NU gets volleyball regional

LINCOLN - What figures to be the most inexperienced Nebraska volleyball team in recent years will begin next season with one big advantage. The Huskers will know they can reach the NCAA Final Four by successfully defending their home court.

The chair of the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Committee, Lisa Love, confirmed Monday that Nebraska was one of four predetermined hosts selected for regional tournaments next fall. The other host institutions are Long Beach State, Florida and Hawaii.

It will be the first year that regional sites are set up in advance and not largely based upon seeding. Nebraska will host the regional semifinal and final matches at the Coliseum the weekend of Dec. 11-14.

"For the sake of volleyball, we discussed at length kicking this off in fine form and having great success," Love said. "Nebraska obviously has been tremendous at hosting these kinds of events for many years."

While not guaranteed, Love said "in all likelihood" the host institutions would play in its own region. That would mean Nebraska, even if it didn't earn one of the top four national seeds, would play at home on the road to Dallas for the final four.

Nebraska's selection as a host institution shouldn't be any extra pressure, Coach John Cook said, because NU teams are always expected to make it that far. Nebraska has qualified for the last 21 NCAA Tournaments, advancing to a regional every year except 1983 and 1993. Nebraska has made it to eight final fours, all in years that the Huskers played their regional at home. The Huskers' loss to Hawaii in last year's regional final ended a 63-match home-court winning streak.

"We'll take our chances to stay at home whenever we can," Cook said. "For next year's team that won't be as experienced, it should be a great advantage. It certainly gives us a target to shoot for."

Determining regional sites now allows host schools to market the event and sell tickets over the course of several months, something that won't be an issue at Nebraska.

Nebraska is 376-25 all-time at the Coliseum, where NU averaged nearly 4,400 fans per home match last year to rank second nationally behind Hawaii.

The 4,200-seat Coliseum was the smallest venue selected as a regional site. NU officials had considered bidding for the regional at the larger Devaney Sports Center.

"I feel they could blow it out at the Devaney Center and give the same kind of blast to women's volleyball that they've done for the last two or three decades," Love said. "Hopefully, that's down the road."

Hawaii and Florida both played in the final four last year and will be considered national title contenders again, along with reigning champion Southern California. Nebraska returns just three starters.