Nebraska Volleyball head coach John Cook talks Red-White Scrimmage takeaways | August 24, 2024

all right questions for coach Cook got to get the new replay system it's taking too long DDS or whatever it is anyway that's one my first comment what questions you guys have Coach Andy Jackson what' you think I mean she was Unstoppable tonight yeah she's like I've been saying all all preseason that she's um has now just discover that she's good enough to play here and she's worked really hard she's really confident her and Bergen have a g great connection they played on the USA team earlier in June so she's blossoming fun to watch still got she still has some has to get better blocking but she's uh yeah she's she's doing some nice things but again the thing is confidence wise just she's she's like I said she's blossoming as a as a volleyball player in her second year see what's your assessment of the debuts of the transfers today you know I thought uh Leila competed really hard she did some really nice things um she definitely belongs here uh she brings great energy it's what I really liked about what she did doesn't matter what side she was on she just she brings she brings a lot of great energy which is really really important and I thought T Taylor is you know wow moments but she's I she's still inconsistent she's we're working on some things with her footwork so I I think she's kind of in between right now it's like redoing your golf swing you're going to get you know it's going to take a while till you smooth it out um but you know she she can hit some balls that nobody else can hit I mean I think she I don't remember whose head she took off at left front but that was a heck of a hit I've seen her do that a few times and um so anyway I um but we got a lot of players that can play I know that what what seemed to click for Lindsay in the last two sets after she flipped over to the other side I just think it was you know when you're on uh the side I'm coaching white team tonight it's there there's I think there's some pressure you know and they want to do well and then you go to over there where Kelly and Jordan are and and you know Kennedy's running that and it's just it's just you can play a little bit Freer so it was good for her I was really pleased how she kind of came back she did some really nice things in game three and four coach those two teams that we saw earlier in the week he said you were still figuring out the format was that kind of a look at at a true a team and a true B team we went we evaluated four different lineups tonight I don't know there were some subtle things but it was four different lineups so uh now I got to go back and look at it and see what clicks for us the changes after set to was that kind of predetermined going into it yeah we had it all mapped out what we wanted to do basically wanted to rotate everybody over there we got left Skyler with Kennedy and everybody else I think rotated back and forth except for Maisy you know I told you guys how good ma is she was she was really good tonight I'll bet you I'll get i'll bet you guys a crispy that she was our best passer tonight statistically you guys know what a crispy is no it's a $100 bill all right wa I forgot we can't bet since coach uh what did the depth from having Connor play and then also having Lauren come back just how did that add to the talent level but then also just the competition well it's if if we didn't have Lauren we'd have to have one middle going fulltime and it's it's that's a big load for a middle to carry for four games and our goal is to play four games tonight so having Lauren back was awesome plus she's a great player she's you know she did some really good things tonight and and and and again she's she's played here and she knows the girls so she's been training with us so it's uh um that that was really really great that she played I'll bet you she's going to be really sore tomorrow I I'll put got crispy on that too um and then Connor is one of our practice players and we just we need one more outside hitter so he fills in great he did a nice job tonight he yeah well we we shut him down there a little bit so he was on fire and then we shut him down a little bit so but he he knows how to play with us he does a great job he stays under control sometimes guys will get out of control and he's he did a really nice job tonight construction management major so here at Nebraska and um he he's we're very lucky to have him how much confidence does it give you with how you guys play tonight going into the game against Kentucky uh red white is it teaches you some things and then there's uh you see a lot of you know I I want us to be playing I want us to play better but the red white is always a struggle and because they're playing against each other the crowd is doesn't know who to cheer for and so it just feels weird out there and um so we got a lot to work on though and this was a great teaching night for us because when they didn't do what they needed to do they paid for it and that's what was the best thing tonight is they paid for it they didn't use good technique they didn't talk call their set all those little things that matter when they didn't do it they paid for it tonight and so that's I got a great teaching night for them tomorrow when we watch video how would you assess the serving from both sides that was started off shaky which is Curse of the red white it's always that way I mean I think there's been nights we've been over 30 Miss serves combined uh but you know if you look at Bergen's team they missed three