Freshman Licht hopes to continue Pavan's legacy

[redincolorado]

www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1200&u_sid=2361151


It was signing day in November when Cook had his first opportunity to talk about the Huskers' rookie class of 2007. The first thing Cook said about Lindsey Licht was that he recruited her to replace Sarah Pavan.

So far, Cook said, Licht has displayed some of the inconsistencies that are typical of a freshman. [glow=red,2,300]At the same time, the coach said, Licht's development over the upcoming months could play a big factor in determining whether Nebraska runs a 6-2 offense,[/glow] like it did in 2005, or a one-setter attack, like it did last year.

Recruited to replace Pavan? Talk about putting the pressure on.

[Husker_fan_in_VA]

those are some pretty big shoes to fill-- hopefully she can come through-- it'll be interesting to here how she does today.

[redincolorado]

I know it's early & it was Witchita State, but WOW!. Rachell Schwartz sounds like she's going to take up the back row defensive void left by Busboom just fine. Her serving along w/Larson was formidable. Newcomer Lindsey Licht is the real deal. Houghtelling is coming along just fine. Pavan and Larson are in mid season form & even though she didn't play in this match, Coach Cook pointed out in the post game that Kori Cooper has taken her game to another level. Amanda Gates and Maggie Griffin were in sync. Tracy Stalls, as usuall, was $$ in the bank. Holloway was silky smooth. I wish this had been televised. This team seems focused which is not going to be a good thing for the rest of the nation.

Four different newspapers were at the game. should be some excellent info up later today or in the morning.

[vbuzz]

Those are just huge, almost impossible shoes to fill for Licht. Pavan is dominating at this point in womens collegiate volleyball, and I don't think anybody can touch her in the college level.

[BigTen4]

Jim Stone had a couple of players over the last three years who he had hoped would fill Stacey Gordon's shoes. That hasn't happened yet either.

[holidayhusker]

I don't know. I did manage to get a ticket and wow. She is incredible for a freshman. Great blocker and terminator. Pavan was her usual self as was Larson. Schwartz played an incredible defensive game and just Christinia Houghtellings presence on the court was electric. I did notice too that her blocking is greatly improved although they are babying her arm swing for the spring. An impressive demonstration of power and quickness by the Huskers.

[huskervbfan]

holidayhusker said:

I don't know. I did manage to get a ticket and wow. She is incredible for a freshman. Great blocker and terminator. Pavan was her usual self as was Larson. Schwartz played an incredible defensive game and just Christinia Houghtellings presence on the court was electric. I did notice too that her blocking is greatly improved although they are babying her arm swing for the spring. An impressive demonstration of power and quickness by the Huskers.

Glad you managed to find a ticket. It was fun to see Christina on the court again. Even if she didn't do any hitting, I think she still managed to get 6-7 kills just on tips. Her blocking was still pretty good but her backrow defense isn't up to speed. That will all come back as she has time to play the game again. I heard some of her post game comments and she talked a bit about how great it is to just get back on the court with the other girls again. You can tell she is really going to be focused this year.

Yes, Licht did impress me too. Very strong armswing and got in some good blocks too. She looks so much stronger than Pavan was when she first got to Nebraska. Lets hope she can develop like Sarah has.

In warmups Cooper looked VERY GOOD. I was surprised she didn't play but you know what she is capable of. I hope to get to see her next week against CSU.

Schwartz did very well too. I think she has the potential to be as good as Busboom was in defense but one way we really used Dani was when Holloway took the first ball, she usually passed it to Dani for the set. Being a former setter really helped there obviously. I'm not sure if Schwartz can handle that as well but it will certainly be fun watching her develop now that she has her chance to shine.

Another interesting sidelight was seeing three 6-5 players on the court at the same time on a few rotations. Since Pavan plays backrow, that allowed NU to have both her and Licht at the same time and Wichita State had a 6-5 player too. Certainly not of NU's caliber but still fun to see that sort of height on the court.

North Platte was certainly pleased to have this opportunity to see the Huskers play. I sat next to one guy where this was the first time he had been able to watch them play in person, even though he seldom missed any of the matches either watching on NETV or listening on the internet. That was great that Cook took the team out last night just for an autograph session for those kids out there since the match was sold out in just two hours and so many more would have liked to have the opportunity to go. I'm sure that was a real highlight for a lot of fans.

