Sidelines
WHEN the Wahine stare across the net at national champion Nebraska at the State Farm Women's Classic on Friday, it will be a backwards-reverse-parallel universe, funhouse mirror of an image they see. Top team’s got
nowhere to go but upThe word on Nebraska volleyball, unlike Hawaii, isn't on who isn't coming back. The Huskers have everybody back. They've got EVERYBODY back. Four All-Americans, including Nancy Metcalf, a sleepy-eyed, droopy-smiled dream of a hitter with a sonic boom swing in her left arm.
She didn't play last year when Nebraska went 34-0 and won the national title, beating UH along the way in the final four. But now here she is, a junior, a Player of the Year candidate. The national champs, already rich, are getting players like this as a bonus, while UH loses them.
Never heard of Nancy Metcalf? Then let's tell a story.
She was tall and powerful, built for volleyball, a beautiful player. She didn't want to be the star, but as a freshman the coach gave her the ball and she responded. She could hit, and as the season progressed she played bigger and bigger. She grew up in a hurry. She was as good as expected.
Then came the sophomore season. It exploded on her, but she soldiered on, kept swinging away. Suddenly, she was the biggest player, the best player, the go-to player. And she lived up to it. They couldn't stop her. She could kill almost at will, hitting, hitting, hitting. As a sophomore and junior, she was a first team All-American. Everyone in Nebraska knew her name.
It was glorious, and it was fun, but it was a lot to handle.
At the end of her junior year, the national team came calling. So she went with them. It was extra work, offseason work, there was no break from the intensity. But she was that good. And then, finally, the whirlwind came to a close.
But then here came the next season, all over again, just a few months away, ready to crash on her like falling rocks.
And so she did the unthinkable. She took a break. Sat it out. Sent her team into the new year without her.
This is not the Lily Kahumoku Story.
But it could be.
Nancy Meendering's coach counseled her to take a year off. John Cook didn't want his best player to become exhausted, get burned out, lose her love for volleyball. So with his blessing, she did. She redshirted.
She was at practice, on the bench at every match. (She got married. Thus, the Metcalf.) She sat. They shuffled.
And all year long, fans thought, What if...?
But a funny thing happened. Her Huskers rallied, rolled, and went on to win the national championship without her.
The 2001 Wahine like the sound of that.
There are differences to these two scenarios, of course. But the big picture is eerily similar. And now Nebraska has Metcalf back, a year older, wiser, recharged and energized. She knows what she missed.
The Wahine look across the net Friday and might see a little bit of themselves. Or what they could be.
Kalani Simpson's column runs Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays.
He can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com