(music) - From Lincoln to Omaha and beyond.

College volleyball is thriving across the state of Nebraska.

The Huskers are once again setting the standard, while Creighton and other programs are trying to make their mark on the national stage.

We'll take you inside the State of Volleyball, next.

(music) (silent) Hello and welcome back to the State volleyball here at Nebraska Public Media.

I'm your host, Ana Bellinghausen.

Coming up later in the show, we'll visit with Omaha head coach Matt Buttermore, now in his eighth year at the helm, and Creighton setter Katie Dalton.

We'll also have a feature for you on mindset coach Doctor Larry Widman.

The Huskers finally played their first home games over the weekend after traveling the country to start the season.

Let's take a look at the newly renovated Bob Devaney Sports Center and John Cook Arena.

(silent) [Ana] Taking a look inside the Bob.

It's a renovation fit for the legacy of this volleyball program.

Inside the locker room, got the lounge with the kitchen area and a movie style theater for the film room with plenty of space.

One of my favorite parts of this is the locker room also itself.

Just got gorgeous lighting in there and so much space.

When you take a look inside and see the new lockers that are really fit for a team that wants to be number one year in and year out.

And speaking of the new renovations, also, no those aren't tanning beds.

That is red light therapy used to help with recovery and ease muscle pain, inflammation.

And the recovery technology continues with these massage chairs as well.

Taking a look at the expanded ten K capacity for the Bob, it's a full reseating.

It's also brighter, louder, and just more fun for fans in the Bob Devaney Sports Center at John Cook Arena.

All right, now let's jump.

I-80 eastbound to Omaha and focus our attention on the Mavericks.

Coach Buttermore, how are we doing today?

Good.

How are you, Ana?

I'm doing great.

And for you and this team, the most non-conference wins since 2022.

What's been clicking for this Omaha team early on?

Uh, different things.

You know, we've had, uh, some different performances.

Lara's been probably our most consistent attacker.

Uh, we've had some really good performances from Dara.

Uh, Madi Corf had a great week.

This last weekend was really her first weekend.

Uh, she's been a great passer for us, but as an attacker to make a big impact.

And, uh, you know, we've had individual performance from Kate.

Maddie Stuesser.

Uh, you know, I'm leaving someone out, but, uh, it's been a little pieces, and we've still got a lot of things to get better at.

I think one of the most exciting things on campus, too, is, of course, the renovations we'll get to in a moment.

But when you think about this team early on, how special of a group has it been to, to coach and just get to know these girls year in and year out?

(music) [Buttermore] This group's been a lot of fun to work with.

You know, you know, last year our group did a great job of building a great culture.

And these guys have continued that.

We work really hard on relationships.

We spend a lot of time together, uh, talking about things that matter.

Uh, and it's been fun to be traveling with these guys and, uh, you know, like I said, I think our culture is in a great spot and our volleyball is going to continue to get better.

[Ana] Yeah.

Taking a look at those impact returners, too what does that experience allow for this team to just bring a new perspective for those younger players and transfers?

(music) (music) [Buttermore] I think for returners, they're hungry.

You know, we didn't perform as well as we usually do last year.

And so they're hungry to make a different mark.

And I think that's helped us bounce back.

You know we haven't hasn't all been great this preseason.

And we've been a really good job of bouncing back and fighting back.

Uh, even though we're not playing our best volleyball at times.

And, uh, you know, I think, you know, they, they don't want to see, you know, the same record we had last year.

And so they have done a great job of not allowing it to happen.

You know, we've we've shown fight in every match.

(silent) Yeah coach want to touch on those renovations and upgrades for Omaha Athletics $67.5 million going into these student athletes.

What was your reaction when you found out all of this was coming to fruition?

(silent) Uh, we were excited.

You know, uh, you know, Sapp has been a great home.

We we practice in the rec center.

Uh, you know, Baxter, we're kind of going back and forth.

Uh, and it's going to be wonderful just to have a home, uh, where we are every day.

And, uh, it's beautiful.

You can see the images here.

They've done a great job with the mock up.

HDR has been a great partner.

And all of our donors have been super generous to make this happen.

And we're excited.

We're excited about, you know, really everything about this facility and the future of our department.

