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NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

December 15, 2017

Kansas City, Mo.

THE MODERATOR: We welcome the Nebraska Cornhuskers who advance out of the semifinal round with a 3-2 victory over Penn State and come into the National Championship match with an overall record of 31-4, under the direction of head coach John Cook. Also joining us are student-athletes Kelly Hunter, Sydney Townsend, and Annika Albrecht. We'll start with opening comments from Coach Cook followed by questions for our student-athletes. Coach, opening thoughts?

JOHN COOK: I like the NCAA because we stay hydrated, because there is always water everywhere we go. So thank you for that.

So anyway, we got a chance to have a good practice today after a busy morning with the banquet, and we're excited to play tomorrow. It should be a great match. That's about it.

Q. For all three of you, if it applies, how has your first-year assistant coach Tyler Hildebrand helped you as an individual player?
ANNIKA ALBRECHT: Tyler is really enthusiastic. He is really positive all the time and he brings a lot of energy into the gym. He's just really knowledgeable about the sport. He brought in a lot from the men's side. He brought in a lot from the beach. I think he just helped us bring in different things to Nebraska volleyball.

I think Coach already had a lot of things and all the former coaches had already set a really good, strong platform, and he just helped build it up with a bunch of different ways. For example, he's helped me out a lot with my shots. I know people know just opening up different shots that maybe we're not used to in the women's sport yet, but on the men's side it is a little bit more common. So that's just one example of how he's helped me personally.

Q. Sydney, has Tyler helped you as a setter?
SYDNEY TOWNSEND: Yeah, Tyler has been helping me a lot with confidence, and the mentality behind the game and like reading the pass, reading the set, and predicting what's going on with each play.

KELLY HUNTER: Just as Anni said he brings in a lot from the men's game. Before the season the only film we were watching was all international, mostly men's. Just seeing the techniques, it's a lot different than anything I've learned my entire life, and anything most girls do learn. So, yeah, we basically didn't change my technique, but added some new things here and there, some little tweaks. He's just always on video, and like Anni said, he knows the sport better than anyone I've ever seen. So he's just helped to kind of show us new things that we didn't know before.

Q. Kelly, what prompted you to send out your first tweet this morning in some time?
KELLY HUNTER: Yeah, there were so many cool pictures that came out, and we all want to post basically every single one. But for some reason that picture, we were all in such a tight huddle, and you could see the logo for the championships, and I just thought it was a good picture. But like I said in my tweet, I love this team, and this has probably been my favorite year since I've been here, of my five. People liked it, loved it. It's just one of those great pictures that you'll never forget.

Q. What is it about this team this year?
KELLY HUNTER: I think it's just the fact that we all love each other and are playing with each other and working hard on getting better every day. We just have this mentality that I've never had on a team I've been on. It's just so freeing to play with this group. We know that we all have each other's backs. No matter what happens, we're in it together. If we lose a point, we're moving on. If we win the point, we're moving on. It's been kind of a freeing year for me and I think everyone else as well.

Q. Kelly, what are one or two things that you do differently as a setter than you did two years ago when you won this tournament?
KELLY HUNTER: Yeah, we talk a lot about just posture and that's your starting position. We talk about using the ground and kind of gaining your power from that rather than just using your hands. So it keeps you more consistent. If you're doing the same thing every single time, you don't really have to rely on your hands as much, so there is a lot of room for error up there.

So I would say using the ground and posture. Just overall confidence and just trusting your ability to throw the ball around and throw in a play that you don't normally make. Just seeing that work has been really rewarding this year.

Q. Anni and Sydney, Kelly sort of touched on it a little bit a couple minutes ago. But you two have both played in three straight Final Fours now. What is it about this one and this team that makes it so special?
SYDNEY TOWNSEND: I guess for this one, this team this year is super tight. Like Briana said yesterday, we like to hang out with each other off the court and on the court. We kind of stay relaxed and have fun. In the huddles we're really good about moving on to the next play and taking a deep breath. You can just tell everyone really cares about each other.

ANNIKA ALBRECHT: Yeah, I think they nailed it. But just the vibe of our team is different than it has been in my four years. I don't know. There is something special about each and every one of these girls. We've all put our heart and soul into this team, and I think it's shown.

