John Cook likes to refer to looming projects as "the art of coaching."
The Nebraska volleyball coach has one on his hands this season at middle blocker.
Consider this scene from Tuesday, the Huskers' first practice of the season. 22-year-old Kaitlyn Hord and 17-year-old Maggie Mendelson were standing by each other each learning how to play middle blocker for the Huskers.
This season, Cook must try to refine Hord's established skills while also helping her reclaim a love for the sport that had faded some. Hord is playing her super-senior season at Nebraska after being a three-time All-American at Penn State.
And Cook also has to get two freshmen, Bekka Allick and Mendelson, ready to play middle blocker in the sport’s best conference.
One of the fascinating parts of college sports is that it forces a program to start over annually, blending players of different ages and experience levels to try and make the best possible team.
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With just 12 scholarships in college volleyball, that usually means playing some freshmen.
Nebraska has players on its roster with birthdays five years apart. Hord is still playing because of the fifth-year waiver granted due to COVID-19. Mendelson graduated from high school one year early, reclassifying to the 2022 class.
Both could be key in Nebraska trying to have another great season — maintaining the strong defense from last year’s NCAA runner-up team while trying to get a little more production and consistency with the offense.
The late summer transfer of All-American middle blocker Kayla Caffey from Nebraska to Texas complicated things for Cook. But he thinks the freshmen middles will be just fine.
“Those two freshmen are talented and they’ve got a killer instinct. I’ve seen it,” Cook said last week. “Those two freshmen are not your typical freshmen. They’re here to play and compete. Both of them are coming off USA teams that have won.”
Nebraska senior outside hitter Madi Kubik is eager to see what the middles bring to the team.
“With Bekka, she’s pretty quirky and fiery, so it’s going to be fun to see how her personality manifests on the court,” Kubik said. “Kaitlyn, we’ve played against her for the last 3½ years and seen the damage that she can do.”
The 6-foot-5 Mendelson was the No. 4 national recruit, even after moving up to the 2022 recruiting class with older players. This will be a major transition for her, but she looks the part with her size, athleticism and maturity.
During Tuesday’s practice, Mendelson showed off a quick arm swing and the ability to hits shots with sharp angles that were tough to dig. Blocking is the biggest adjustment for almost every freshman middle blocker, and that’s the case for Mendelson, too. But Cook did stop a drill for a moment to praise Mendelson for her discipline with blocking, which prompted a lot of cheering from her teammates.
Both Mendelson and Allick spent time playing with the top group, with Allick also earning praise from Cook for some good blocks.
Practicing the basics: High school fall sports practices are starting for many teams this week, and there’s probably some groaning from the players about the amount of time spent on fundamentals over scrimmaging.
But when Nebraska’s five-time national championship-winning volleyball program took the court, there wasn’t any 6-on-6 action until 90 minutes into the three-hour practice.
Before that, it was a lot of fundamentals — out-of-system setting, floor defense, blocking and serving. And then the final part of practice was serve-receive.
Seen
Sophomore Kennedi Orr spent the most time as the setter for the top group, while super-senior Nicklin Hames was playing defensive specialist. Cook said Orr will get a chance to prove she can be the starting setter.
Overheard
* As practice began, Cook said one of the themes for the workout was how you respond to feedback, either from teammates or coaches. And one example he used is if during a match Wisconsin’s hitters are smashing kills against you then you’ll have to find a way to respond.
* Cook to freshman outside hitter Hayden Kubik: “Hayden, I love it when you make that effort. Good job.”