The NCAA Division I women’s volleyball championship is taking place in Oklahoma City this week. Next year: Omaha. There are some who feel the return to Omaha is overdue.
Omaha hasn’t been totally out of the mix. Two years ago, CenturyLink Center was the site of a regional final when the Huskers lost to Oregon. But 2015 will mark the first time in eight years that an NCAA champion will be crowned in Omaha. The question is: Why has it taken so long?
Jean Berger from Northern Iowa University is the chair of the NCAA selection committee. She says the NCAA has been looking at the big picture.
“I think the committee is interested in where volleyball fans are. Maybe, where they will be. To the degree that we feel the responsibility to help grow the game, I think it behooves us to look at bids at places we don’t always go.”
New championship sites in women’s volleyball such as Oklahoma City this year have entered the rotation. It’s more neutral than last year when it was held in Seattle and the Washington Huskies made the final four. The Huskers return the core of this year’s team that made it to a regional final last weekend, so there’s a good chance the Huskers can advance to the final four again next year. It would be their third final four in Omaha.
Does Huskers Coach John Cook sense any resentment toward a possible home court edge?
“Well, somebody will always chirp about that, but we’ve got to get there and we haven’t been there since 2008. It’s getting harder and harder to get to a final four.”
In 2008, Penn State beat the Huskers in Omaha and last year knocked off Washington in Seattle. So Nittany Lions coach Russ Rose knows he doesn’t have a reason to gripe about a home team edge.
“As a coach I look at it as the committee does the best they can to separate the top teams and provide a fair tournament, and both teams advanced because they earned it on the court.”
In reality coaches don’t have a say on future sites. Nor does the selection committee during the bidding process solicit opinions from coaches, says Jean Berger.
“Not directly do coaches have input in terms of one-on-one and face-to-face. Most of that’s done between the NCAA staff, the institutions that are putting the bid together to host.”
But that doesn’t prevent John Cook of the Huskers from expressing his opinions on future championship sites. When cities typically send a posse a year in advance of time to observe how the behind-the-scenes operation, the only representative from UNL athletics in Oklahoma City is Cook.
“They know how to do it. They know how to do it right. We like to think of Nebraska as the epicenter of volleyball in this country with what we do at Devaney and the crowds that we’ve drawn the last two years.”
Seven years removed from the previous final four in Omaha, Jean Berger concedes that Omaha and the Huskers know how to conduct the championship.
“Because of the history and tradition of their program, they have a leg up. They really know what they’re doing. Most importantly, they know how to sell tickets.”
The record book proves it. Heading into this year’s championship, Omaha in 2006 still ranks number-one for total attendance for the NCAA semis and title match. Plus, without the Huskers in the ‘08 title match, Omaha’s total attendance that year still ranks second.