Q. You weren't able to play in the second match of the year against Florida. How difficult was that for you to not be able to start this season, especially your senior season? You guys lost in five sets that match. How have you guys changed since then and gotten better, and also the difficulty of not playing and starting there?
KELLY HUNTER: Yeah, I think for anyone not playing it's kind of a tough pill to swallow, but watching my team compete, it was a different perspective. I got to see how the team was working and what it looks like from the outside. It's always different than what you feel on the inside. But it was a blast to cheer them on and come up with cheers and stuff like that. It was just kind of my team in a different way.

But the biggest thing we got out of that first weekend was knowing that we were a team that could be great. We were right there, right at the beginning. The first two matches of the year being pretty close to winning some of those games were big for us.

Like I said, the biggest thing we learned was that we could go far. We took that as a learning experience, rather than getting defeated. We came out strong, and we opened up the Big Ten great. We just kind of showed people the team that we thought we could be.

Q. Sydney, how long did it take you guys to get past the euphoria of last night of beating Penn State and then moving on and realizing there is one more highly important game staring you in the face?
SYDNEY TOWNSEND: I guess we were pretty excited. For me, I had to go do drug testing right away, so I don't really know how long it took the team to get over it.

KELLY HUNTER: She was there for a while.

SYDNEY TOWNSEND: Yeah, it took me a while. But before we went to bed last night we did meditation to calm ourselves and refocus and work on our breathing again. So, before bed, we were ready to go for today.

Q. For the players, does it mean anything in particular to you three to have a chance to be the first class that's ever won two National Championships at Nebraska?
ANNIKA ALBRECHT: I think that would be incredible. I think our class has something really special, and Briana included. She was on our team in '15. I wouldn't want to go through it with anyone else. And Allie joining this year has been really cool to our senior class. I think we bring a lot of different things to this team. I think it would be really special, and I'd love to do it with Foecke and Kenzie again, they've been with us, and the new freshman class has come in and worked hard.

Coach always says they float our boat. So to have another National Championship and show those freshmen and sophomores what it's like would be awesome. To have two of our own, Kelly and I were talking about it the other day, it would be pretty cool to have four rings, two National Championships and two Big Tens.

Q. Kelly, what are the things that have energized you about this season?
KELLY HUNTER: I think just like what we've been talking about day in and day out, this group is so eager to get better. We've gone into the gym every single day, and I don't think we've really had a day we weren't working our butts off and trying to get better. There's been something new we're working on every week, every day, every match.

I think it's really cool for us being seniors is still trying to change our game and get better. It could be close to the end of our careers and people might not want to change. But it's the new stuff that we've added on has been so fun. Just like I said, our mentality and general vibe out there is something I've really never experienced as an athlete. It really is one of the most special feelings.

Q. To start out the season, not a lot of people maybe predicted that you guys could make it this far to the National Championship. You've talked about having a chip on your shoulder and being not one of the top 5 seeds. So I guess, how rewarding has this journey been this season? I know you alluded to it a little bit, Kelly. But for each of you guys, how rewarding has this been?
KELLY HUNTER: Yeah, I think just proving people wrong is obviously a great feeling. Just from the beginning of the season, we knew that people were talking about how this would be a rebuilding year or something like that, and we just took that as motivation. We've used that every single day, and I think we've talked about it week in and week out. That's something that our team has been thinking about is how we can get better and how to prove people wrong.

Now we're just doing it for ourselves. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks our seed should be. We're just doing it for this group of people that we have here right now.

SYDNEY TOWNSEND: Yeah, I would say this summer we worked on our relationships with each other and getting to know each other on a deeper level. So I think we really focused on that with each other for each other this year, and that's what's brought us this far.

KELLY HUNTER: Yeah, I think it's rewarding because we started this season, and we said we weren't going to dream too big, but we were dreaming big. We worked really hard, and I think we all knew we had the talent to get here and we had the teamwork to get here. We worked so hard for it. So it's definitely cool to see all that pay off in everything that we've done this year.

Q. John, would you say you have a go-to hitter on this team or not? On one hand, you look at Penn State, they have Simone Lee. You look at Stanford and they have Kathryn Plummer. It seems like you guys spread it around a little bit more. But Mikaela Foecke had 54 swings the other night, so maybe she is.
JOHN COOK: I think Kelly thinks she can set anybody any given time in the match, and that's the way we built this team is to be a really balanced team, also to have Kelly be the attacker. We won the match on the point last night with her attacking.

One of the reasons Mikaela gets more sets sometimes, sometimes she doesn't, but she starts at left front. Last night at least she did. There are a lot of long rallies, so out-of-system, they're going to get a lot of sets. When we're controlling the ball, we try to be balanced.

