John Cook has been the head coach of Nebraska Cornhuskers Volleyball for the last 25 years. He has just recently announced his retirement from the team. John Cook started coaching first at Wisconsin in 1993, for 7 years, and then has been at Nebraska for the last 25.
John has helped lead Nebraska Volleyball to four national championships and 12 NCAA semifinals. Also with many Big Ten and Big 12 titles. John Cook has had a long standing history with helping women’s volleyball get coverage and appreciation for the sport. One of the biggest things he has done was have his team play in the outdoor football stadium in 2023. It was a huge success, 92,003 people filled up the Memorial Stadium and history was made.
John Cook has also built up many unbreakable relationships; one of his most memorable is with one of his current players Harper Murray, an outside hitter from Michigan.
His successor is Dani Busboom Kelly (DBK). She used to play under Coach Cook and was the starting libero on the Nebraska 2006 national championship team. She took a break from volleyball once she graduated, but then she came back to be an assistant coach for Cook for 4 years before she went to Louisville. DBK has been with the Louisville Cardinals for the last 8 years building it into a very influential volleyball team. She has led them to two NCAA championships, 3 semifinals and won four ACC titles.
Many of the Nebraska players were shocked but happy that John Cook was able to choose what was best for him. For the rest of the volleyball community cannot wait to see what DBK is going to be able to do at Nebraska.
On December 22, 2024 Penn State and Louisville faced off in Louisville, Kentucky. This was a big match up because not many people thought that Penn State was going to be in the National Championship. It was a long road to get to this point for both teams. A few days before, Louisville played the University of Pittsburgh and lost. This was a big upset because a lot of people thought they were going to win the whole thing. Penn State played Nebraska, and everyone knew it was going to be a good match but thought Nebraska was going to take it. In the end, Louisville and Penn State won.
This match was a lot bigger than just volleyball. For Penn State, every single player on that team was playing for their coach, Katie Schumacher, who has stage 2 of breast cancer. Throughout the whole season all of her players talked about how everything they do is for her.
Louisville has been underestimated all season and wanted to prove that they could show up and win. Along with the match taking place in Louisville they wanted this win more than anything. Louisville was also in the National Championship two years ago and lost to Texas, so they wanted to show up and play their best game.
When it came down to the actual match it was crazy. Penn State won in four sets. The second set was super close the entire time and this was the only set that Louisville won. Louisville put up a good fight, especially after losing their star player Anna Debeer due to an ankle injury the game before. In the end, both teams put up a great fight but Penn State did take the win.
Volleyball Day in Nebraska took place August 30, 2023. This was a historic day for Nebraska volleyball and female sports overall. Nebraska volleyball broke a world record this night. They broke the record of the most people to watch a female sport in person. There were a total of 92,003 people in the Memorial Stadium which is their football stadium.
The idea for this was created by the head coach of the Nebraska volleyball team John Cook. The goal was to beat the record Wisconsin had just created a few weeks before. The issue was there was no indoor stadium that could hold that many people, so they decided to do it outdoors in the Nebraska football stadium. The stadium can technically only hold 85,458 but has exceeded that number many times before. A lot of the administrators at University of Nebraska thought that this might not be successful but they were definitely proved wrong. The night tickets went on sale; they sold out in the first hour. Everyone was shocked by how fast they sold out.
The day of the game, the Nebraska volleyball team did a meet and greet with a ton of Husker fans. The goal of this meet and greet was to show the love the Nebraska volleyball team has for their community and the love the community has for them. The meet and greet was truly so special, so many young fans got to meet their idols in volleyball and it was amazing to see.
The game was against Omaha, and the University of Nebraska won in three sets. It was a beautiful night, not a cloud in the sky. Once the second set ended they found out the attendance number, and how they broke the record. All the players were trying to stay locked in for the game but could not contain their excitement. A lot of tears were shed by coaches, players, and fans. It was truly an amazing thing to hear and learn about as a younger volleyball player. Nebraska is the volleyball capital of the world and it truly is such an amazing atmosphere.
Nebraska had some of the best recruitments from the 2023 class. These players, who are now sophomores, changed Nebraska’s team as a whole. There were five players, with one who was a redshirt for the team. Four of their starting players in the 2023 season were freshmen. This is not commonly seen as most freshmen come into schools not planning on getting a lot of playing time.
