Holloway done with volleyball

LINCOLN -- As a gifted setter, Rachel Holloway made quite a career of executing a quick decision and living with the result.

She started two seasons at Nebraska, led the Huskers to a national championship and made All-American both her freshman and sophomore years.

Only one Nebraska player, Holloway’s good friend, Sarah Pavan, has ever done it four times.

Last month, Holloway traveled with Pavan, head coach John Cook and others to the All-American banquet, giving no indication then of the momentous decision that she would soon be making.

Holloway finished her final exams and went home to Tennessee, leaving behind a room filled with her clothes and volleyball mementos.

Her sister will arrive to gather those things in a few days.

Holloway said Tuesday that she’s done with volleyball. She’s enrolled at the University of Alabama, where classes begin today.

“It’s probably a shock for everybody,” Holloway said.

She reached some teammates by phone Tuesday afternoon, but others, like Jordan Larson, one of the players that Holloway came in with as a freshman in 2005, heard the news second- or third-hand.

Holloway’s sudden departure, combined with the graduation of senior Maggie Griffin, leaves Nebraska without a setter, at least for the spring season.

Cook, who only a few weeks ago talked of a possible exhibition at Hawaii, said now the Huskers likely won’t even play competitively this spring.

“We’re in complete shock,” he said. “Never saw it coming.”

Holloway said her decision to quit the sport had nothing to do with coaches or teammates, but instead centered on a desire to have a life outside volleyball.

“My intentions are not to hurt my teammates or to leave them empty-handed with no plan,” Holloway said. “But I really needed to do what’s best for me.”

She added: “My whole family thinks that it is what’s best for me.”

Coming on the heels of a disappointing loss to California in last month’s regional final, Holloway’s news was another jolt to the Nebraska program.

In addition to Griffin, NU graduated two past national players of the year in Pavan and Christina Houghtelling, along with team captain Tracy Stalls.

Throw in Holloway, and Nebraska will be minus players who in their careers were named All-Americans a combined 10 times.

Holloway was a third-team All-American as a freshman and a second-team pick this past season. Nebraska’s offense led the nation in kills per game both years, and the Huskers went 63-3 over her two seasons.

“Nebraska is the best volleyball program in the country,” Holloway said. “But there’s more I need to do outside of volleyball that I haven’t been able to.

“I’m ready to be a regular kid for a while.”

Holloway’s sister, Sarah, was a starter for Texas in 2004, but she, too, left the sport early and transferred to Baylor.

“Every situation’s different,” Rachel Holloway said. “I think she was more unhappy than I was. I was happy at Nebraska.”

In a statement issued by university officials, Cook said “we respect her personal decision” and “wish her nothing but the very best in the future.”

As for Nebraska’s future, former Utah starter Sydney Anderson is expected to join NU in time for the 2008 season, but she must first complete her associate’s degree to be eligible.

A walk-on setter, Brigette Root of Grand Island, is also committed to join Nebraska’s team this fall.

The current Huskers will reassemble on Monday, the day that spring semester classes resume at Nebraska.

“Hopefully, this kind of stuff brings us closer together,” Larson said.

Holloway said it’s understandable that her teammates would be upset or confused.

She has no plans to play volleyball at Alabama, and as of Tuesday afternoon, hadn’t spoken with former NU manager and current Crimson Tide assistant Ben Boldt about her decision.

She chose Alabama largely for its proximity to home. Holloway said she has friends there who are active in Reformed Unity Fellowship, a strong Christian organization that she shares an interest in.

“I just want to have a life outside volleyball,” she said. “It’s hard being consumed with one thing all the time.”

The starting setter on U.S. age-group teams in 2004 and 2005, Holloway enrolled at Nebraska a year ahead of schedule only to sit out the 2005 season as a redshirt.

In 2006, after winning the starting job from Griffin, Holloway became the first freshman setter to start for Nebraska in a one-setter system.

When the Huskers defeated Stanford in Omaha for the national championship, Holloway became only the second freshman setter in NCAA history to lead her team to the title.

“I thought about calling it a day after winning the national championship,” Holloway said on Tuesday.

It’s a thought that she struggled with often, but never as the hard-nosed competitor on the court.

“What I was at Nebraska, I was always selling out to be the best I could be,” she said. “I was there because I wanted to be there.

“It was when I stepped back from being there that I thought about it. I decided when I was at home.”