Huskers win national title
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BY TODD HENRICHS / Lincoln Journal Star
OMAHA — Home has never been sweeter. As kids, it’s hard to believe that Jordan Larson and the other homegrown Huskers ever dreamed of winning a national championship in their own backyard. But there’s no doubt they always dreamed of being Huskers while playing out back. Related: Photo gallery
And what a dream come true Saturday was for those players and little girls from South Omaha to Scottsbluff yearning to one day play for the Big Red.
Together, they celebrated a national championship.
Nebraska's Dani Busboom (18), Jordan Larson (10), Rachel Schwartz (5), Sarah Pavan (9) and Tracy Stalls (11) celebrate their national championship at the end of Game 4. (William Lauer)
Celebration today
Nebraska will celebrate its 2006 national volleyball championship today at 11 a.m. at the NU Coliseum.
Doors will open at 10 a.m. and no admission will be charged. Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. No reserved seating will be available.
Nebraska, with key contributions from five in-state players, defeated Stanford 27-30, 30-26, 30-28, 30-27 to claim the program’s third national title and the first in the last three seasons as the nation’s No. 1 team.
Larson, who had struggled in Thursday’s semifinal win against UCLA, capped the championship with a kill that set off a celebration at the net and in the stands.
“I went in a free spirit and did my best,” said Larson, who came through with 19 kills Saturday.
The taxpayers who helped to foot the ball for Qwest Center Omaha apparently did so with Nebraska volleyball in mind. The Huskers, who have won 58 straight matches in their home state, are now 7-0 at the venue where they’ll return to open the season next year.
The NCAA volleyball record crowd of 17,209 shared in the moment.
As Nebraska pushed to a 28-21 lead in game four, it was just a matter of counting down the points. Dani Mancuso, an Omaha Gross graduate, got point No. 29, a kill key in thwarting a Stanford rally.
But once the Cardinal got to within 29-27, Nebraska had to use a timeout. With Mancuso and injured Husker All-American Christina Houghtelling arm in arm on the sideline, the Huskers came out with a perfect pass, a precise set and Larson’s match clincher.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” an emotional John Cook said. “It’s awesome.”
The Huskers (33-1) did it without Melissa Elmer and Jennifer Saleaumua, the greatest blocker and digger, respectively, in program history.
They won without Houghtelling, who wore an ice pack on her surgically repaired shoulder before the match and mixed expressions of sadness and joy after it. She’ll rejoin the team next season, giving Nebraska the luxury of having the last two national players of the year on the court at the same time.
Now that’s pressure.
Nebraska, however, learned to deal with pressure this season. When the magnitude of trying to make it to Omaha seemed to be weighing on his team and the result was up-and-down performances, Cook organized a meeting and told the team to let it go. If they didn’t make it, he’d take the heat.
A November loss at Colorado served more as a springboard to success than recipe for disaster, that is until Nebraska found itself in a heap of trouble against Minnesota in the NCAA regional.
Down two games to none, Nebraska went to the locker room and regrouped. Sarah Pavan took over when the match resumed, making good on her pledge and guaranteeing this would be quite a week in Omaha.
The Huskers didn’t beat just anybody. Washington’s Huskies won the title against Nebraska last year but Stanford is the sport’s big dog. The Cardinal sought its seventh title and a sixth straight national championship for the Pacific-10 Conference.
Indeed, Stanford is where Pavan, this year’s Academic All-American of the Year, thought she would attend college and win championships. But after falling in love with Nebraska and its fans, to not get Saturday’s win might have crushed her.
Instead, she delivered on a guarantee.
Just as Omaha did in building an arena that could be home to championship events like Saturday’s exciting final.
Game one featured six lead changes, the last coming when Stanford went on a five-point run in which sophomore libero Jessica Fishburn extended rallies that ultimately ended with Nebraska hitting errors.
But there were positive signs for the Huskers. Foremost was the start of sophomore outside hitter Larson, whose seven kills in 12 first-game swings equaled her total in 70 swings over Nebraska’s last two semifinal matches.
In game two, it was Nebraska that made the late push. After Pavan blasted an overdig for a 24-24 tie, setter Rachel Holloway bounced off the court and screamed encouragement to her teammates. On the next rally, Holloway rushed to the net to dig a ball that NU turned into an out-of-system kill from Mancuso.
When the Huskers closed out the game to tie the match, the volume from the Qwest Center crowd reached its peak.
That was only the beginning.
With the flourish in which Nebraska closed out game three, the crowd had reached a fever pitch even before Pavan’s clinching kill had hit the floor.
The journey that started last December in San Antonio with the loss to Washington, that continued half a world away in Japan and China, that included the jolting regular-season loss at Colorado and an exhilarating season-saving victory in Florida, ended as a dream come true.
For all the Huskers and future Huskers everywhere.
Reach Todd Henrichs at 473-7439 or thenrichs@journalstar.com.
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