(music) [Ana] I want to talk a little bit more about some players to key in on, and you mentioned her a little bit, but Laura Maric from Australia, what kind of additions has she been to this team so far?

(silent) Lara is is so fun to be around.

She is one of the funniest humans I know.

Uh, she loves volleyball.

She really takes a she's a great balance between taking a professional approach to how she goes [Buttermore] about every day and just being really light hearted, really fun, but also really competitive.

And so she's a great teammate, a great player to work with as a coach.

Kyle's done a great job with her.

And um, you know, we couldn't say enough good things about Lara and really happy for her success.

You know, she was not a strong attacker last fall.

She was more of a blocker for us.

And, you know, she's been doing a lot of good things at the net for us.

[Ana] So has she introduced any Australian cuisine to the team as she brought any Tim Tams in or anything like that?

(silent) Uh, she brought I have some stuff over here in my office and I don't I don't know what it's called, but she's brought a few things back.

I know, I know about 4 or 5 of our team are going to go visit her in Australia over Christmas break.

So, uh, the Australian influence is real.

Um, but, you know, she also has a vlog, so, uh, it's, it's a great, uh, inside look into kind of our travel life.

Uh, and so, and it's, I think it's funny sometimes at least.

So there's some entertainment value, but, uh, she does a good job with that too.

[Ana] I love it.

Another player want to key in on Madi Corf's led you guys in kills for a few matches here.

What's been special about her and her growth?

(silence) Madi.

She's been battling a knee thing from you know she hurt her knee in, uh, at San Diego State.

And we kind of had some, some scar tissue come up in the spring.

[Buttermore] And so we've been working through that.

And so this, this weekend was the first weekend she actually hit well.

She is a great I mean, she's been a great serve receiver for us.

So she passed a two six.

So the volleyball people, I know you have a lot of them in the audience and they'll know what that means.

And that's really, really good.

And so she can take up a lot of court for us.

She has a big serve.

And this weekend against Grand Canyon, she came up big in the fifth set with some great out of system kills for us.

And, uh, really was the first weekend she made a huge impact on our team.

She's made an impact in serve receive every week.

(silent) [Ana] And for your setter to Maddie Stuesser, what's been impressive early on?

(silent) Maddie.

Yeah, a new offense, uh, new expectations.

Uh, you know, we we continue to ask Maddie to be, you know, more bold physically.

She's a tremendous athlete.

We don't think she always shows it as much as she could, and I like, you know, she's got several layers that she's going to continue to get better and better and better.

But she's been a great learner and great leader for our team.

And, you know, the future's really bright for her.

(silent) Last one I want to bring up Dara Obeid.

What has she brought to this team?

And in terms of just the energy, the effort and also more international flair too, with her being from Canada?

(silent) Yeah.

Um, you know, our freshmen are pretty competitive.

So that's helped our, our gym culture and it's helped our on court match culture as well.

[Buttermore] And Dara has a ton of experience.

She's been in the Canadian National program.

And so not a, you know, super raw or anything, but very physical.

And she's had some really big.

I mean, we set her 42 times against Northern Arizona.

That's really unusual for a middle.

But she's the kind of player that we think can handle that load.

And you know as a freshman seeing her handle that and come back and play well the next night was was really good to see uh, against a good team.

And, you know, we're, we're excited about her future as well as well as what she's doing right now.

[Ana] All right coach.

Wrapping up non-conference going into Summit League play.

What have been the biggest emphasizes for you and the team before you hit conference.

Uh Well if you want to get wonky we want to get our first ball side out higher.

Uh, and our service pressure up more, you [Buttermore] know, and we feel like we do those two things, uh, we're really hard to deal with.

Uh, between all the weapons we have at the net, uh, we're playing good defense.

Uh, and, um, so if we can, we can be more efficient in, first of all, uh, that's going to put a ton of pressure on other teams.

And we, we notch that up a little bit this weekend.

And, you know, it showed in the results against some good teams.

So, um, we were excited to see that.

And that'll be a theme for us this week heading into conference play next week.

(music) [Ana] Yeah.

And a topic across the NCAA, the five for five ruling as a mid-major school, how does that affect you in recruiting and how you have to look at every single year?

