mental fortitude. She zinged a really tough serve that led to a weak Husker attack. Michelle got it to Amber, who closed it out! 27-25, set and match. Gregory exploded!
You know our girls are commando tough, especially when the game is on the line. I don’t think we could give out a team ball to any one player; this was a total team effort, and I’m not just being corny.
By the way, that’s four years running we’ve whupped Nebraska in the Gregory fracas. Peace be with you, Huskers, safe trip back to Lincoln, and see you in the N-C-Double-A’s!
In the Godfather movies, when the bad guys wanted to send a message, they had some picturesque approaches. Like, send a dead fish, wrapped in newspaper. Or, you know, slip a horse head under the bed spread. Crude, but effective.
So, in like spirit, but in a far less gross way, Faucette sent a message on the first point of the match. Namely, she absolutely pounded the stuffing out of the ball! Point texas! Kinda her way of saying, “Tonight, Huskers, you sleep with the fishes!”
Amber said, “I copy that, J” and slammed a kill out of the back row.
On the next point, Jordan Wilberger was facing Rachael across the net, didn’t like that, and threw her ball wildly out of bounds.
3-zip! Welcome to Gregory, Huskers!
Next up, though, Kocher had to take the first ball, and Sha’Dare had to set the high outside ball, giving the big Husker block all the time in the world to trap our hitter. This scenario would get replayed several times during the night.
Big Hannah Werth stepped up, and sent her serve into the net, for 4-1. Perhaps her goggles got foggy.
Licht got a kill, and on the next point they went right back to her, but Rachael said “Not twice in a row, big girl,” and roofed her.
We then had a sequence where Amber was our offense, with 3 kills and an ace on Werth. And then Kocher awesomely stuffed a ball down between two blockers, Kobe-style, to put us up 11-6.
Big Daddy Cook started to get that sinking feeling, like “Oh no, not another one of these nightmare’s in Gregory.” T.O.
The first play back, Jen wanted in on the fun and roofed Wildberger. Jordan would continue to suffer through the night and end up hitting .067. But Jen was, like, gimme some slap, girls!
Kocher now rotated sets to Jen, Rachael and Sha’Dare, and even though Baby Cook got away with a way questionable jump-dump, we cruised to 17-9.
We then had a rough patch. We suffered on some of those forced high outside sets, and passes that didn’t cross the 10 foot line. At 18-14, with half our lead gone, Elliott felt gabby and TOed to talk it over. Probably something about passing and getting the middles involved.
As a side benefit, this wellworn volleyball ploy worked, since after the break, Tara Mueller biffed her serve, stopping their mo’. Then Jen crunched one to put us back up to 20-14, and it was Cook’s turn to pontificate.
After the TO, Werth finally got a K, but we then reeled off 5 straight to take the set. First, Jen planted a soaring attack, and Amber scored out of the pipe.
After Werth blasted a ball out to the bathrooms, we had a way cool play. Sarah had a great dig and Michelle tracked it down, Ashley-style, to keep it in play; and subsequently Doris snuffed the Husker attack and man was she stoked!
Anti-climactically, Tara errored one more time, and we had the set, 25-15. That’s a ten point beat-down on the country’s number 2 team. Don’t step on Bevo’s tail, Cook!
Set 2 opened with some back and forth, and then Juliann got involved with three big boomers, and then Michelle and Rachael connected to finish a great rally for a 7-4 lead.
Rachael would end up over .400 for the night, but I kinda miss the magic connection that Hannah and Rachael had. That was lightning-in-a-bottle type stuff, hard to find, and beautiful to watch. But Rachael and Michelle are doing well.
Anyhow, we then had a period of choppy play with as many errors as clean points, and the sides huffed and puffed to a 12-all deadlock.
Our girls then stepped it up. Jen killed a pretty one from right behind Michelle, and after Sha’Dare made a sterling 1-handed dig, Amber padded her stats. Werth strongly, powerfully hit wide, and we went into the TV timeout up 15-12.
Broekhuis then suffered, hitting wide and getting blocked. But then Juliann got trapped. She got it back with a hard kill, but then she got royally hosed by a bad call on a stellar line shot. Sha’Dare got revenge, though, for 19-16.
The next play, Palmer dug supremely, and then the 6-5 Licht collided with the maybe 5-8 Baby Cook. Look, most volleyball players are big girls, but Licht is a Very Large Human. Big Cook TOed so the trainer could see if Baby Cook had a collapsed lung, or something.
Resuming play, Licht was still feeling bad about popping her setters’ spleen, and hit her ball into the popcorn machine, and we were at 21-16. After some back and forth, we had a nice rally at 24-18. Baby Cook dumped twice, but we got ‘em both. Ha! We still lost the point, though.
On the next set point, Tara ended the set on an error, again - kinda symmetrical to the end of the first set.