I think the Colorado coach (Jesse Mahoney) said it best. He said Nebraska's really hard to defend because everybody's averaging over two kills a game, so how do you defend that? So I think that is a really big compliment. It takes a player like Kelly to be able to run that. Because most of them say I'm going to set my favorite hitter or somebody I think is going to make me look good. Kelly is a master at running a balanced attack. She has her whole career.

It's a gift that setters have. The great setters have that. They just know they have the feel. Every time you look at the stats, wow, look how balanced we are. She's one of the best we've had.

Q. Has this team run out of ways to surprise you at this point?
JOHN COOK: No, not with Kelly Hunter. She's got something every day she's working me on. She sent a picture -- I don't know if you guys know the latest. But she sent a picture -- I did a picture with them in front of the Christmas tree. Of course, she took that picture of me and she used that in other (superimposed) pictures of me laying down. I get these things on our (team) group chat. So today it was Kevin Hambly telling them good luck, that was a big deal today at the All-American banquet. So there is always something going with these guys. It never ends. You heard them talk about it. They're a cool group.

Another way that when you can tell a team is close, like we in practice. You guys have been around. How often do you have to wait around? They sit in there and stretch forever and talk. Okay, you guys, we've got to go. You've got to get to the training table. You've got to go to class. They don't want to leave. I think that's a sign of a really close team.

Q. Coach, I have this very vivid memory of the last time you played Florida. You had every excuse to get upset -- your setter is out first couple matches of the season -- but you slammed your notebook down on the table, and you were so upset with that performance. I just wanted you to walk us through what goes through your mind after what you saw that weekend, and how that started to move and grow into what we've seen now?
JOHN COOK: Well, slam is a very powerful word.

Q. The table shook. I will stand by my verb.
JOHN COOK: Maybe I misjudged the height of the table. Maybe you had your microphones turned up too loud (laughing).

Because we were right there, and I felt that we had a chance to win that and we backed off. I try not to get upset with our team, but sometimes you have to show fire when they didn't take advantage of their opportunity and go for it. We backed off a little bit when it mattered. I don't remember that, but I'll take your word for it. But they needed to know that we're competing here. You compete and you go for it.

Q. I wanted to talk with you about Briana Holman. In 2015 when you guys won the National Championship she was on the bench as a transfer. What was that like and how is it having her on the court this year?
JOHN COOK: Well, that was a -- Kelly red-shirted, Briana red-shirted, Christina red-shirted, Nancy Metcalf red-shirted. We've had some great players redshirt. Briana, of course, was forced to. I see in those years they really grow and mature, and have a greater appreciation for the game. So because of that experience for Briana, I think she really appreciates every day, every big match, every practice. I think they learn a lot by watching.

Like Kelly said, she alluded to that when she was out at Florida. I learned the cheers, I learned all this stuff. I'm not just a starter. I never do those things. So I think Briana brought a maturity and an appreciation and a great desire to be great. I've seen that every day from her.

Q. Given the nature of how each team plays in Florida's defense, it's how you guys play. Can we expect, do you think, a lot of long rallies tomorrow night?
JOHN COOK: I think when you get into these matches, yeah, it's going to be long rallies. It's hard to put the ball away. The block is good. There are good hitters and they're going to make nice kills, but there are going to be long rallies. We talk about that all the time with our team. We talked about it in practice today, we're going to have to win some long rallies, and other people are going to have to set the ball besides Kelly, and we're going to have to put us in a position where we can try to score.

But this time of year the effort is tremendous on the court, and that's what wheels balls up and keeps them up off the ground.

Q. You all went against a pretty big block last night, Penn State, Florida again presents a lot of size. How do you position your hitters to approach attacking against a pretty big form block?
JOHN COOK: We talk about this. We train to play the more big, physical teams in our gym. We see so many in the Big Ten. Michigan State, Penn State, Minnesota last year was a huge block. So that's something you just can't go into a match and say, okay, the blocks are bigger and we're going to keep doing the same things. So we always prepare for the bigger blocks and that's how we train every day. So for us, the block is our friend and we want to use it. That's part of being a great outside hitter. Sometimes there are bigger blockers up there that allow our hitters to have more arms and elbows to hit off of as opposed to a smaller block.