One final note, where else but for the Huskers do they have a radio broadcast for a spring away game? ;D

[holidayhusker]

I agree...I think Licht is stronger than Pavan was for her freshman debut. Cooper didn't play because Cook wanted Gates supporters to get the opportunity to see her play. Cooper we heard after the game will play in the next exhibition. NU does so much right to build and reward their fans. They just plain get it. They understand what it takes to build and keep an incredible program.

[gobigred]

I haven't had a chance to see Licht play in person yet. Seeing all these glowing comments about her make me that more excited. Can she really be as good as Pavan was her freshman year? That's scary even thinking about it.

[huskervbfan]

gobigred42 said:

I haven't had a chance to see Licht play in person yet. Seeing all these glowing comments about her make me that more excited. Can she really be as good as Pavan was her freshman year? That's scary even thinking about it.

I didn't mean to say that. I just said she appeared to look stronger, not necessarily better. WAAAAAY to early to suggest anything like that. Pavan was a bean pole when she first stepped on campus. It wasn't until her first summer that she really had a chance to work on weights and add a little muscle on her. Licht already looks like an athlete and hits the ball with a decent stroke. Her warmups were fairly impressive but she has a long ways to go to be a Pavan.

Clearly Wichita State was outmatched so that made offense and defense relataively easy. Next week should be a better test for all.

[huskervbfan]

I was there but apparently wasn't paying any attention to the rotations Nebraska used. Licht only played front row while Pavan, Larson and Houghtelling played all around. Cooper and Gates played front while Griffin and Holloway played back only. Schwartz was Libero and it seemed like she was on the court nearly all the time but I'm not positive about that. Did Schwartz only play back row for Licht or maybe part time for Houghtelling or did Nebraska play with seven on the court part of the time? If not, who was substituting for who?

[jag]

From the internet radio broadcast and an eye witness report that I received Schwartz played full time for Licht and part time for Houghtelling.

[redincolorado]

A link to some photo's of the match:
www.nptelegraph.com/site/news.cfm?brd=377&dept_id=531812&pag=1006&newsid=18182110

[redincolorado]

huskervbfan said:

gobigred42 said:

I haven't had a chance to see Licht play in person yet. Seeing all these glowing comments about her make me that more excited. Can she really be as good as Pavan was her freshman year? That's scary even thinking about it.

I didn't mean to say that. [glow=red,2,300]I just said she appeared to look stronger, not necessarily better.[/glow] WAAAAAY to early to suggest anything like that. [glow=red,2,300] Pavan was a bean pole when she first stepped on campus. It wasn't until her first summer that she really had a chance to work on weights and add a little muscle on her. Licht already looks like an athlete[/glow] and hits the ball with a decent stroke. Her warmups were fairly impressive but she has a long ways to go to be a Pavan.

Clearly Wichita State was outmatched so that made offense and defense relataively easy. Next week should be a better test for all.

Pavan couldn't even lift the bar, let alone weights, when she first arrived.
If you're interested, you can listen to coach Cook expaned on this topic (Linsey Licht & her physicalness compared to Pavans freshman year) here:
www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=682675

[plm]

huskervbfan said:

I was there but apparently wasn't paying any attention to the rotations Nebraska used. Licht only played front row while Pavan, Larson and Houghtelling played all around. Cooper and Gates played front while Griffin and Holloway played back only. Schwartz was Libero and it seemed like she was on the court nearly all the time but I'm not positive about that. Did Schwartz only play back row for Licht or maybe part time for Houghtelling or did Nebraska play with seven on the court part of the time? If not, who was substituting for who?

I was there as well. I did notice though at least some of the time, I wasn't always paying attention when Houghtelling came in, but Schwartz did sub for both in the back row. The rotation was setup where as soon as Licht came out Houghtelling came in. As required by the libero Schwartz came off the court but she would come right back in for Houghtelling not even missing a rotation. Houghtelling did serve receive but I think that was when she was in the front row. I guess I was too intent on seeing how Licht did as well as Gates & the rest when they were in the front row did than to always pay attention to who came in for who all the time.