(silent) Yeah.

Uh, yeah.

Change changes the, the scope.

Uh, but in recruiting, our, our goals are still the same.

We want to recruit locally as well as we can and find the best Mavericks and, uh, and changes some timelines and the way we think about some kids [Buttermore] individually, but, uh, you know, (music) all these changes, we still want great student athletes.

Uh, you know, we have ever increasing resources here at Omaha.

So we're excited about that.

Our admin has done a tremendous job of, of supporting volleyball here.

And, um, you know, we want great people, we talk about our culture a lot with recruits.

We make sure we have the right fit.

Uh, and we find those things the other, the other things take care of themselves.

We find if we don't, then then we end up problems.

We've.

And we've dealt with that in the past.

But, uh, we, we focus on what's really important.

Some of the other stuff tends to take care of itself.

(silent) [Ana] And just thinking about the last few years for volleyball across the state of Nebraska, from the NAIA level to D2 to D1, how special has the growth been of the sport and even from the club and high school level to just the growth and investment in volleyball?

(silent) Yeah, you know, I've grown up here, I've coached here.

I've been fortunate enough to coach here my whole career.

Uh, and the growth has been, you know, I always say in every interview, I'm a stock buyer.

I'm volleyball nationally.

And Nebraska is the, you know, we're the early adopter.

And, uh, that has been true.

And the level here is incredible.

Uh, you know, my, my daughter's playing middle school volleyball and those games are really fun to watch.

You know, there's a lot of, uh, we've, we've had some older family and relatives come and they're like, this is fun to watch.

This is much different than when I was in middle school.

Uh, and, uh, and that's just, that's indicative of the leadership in the state with volleyball, the great coaching we have at every level.

Uh, and, you know, it's fun to know a lot of these people and, and, uh, watch them be really successful as well.

And so, uh, I, I absolutely love it.

So, um, yeah, you know, everything about it just, uh, it's really fun and rewarding.

All right.

Coach, well, we cannot wait to see you in the Mavericks in conference play here soon.

We appreciate your time.

And thanks so much for joining us.

(silent) Thanks, Ana.

(silent) Nebraska teams long have been the gold standard of play for volleyball.

With so much competition at every level, teams are looking to maximize their competitive advantage in any way possible.

We take a look at how Nebraska based mindset coach helps volleyball teams train and succeed at every single level.

(silent) (music) [Narrator] With over 200 nationally televised matches this year and NIL evaluations up of over 935% since 2021, the pressure on today's volleyball athletes at all levels has never been higher.

So, how are coaches and players dealing with all this noise?

Many in the volleyball community have sought out the expertise of renowned sports psychologist Doctor Larry Widman.

(music) So I'm doctor, Larry Widman.

I'm a psychiatrist by trade, but I provide sports psychology services and an elite mindset training for athletes.

(crowd chanting) He's just part of the volleyball community.

Now people see him as a respected component of how we make our volleyball athletes that 1% better.

(music) [Widman] The evolution of mindset training.

It's been exponential.

It's been the last frontier in my mind.

There's so much science behind things such as breathing and visualization and meditation or mindfulness coaches like Coach Cook and many others.

They recognized earlier than some that it could be a tool to be used to enhance performance.

And they didn't look down on an athlete.

In fact, Coach Cook, trusted his athletes more.

If they were working on their mindset or mental health or both.

We talked about breathing, um, you know, mindfulness, uh, meditating.

I had to start coaching with love as opposed to being angry and intense all the time and getting in people's faces.

(nat sound) [Narrator] No team exemplifies the principles that Doctor Widman studies more than the 2019 Papillion-La Vista South Titans, who had a record of just.500 going into the postseason.

Practice is pointless if we can't figure ourselves out.

So instead, we went into a classroom right over here, sat down, facilitated a conversation and said, I want you to go around this room and tell us how you want to be talked to.

[Narrator] After a team meeting addressing mindset and team communication, Coach Tarman's Titans went on to make history.

[Commentator] It was an improbable run for the Papillion-La Vista South Titans, and in her first year, Katie Wright takes the Titans to a state championship in Class A. I guess my most favorite moments, honestly, are watching a a high school team do a court rush.

