Nebraska Volleyball: The Origin Story

by John Mabry, Jordan Larson (Foreword)

When Title IX was enacted in 1972, the University of Nebraska volleyball program, like many across the country, received a fraction of the funding and attention given to the school’s mighty football program. The players had to organize a run from Lincoln to Omaha to raise money for uniforms. The women were asked to wait their turn to use the weight room. Today the Nebraska women’s volleyball team is one of the sport’s most decorated programs—with more career wins than any other program and five NCAA National Championships—and draws standing-room-only crowds at home games in the 8,000-seat Devaney Center.

Nebraska Volleyball is the first book to recount how volleyball took hold at Nebraska, through Pat Sullivan, the team’s first coach; through such early figures as Cathy Noth, a decorated player and later an assistant coach into the 1990s; through Terry Pettit, who coached the team for twenty-three seasons and led it to its first National Championship in 1995; and through John Cook, who took over as head coach in 2000. John Mabry highlights the small Nebraska towns that have sent some of the best players to the program and helped build statewide support for the team. Public television helped too, with its power to broadcast games early on and thus build a following across the state.

The success of Nebraska’s volleyball program is one of the greatest stories in sports. As Karch Kiraly, head coach for the U.S. National Women’s Volleyball Team, “If you want to learn about women’s college volleyball, your first stop has to be Lincoln, Nebraska.”

175 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2023

Reviews

[Dan Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very informative read that chronicles the early days of the Nebraska volleyball program (Pre-Title X included) through Terry Petit's retirement with a shake or two of John Cook's tenure. I expect a part II to come that covers the four national titles that Cook's teams have secured. Nebraska was the second Non California/Hawaii school (after Texas) to win the championship. Nebraska is quite unique in that volleyball is nearly a state favorite women's sport and that's led to an interesting interaction with the University's teams through the years. The most interesting pieces of the story are the deep dives on key players origins and involvement with the program.

These early, pre Title X stories are so interesting to read (and sad at the same time due to the battles that had to be waged). I had a few connections to the Husker program in the mid 80s and have followed it with interest.

November 27, 2023. Nebraska is one of the four #1 seeds and goes into the NCAA tournament as overall #1 so it could be another title in 2023.

[Kristin Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book! A must read if you are interested in Nebraska volleyball or honestly, college volleyball. It was a quick, easy read.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Husker and/or volleyball fan will enjoy this read!

[Cyndi Berve]

What a lovely book, full of Nebraska stories & Husker spirit! Recommend to all volleyball fans.

[Alyssa Vanek · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very informative but, there was not much of a story line. This is a great book to read if you are interested in Nebraska Volleyball and its history. John Mabry does a good job of going into every little detail and telling stories with so many features. It was easy to get a clear picture of what he was writing in my head.