out of the first six and then seven servers for three and a half games so I'll take that and the other team again we had you know uh Skylar we serving the night she's usually pretty good but it's a big night for her she missed a few we had the middle serving you know they're a little bit higher air so I think I I think it started off really shaky but it got better as at night went on which was good to see what was it like walking out there with that big 10 championship trophy and then seeing the banner fall in Dean uh for me walking out there first of all I wanted our fans to feel a part of it because they are uh the second thing is when I was holding that and getting ready for our rings I wanted to send a a mental telepathy to all of our fans on how hard it is to win that thing it is a it is a 10-week grind it's really hard to win and and it's going to be even harder this year because of the four new teams so uh I want people to know how hard that was and that is not an easy thing to win Lexi and Andy were pretty pleasantly surprised when they looked at the box score and saw the amount of digs that Olivia ma had what can you say about her performance tonight I've been telling you guys she's the real deal she that's what I felt like every time we hit the ball she dug it and um every time we were trying to serve away from her she would just take balls from people she's just for a freshman she's very calm and composed and was very impressed with her she also has a good serve when the you guys had I think four Decades of alumni come out on the court between sets just how important was it to have so many former players in the house but then what do you think maybe they took away from watching the match I don't know I mean I I haven't talked to any of them um uh but there is a uh you know we had 100 here last year for the stadium match and now we got 50 so it's and and a lot of our players are talking to alumni we have we actually do presentations they do presentations after they've talked to alumni about our culture and our tradition and our history so we've been trying to invol involve them more um and the other cool thing is we got some moms out there of daughters were going to recruit so that that's cool the daughters were here but I just think think everybody is really connected with Nebraska volleyball this is the 50th team of Nebraska volleyball in the history of the program which is pretty significant um but we want them to feel a part of it the problem is when we're playing regular season we don't have tickets to get him in so this was a great opportunity to get him here uh so we can get him tickets to go back to Andy for a second she said you guys could probably see that my blocking has improved you said she's got to figure that out a little bit bit if that does click what can that do for this team and for elevating her game even more yeah it's just she she's um if you see she's getting her hands on a lot of balls but some of them are going into the stands which I'm sure people like to catch those but we want them to go back in the court and it's me but she's really really making huge progress and it just will solidify our defense more give our diggers a better chance and again it's block I've told you guys this for 20 years blocking is the hardest skill it's the hardest skill going from high school and Club to college final questions who would you say was the MVP tonight I I I I always get in trouble when I do that u i i um you know we had some people stand out tonight but you know it was a really good effort by everybody everybody did something really good tonight I mean if you go back and we made a highlight video Everybody made some great play and so that so our team was the MVP preseason wrapped up what are the things that you're focusing on most with the quick turnaround heading uh to play on Tuesday we don't have much practice time so uh uh just getting a lineup and so these guys just know okay you're out there you're going and that's the next 24 hours so getting that and then just pumping them up and let's turn it loose is that the new ring or no this is the new ring my I'd have a finger eight the thing is huge so it's really cool but it's not one you can wear this is our 2000 ring which back then we didn't go as much bling as as they did now it's a lot of bling it looks like an in you know Super Bowl ring so it's some you wear at a you know an event you know I'm going to wear it for three and four hours did y'all design that girls did captains did that's what they wanted I apologize if you Mas I noticed that the before the whole match began uh on the screen it was something about like I didn't catch it chasing roses is that can Race For the Roses Race For the Roses that's our theme and it's on our poster right and I was just curious if you could because there was one other thing that came right after it too like the Chase Begins or something that came right after it so I'm just curious about that um kind of like you saw the Roses throughout all the videos just kind of that I I what this mean to this team it's real simple Yeah final four is in Louisville that's where Church Hill Downs is they run horses there I like horses so we're we're going to race for the Roses we trying to get for the win the Kentucky Derby coach son's second birthday was volleyball day in Nebraska last year he thinks that we're going to do that every year I don't I don't really know what to do this year can you give me some advice let tell them to keep dreaming big and believe so all right thank you okay guys thanks good questions