[Widman] You know, even though I've been a part of 14 national championships, I think my most emotional moments are watching younger teams, particularly high school teams, max out.

(music fades) In a sport where the pressure continues to grow.

The next frontier may not be physical at all, but rather mental.

We now turn our attention to the Creighton Bluejays, who have really honed in on the max out mindset.

And today we're excited to be joining and chatting with Creighton setter Katie Dalton.

Katie, appreciate the time.

How are we doing?

Hi.

I'm doing so good.

How are you?

[Ana] I'm doing great and awesome to talk with you.

Of course, a transfer from Kansas.

Katie, I want to start first there of your decision to go to Creighton.

Can you take us through that moment of when you knew.

Okay, I want to be a Bluejay.

(silent) Yeah.

I would just say, um.

Creighton.

They reached out to me.

I had no idea they would be in the back of my mind.

Um, but I decided to go on a visit before the dead period and they were in my top two.

Um, and I think when I got here, I wasn't expecting to, I didn't know what to expect, honestly.

Um, but I really enjoyed all the coaches.

[Dalton] They seemed like they really got along together.

Um, and the one thing that stood out to me is they see you as a human being outside of volleyball, not just a volleyball player.

I think that's so important.

And, um, whenever we would play Creighton, when I was at University of Kansas, they always had that grit and fight and their defense was always so good.

And I think that just really stood out to me.

So, yeah.

And you actually had a visit scheduled for after Creighton as well, but you decided to not go on that visit and just stay.

Can you take us through that story too?

Because I think it's an awesome one.

(silent) Yes.

So, Brian, I had a flight to another school and I was there for about 24 hours in Omaha, and he [Dalton] dropped me off at the airport with Izzy, our assistant coach.

And he was like, okay, you know, I can change your flight if you really want to go home.

You know, make this decision.

And I was like, no, like, I'm going to go see this other school.

It's all right.

So then I go into the airport and I call my parents and I just start crying, like bawling my eyes out to my parents.

And I said, mom, dad, I think I have this gut feeling.

I think God is telling me to come to Creighton.

And so then I called Brian up and I said, hey, you can change my flight to go back home.

Um, I would love to join your guys's team.

So yeah, I just had that feeling.

And you know, when you have that gut feeling, I think you just got to take it and run with it.

That's awesome.

Katie for you.

How has the transition been to Omaha?

New fans, new arena and just new faces.

(silent) Oh my gosh.

It's honestly been so nice.

This team honestly reminds me of when I was younger, freshman, sophomore in college.

They're just have such high spirits and they were [Dalton] so welcoming when I came.

And same with the coaching staff and playing in D.J.

Sokol is awesome.

Um, our court is so cool and the fans, it's packed every game.

Um, so like you can barely even hear your thoughts, you know?

Um, so it's been a really easy transition and I think the people here made that so easy for me.

[Ana] Yeah.

And speaking of that transition to just knowing that you've played so many different positions, have had so many roles in your career from college and high school.

How much has that helped you in your journey, especially with transferring and just figuring out a whole new team and trying to find new ways to, to gel with everybody.

Um, I would say my parents always told me that, you know, when we were younger growing up, they said, don't, don't just choose one position.

You know, you want to be good at passing, setting, hitting, defense, blocking everything.

And I think that's what my club really taught is you need to be a good overall player.

And I think I really appreciate that.

Um, just being versatile on the court and being able to help a team out wherever is needed.

And I think it was an awesome opportunity to be able to play DS, right back.

DS at the University of Kansas behind Camryn Turner.

You know, I think it was such a cool experience to be able to find that spot on the court and still be able to help my team succeed.

And I think that has taken me so far.

You know, being.

And then last year, running a five-one for the first time, I think is so different.

And I think it was a great experience and led me to come to this amazing Creighton team.

We heard about it earlier in the show, but just the mental side of the game, I know Creighton takes so much pride in even after practice, you guys are visualizing talking about mental parts of the game that a lot of teams honestly don't talk about.

How has that changed your perspective on volleyball and just knowing how important that mental side is?

Yeah, I mean, when you really think about it, volleyball is just all mental.