Q. John, besides the fact that you had an opening, why did you hire Tyler Hildebrand as an assistant coach?
JOHN COOK: I tried to hire Tyler two years ago -- or it would be three years ago now. He was working with Long Beach in the USA Olympics with the beach team and the USA men, and Chris was still playing overseas. So we talked and had a conversation. The way I heard about Tyler is my brother's son played for Tyler in his club. My brother called me and told me he works for adidas Golf in Northern California. My brother called me and said, 'John, there is this coach. He's run the best practice I've ever seen.' I said, 'Who is it?' And he told me the name. So I filed that away, we tried. It didn't work out.

I had all the openings this year or last spring, I called Tyler again, and I think they were in a better position to kind of go to the next part of their life. Tyler made the decision to go in the women's game from the men's game. Chris was retiring, wanted to start a family. She's got a baby here.

And I think the fact that it was Nebraska, and something I didn't know in all this was Tyler was in Omaha in 2006, and apparently, he told Chris someday I'm going to coach at Nebraska because he was so impressed with the Final Four there and the crowd.

But the main reason I hired Tyler is because what you just heard these girls say. He makes me a better coach. I wanted to be pushed and challenged and see things differently. After interviewing him, when he came in on his interview we were in our sand season or beach season. I just said, "Hey, Tyler, here's the team, run a practice, I'm going to watch."

At the end of that practice I knew this guy's going to make me better.

Q. Can you give me an example of something that this year you see a direct benefit? Like a specific incident, play, sequence, anything?
JOHN COOK: It's kind of an overall how we play, how we train. We do some new drills. Tyler seems the game differently than I do coming from the men's game. I think the women's game is going more like the men's game, the size of the players, the height of the net, so just some of the things we do.

Probably the easiest thing is, I let him train Kelly. I still train Kelly some, but I let him add to what she's doing. She's had me for four years, and I thought, okay, he's one of the greatest setters ever. There's got to be something he can give her, and I think she's made her a better setter. She talked about it, using the ground. I've never talked about that before, and posture, and things like that. So just a new way of looking at things. I think he's a great young coach.

Q. You told Kelly a year ago she had to be better this year. What did she have to be better at and did that happen?
JOHN COOK: So losing Katie and Amber, you can be a good setter and they're still going to put the ball away. I knew this year she would have to be a great setter because we lost those two hitters and Andie Malloy. So I knew we'd have young hitters. Anni needs a really good set, Jazz is going to need a good set. So I knew she would have to be a better setter on the court. She would have to understand the game better. She would also have to be a better leader.

We talked about Carlini, what she did at Wisconsin, we talked about some of the setters at Nebraska what they did. I just told her, and the analogy I used is like Usain Bolt. He broke the world record, and if he breaks it again, it's going to be by .01 or .02 of a second. Kelly we may not see every day that she's better, but there has to be small increments in how much better.

Maybe it's one practice that she was better at than she was the day before, but we've got to continue to build on that and she had to take it to another level. I think she's done that with her serving, her blocking, her setting, her defense, everything. So it's hard to do because you're not seeing the improvement all the time. I also think her being out really gave her a sense of urgency.

Q. You've got Husker Nation behind you, but there is something to be said about going up against a sentimental favorite like Mary Wise. Can you talk about that?
JOHN COOK: Mary has cost me several Final Fours, so I don't have any sympathy for Mary. If you'd like to go back to 1997 at Wisconsin, she knocked us out in five games. She knocked us out of a big tournament back in 2010, I think. She beat us -- she's beaten us a lot. So there is no sympathy for Mary.

She's one of the great coaches in the game. She's obviously done a great job at Florida. I had to verify that she was not older than me. We're very close in age, because she was saying she was the third youngest coach here. But she started coaching right out of college, and I started coaching football right out of college, so we were comparing stories the other night at the banquet.

We certainly have a lot of respect, but they've punished my team several times, so looking forward to it.

Q. Did you sense your team was fatigued after a three-hour match last night?
JOHN COOK: Yeah, both those teams played really hard last night. That's why recovery is so important. It's something we've been working on as a part of our program. We have people that help us with our recovery and performance. You heard them talk about it. They meditated last night just to calm down and go to sleep because they needed a good night's sleep. So we're all about recovery. They're doing recovery right now.

But one thing about playing in the Big Ten, we're used to this. You're used to playing Penn State and then turning around and playing another great team the next night, or you play Minnesota-Wisconsin back-to-back. This is part of the deal of being in the Big Ten, and it's something that helps prepare us.

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