We win 25-19, and our girls headed into the break, high fivin’ and jivin’. Seriously, what’s cooler than the locker room when you’re bageling your opponent?
The third set had three phases.
Early on, we played well. Kocher circumnavigated our hitters, starting with Amber from the back porch. Rachael deftly put up a sweet bump set for J, and then obliterated an overpass.
Juliann then really harmed the ball, then did it again!
Then Kocher made a bee-yoo-tiful, amazing, sideways set, and a little later lofted a juicy one that Sha’Dare cranked. We took a 6-3 lead.
We then phased into a period where both sides played some pretty rocky ball. Missed serves, missed receptions, attack errors galore. Texas fell back to 9-12, but then, Jen Doris jammed up a Mueller attack big-time, and then, spicy mama, she gave a little attitude to the Huskers. Loved it!
Jen’s intensity incited her team to a mini-run. Faucette tooled a block, and then Hannah Werth’s ball got called out, and she started up with the dirty talking. And on national TV! While she fumed, Amber stepped back and served an ace.
So Cook’s short fuse started sparking, and he TO’ed, with us up 13-12.
Shortly thereafter, Kocher dissed Wildberger by stuffing her overpass attack! Then Baby Cook finally got busted on one of her iffy dumps, and we were at 16-13.
We then stepped on a banana peel, and skidded until we were at 19-all. But then Delano netted, and then Jen blocked Big Hannah, and did a little dance, KC-and-the Sunshine-Band-style! The crowd was loving it: Jen’s fist pumping, giving attitude, and even dancing!
We even drove Cook to another TO, and Elliott was the gym’s biggest cheerleader, by about 200 pounds. But then we suffered, and Jerry had to TO too, at 22-all.
We then went into a hard, well-fought battle, with back-and-forth kills.
We got a match point, after Faucette hammered one for 24-23, and the fans were up on their feet. Sweep?! But we couldn’t quite seal the deal. We battled off a set point, and the fans went ape, but Nebraska salvaged some dignity with a 25-27 win.
Set 4 opened up with the same level of intensity. Early on, Michelle went down to the basement to set a low ball, and Rachael scored for the tie, 3-3.
Ray-A scored a little while later for 5-5, one of those sharp angles only she can make. You know, Juliann brings the heat, but Rachael brings the funk. I mean, she hits it hard too, but with those crazy angles, and no one can get that ball.
Sarah missed her 3rd serve, and Elliott made a mental note to slot in Lauren next time around. More on that later.
Doris killed twice running, in the middle and wide right. 8-6. Then at 9-7, the Horns got down and dirty with some scrappy play, but Broekhuis prevailed.
Banwarth missed a serve, then sought redemption with a stellar up, but Werth wasted the save by biffing her attack. That really chapped Cook, and he TO’ed at 11-8.
Soon after the hiatus, Baby Cook had a nice overhand dig, but her teamies fumbled around, and pretty princess looked pretty pissed off about that.
After kills by Amber and Sha’Dare, it was 14-12, and Lauren Dickson stepped in with an impressive, tough serve. She’s cool as a cucumber, and low error.
Soon, Amber killed deep, and Jen flushed an overpass. Then Nebraska had a pancake save, but Amber negated it, to push us to 17-13, and Papa Cook called for recess, hoping to stall our run.
That plan fizzled, cause we ran off three more to go 20-13. But Nebraska wouldn’t die, and clawed back to 20-16. So you guessed it, Jerry TO’ed.
But check this – guess who served right after the break? Tara Mueller! And guess what she did, again? Bungled the serve! Jerry giggled – “dang it, that worked again?!” - and Cook choked.
Big Hanna Werth scored some, although one was a freebie, and at 21-19 Elliott had to TO again.
After a couple Husker blocks, Sarah had a good pick-up, and Faucette converted. 22-20.
Then a play where first Sha’Dare had a great dig, and then Jen Doris went down for her own sweet dig!! Tall girls are cool, and I love it when they get low for a dig like that! J converted with a sweet roll shot, better than a Cinnabon. 23-20.
From this point on, there were no errors, just kills, and it was tense.
We got a match point, 24-22. Nebraska saved. Then saved again! We were tied at 24-all, and again at 25-all. Then Amber killed, and the pressure was on.
Lauren Dickson stepped up with some more mental fortitude. She zinged a really tough serve that led to a weak Husker attack. Michelle got it to Amber, who closed it out! 27-25, set and match. Gregory exploded!
You know our girls are commando tough, especially when the game is on the line. I don’t think we could give out a team ball to any one player; this was a total team effort, and I’m not just being corny.
By the way, that’s four years running we’ve whupped Nebraska in the Gregory fracas. Peace be with you, Huskers, safe trip back to Lincoln, and see you in the N-C-Double-A’s!