Now, let’s talk about each of these players individually. First, there is Harper Murray who is an all around outside. She won Gatorade National Player of the year, and was top of her class for her position. Next is Bergen Reilly, she is the all-around setter for Nebraska. Some would say she is the best setter in the NCAA right now. She was top of her recruiting class for her position as well. The next player is Andi Jackson. Jackson is a middle blocker. She has the highest hitting percentage this season, and a lot of people say is on route to becoming an Olympian. The last player is Laney Choboy. Choboy is a DS which stands for defensive specialist.
All of these players played on the U19 national team, and won the Pan American Cup. Reilly won MVP and best setter. Murray won best attacker, and Choboy won best defensive player. These four players have changed Nebraska volleyball in so many ways. They each bring something different to the court and their team. Reilly has this calm sense on the court and that is what makes her so unpredictable to opponents and such a consistent setter. Murray is a really good all-around player, she has good coverage when she is in the back row. She averages 3.36 kills per set, which shows how consistent of a hitter she is. Jackson had the highest hitting percentage of .504 leading the nation, and she was also in the top 25 hitters as the only freshman. Choboy brings a level of competitiveness that nobody else can. She is also a very scrappy player. She will hustle for any ball and not let anything stop her.
This class is truly amazing and is the reason the Nebraska team went to the National Championship game and only lost two games last season. I can’t wait to see what Nebraska does this season.
A photo of our varsity team and the Central match. Photo Credits: Emily Aune
On Thursday 9/5 the Highland Park Scottie’s took on the Central Minutemen at Central High School taking them to four sets out of five. This is one of the biggest volleyball games of the season for Highland and Central because of the huge rivalry against the two schools. Although a lot of these players may be friends with each other outside of volleyball, when you step on the court it’s all about winning.
Lots of students from both schools showed up to these games and everyone was very excited about the game. The Highland student section was louder than Central’s during the whole game, even though it was at Central’s home. The theme for Highland’s student section was white out and the theme for Central’s student section was black out. Almost everyone showed up on theme and showed school spirit while cheering for varsity Highland Volleyball.
Highland plays Central twice in the school season. We play Central again at the end of September and that is the conference match. That match is a lot more important and really helps decide who wins the conference.
For our B-Squad there were 2 sets in total with a very tough loss to the Central Minutemen. Each set was very close and Highland put up a very strong fight against the Central B-Squad. Highland’s B-Squad head coach is Emily Aune and their assistant coach is Grace Blumer-Lamotte who are both Highland alumni.
The B-Squad this year is very packed and has about 18 players on the team; many of the players on B-Squad are freshmen. The B-Squad team is filled with a ton of caring, strong, and athletic players. They all have been working so hard this season to become better volleyball players, and you can already see so much improvement.
JV won in an easy two sets and unfortunately was our only Highland team to win against our rival Central. The game was somewhat close the whole time. The JV and B-Squad teams only can play up to a maximum of three sets, the first two sets end by whichever team reaches 25 points first (win by two) and the third set only goes to 15 which is also win by two.
JV has two captains for the team this season, Jamariah Fisher (middle blocker) who is a 12th grader and Siri David (outside hitter) who is a 10th grader. There are thirteen players on JV, and the head coach is Hannah Wolfy. When all playing together our JV team this year is a very strong team and are great at communicating with each other.
Our Varsity team also had a very tough loss against the Central Varsity team. It was a pretty tight game the whole time leaving all of the student section on our toes. They went to four sets, as we said before, and the game kept going back and forth for Highland. Unfortunately, we ended up losing, luckily it is not a conference game so we can always win the next one.
Although Highland lost, they played very well and got lots of kills against Central. The referees were also very bad for this game, they kept calling people touching the net when it was obvious the players were not. Even the Central head coach had realized that these referees were being unfair to Highland but thankfully both coaches reported him.
So far in the 2024 season, Varsity is looking very good, they have great blockers and good defense. There are no freshmen on Varsity this year, but there are 2 sophomores, Juliet Kottke (outside hitter) and Sasha Deans (middle blocker). Their head coach is Sonje Odegard and assistant coach is Queen E. The Highland Varsity captains are Ella Sutherland (outside hitter), Mary Koch (middle hitter), and Lauren Kottke (libero); they are all seniors this year. There are 14 players on Varsity this year with 3 swings, Ruth Mckoskey who is a sophomore (setter/DS), Siri David is a sophomore as well, and Jamariah Fisher who is a senior this year.
This team is truly very special and we’re sure they are going to have an amazing rest of the season!
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