I keep telling our team, you know, it's not who's better at volleyball.

It's who's going to stay the toughest through when [Dalton] it's 14-14 in the fifth set, you know, and I think doing those neural fuels after practice, that's kind of new to me.

I did that in high school a little bit, but I really appreciate Brian bringing that every day because it just gives you a reset.

And sometimes we even listen in silence and just breathe.

And I think that's such a great way to reflect on practices, games, yourself, your teammates.

Um, I just think it's very helpful for our team and everyone really enjoys it.

[Ana] All right.

Katie.

Well, looking ahead at the schedule, you got your old rival K-State, September 18th.

How fun will that be to to see K-State again?

(silent) Yes.

I am so excited to see K-State, obviously huge rival.

Um, I think it's going to be very fun at home.

[Dalton] And I think they're a really good team.

They're obviously doing very good to the start of the season and they have a great coaching staff.

Um, always very competitive.

They have great defense.

So I think it'll be a really good match up for us.

[Ana] And then it doesn't slow down from there.

September 20th you got the reigning champions Texas A&M coming to D.J.

Sokol Arena.

What kind of opportunity is that to not only have that team come to Omaha, but also just get that national stage, get that national feel and have a great competition?

(silent) I think it'll be so good for us, um, to end the pre-season on the reigning national champs.

Uh, I think they're a really good team.

[Dalton] And you can see they're, uh, starting to find themselves in this preseason.

And I think that's the same with our team.

So I think it's a perfect time to match up with each other.

And I think they're so competitive.

So I think it'll be very fun on our home court.

[Ana] Yeah.

And of course that's kind of what the preseason non-conference is all about, right?

Finding yourself and finding what works and what doesn't.

What has that adjustment been like for you, for this team of kind of tinkering with those lineups and finding out what works?

(silent) I think there's a lot of new pieces to our team, and obviously it's still so early.

We're figuring out our offense, our defense, you [Dalton] know, who works well together and what doesn't work well together.

You know, um, and I think just finding each individual's personalities and bringing that to every game.

And we always talk about leave nothing.

And I think we kind of emphasized that after this weekend about, you know, it starts in practice.

It starts in warm-ups, you know, leaving nothing.

Always wanting the best for your teammates.

And yeah, I think it's just eye opening because it's so early on in the season.

And you want to hit your peak during the NCAA Tournament.

So I think we're on the right path for that.

Yeah.

And in facing this adversity in the non-conference slate, what keeps you so confident in this team and just knowing where the ceiling is for the Bluejays.

(silent) I would say just, you know, we talk about how they made it to the Elite Eight last year and how we want to get to that next level.

The Final Four.

And we've had talk, you know, sometimes we don't look like a Final Four team, but some parts of our game we show it.

And so I think we talk about that consistency.

And I think that's the biggest thing we are wanting to work on is just staying consistent throughout all games.

Practice just daily life, even outside of volleyball.

(silent) And I mean, you mentioned it too, just having those Final Four expectations and aspirations.

What is it like having to uphold that standard every single day in practice between the leaders on the team and Coach Rosen?

(silent) Yeah, I think it's just first holding yourself accountable.

Like always doing a self check up.

Hey, how's my attitude?

How are we feeling today?

And we always talk about, you know, when you walk into that gym, we're here for two, 2.5 hours.

[Dalton] You're going to give it your all, you're going to work your butt off.

And I think everyone's on the same page for that and the coaching staff.

So I think that's really exciting.

Just, you know, when you walk into those doors, everyone is just honed in on, okay, we're going to get better today.

[Ana] Yeah.

Well, the expectations are certainly there for a reason.

Katie Dalton, thank you so much for your time.

And best of luck for the rest of the fall.

(silent) Yes.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

That'll do it for this episode of State of Volleyball.

Join us for Nebraska Volleyball on Friday, September 25th as they take on Rutgers at 7 p.m.

central.

Our next volleyball episode will air October 15th at 9 p.m.

Central Nebraska Public Media.

A big thank you to Matt Buttermore Katie Dalton for joining us.

I'm Anna Bellinghausen and we'll see you here back soon on your home for volleyball Nebraska Public Media.

(music)